Information on FIDE Rated Tournaments in the USA

The following policies and procedures are effective July 28, 2023.

FIDE LAWS OF CHESS

All FIDE rated tournaments must use the FIDE Laws of Chess. This is an acceptable rules variation within US Chess for the tournament to also be US Chess rated. The FIDE Laws of Chess and other regulations can be found online in the FIDE Handbook at https://handbook.fide.com/.

I WANT MY TOURNAMENT (OR SECTION) TO BE FIDE RATED. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?

All FIDE rated tournaments in the USA must be registered with FIDE in accordance with the US Chess policies and by the deadlines set, have a licensed FIDE arbiter overseeing them, and must meet the FIDE regulations for being rated by FIDE. All players playing in a FIDE rated event must have a FIDE ID. After the tournament is held and submitted to US Chess for rating, additional information must be sent to US Chess, by the required deadlines, to have it FIDE rated.

REGISTERING A FIDE RATED TOURNAMENT

All FIDE rated tournaments held in the USA must be registered with FIDE, via US Chess.

FIDE regulations require non-norms tournaments to be registered at least 3 days before the tournament starts and norm tournaments to be registered at least 30 days before the tournament starts. To make sure there is adequate time to register your tournament with FIDE,

US Chess requires at least 7 days advance notice for all non-norm tournaments and at least 33 days advance notice for all norm tournaments.

A failure to meet the US Chess deadlines for registering a tournament with FIDE may result in your tournament not being registered. A failure to meet the FIDE deadlines for registering a tournament will result in your tournament not being registered. Any tournament not registered with FIDE will not be submitted to FIDE for rating.

FIDE registers each section of a tournament as a separate tournament. For example, if you wish to FIDE rate the Open, Under 2200, Under 2000 and Blitz sections of your tournament, you must register each section independently.

To register a tournament, please send all of the following required information to Click here to show email address:

  • Full name of the tournament (must be unique so include date or section information)
  • City and state
  • Start date
  • End date
  • Format (Swiss, round robin, double round robin, team, etc.)
  • Norm tournament? (Will the award of player norms be available)
  • Number of rounds
  • Full playing schedule
  • All time controls (if different for various schedules)
  • Expected number of players
  • Chief Arbiter name and FIDE ID (must be licensed with FIDE)
  • Chief Organizer name and FIDE ID
  • TLA/website link (URL of the tournament website or TLA information)

If all of the above information is included in the TLA/website link, you may provide just the link along with the Chief Arbiter and Chief Organizer information.

Although not necessary to register an event with FIDE, you may also include other arbiter (maximum of 2 Deputy Arbiters) and organizer information. Please remember the arbiters must be licensed with FIDE and to provide names and FIDE IDs.

Note that a tournament cannot be registered with FIDE until all the required information above is provided. This includes the name and FIDE ID of the licensed FIDE arbiter who will be the Chief Arbiter of the tournament.

WHO MAY BE THE ARBITER FOR A US CHESS/FIDE RATED TOURNAMENT?

Only licensed International Arbiters (IA), FIDE Arbiters (FA) and National Arbiters (NA), who are also certified US Chess Tournament Directors (TD), are permitted to work as arbiters in US Chess/FIDE rated tournaments. TDs and arbiters not holding a valid FIDE license are not permitted to oversee FIDE rated tournaments, or FIDE rated sections of tournaments, in any capacity, as this will invalidate the FIDE rating of those events.

Also note that FIDE National Arbiters (NA) cannot be the Chief Arbiter of a norm awarding tournament.

Please refer to the list of licensed FIDE arbiters on the FIDE Arbiter website at https://arbiters.fide.com/arbiters/arbiters-database.

Becoming a Licensed FIDE National Arbiter

If you are a US Chess certified TD at the Senior level or above and would like to become a FIDE National Arbiter (NA), please send an email to tdcert-group@uschess.org requesting the US Chess FIDE National Arbiter exam. You will have 2 months to complete and return the exam. Upon successfully passing the exam, and payment of the license fee (currently 20 Euros), we will submit your application to receive your FIDE National Arbiter license. Only licensed FIDE National Arbiters (NA) can earn FIDE Arbiter (FA) norms and take the FIDE Arbiter seminar needed for progression to the next level of FIDE arbiter.

For information on FIDE arbiter title regulations please visit http://handbook.fide.com/chapter/B0601.

FIDE REGULATIONS FOR FIDE RATED TOURNAMENTS

The FIDE Rating Regulations for Standard rated tournaments can be found online at https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/B022022.

The FIDE Rapid and Blitz Rating Regulations can be found online at https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/B02RBRegulations2022.

Note that FIDE has regulations detailing the time controls that are allowable for FIDE rated events and controlling the maximum number of rounds/hours that may be played each day.

For Standard rated non-norm events, the following time control regulations must be adhered to:

  • For a game to be rated each player must at the start of the tournament have the following minimum periods in which to complete all the moves, assuming the game lasts 60 moves.
    • Where at least one of the players in the game has a rating of 2400 or higher, each player must have a minimum of 120 minutes.
    • Where at least one of the players in the game has a rating 1800 or higher, each player must have a minimum of 90 minutes.
    • Where both of the players in the game are rated below 1800, each player must have a minimum of 60 minutes.
  • Where a certain number of moves is specified in the first time control, it shall be at least 30 moves.
  • There must be no more than 12 hours play in one day. This is calculated based on games that last 60 moves, although games played using increments may last longer.

For Standard rated norm events, the following time control regulations must be adhered to:

  • Each player must have at least 120 minutes in which to complete all the moves, assuming the game lasts 60 moves.
  • Where a certain number of moves is specified in the first time control, it shall be at least 30 moves.
  • There must be no more than 12 hours play in one day. This is calculated based on games that last 60 moves, although games played using increments may last longer.
  • No more than 2 rounds shall be played on any one day.

For Blitz and Rapid events, the following time control regulations must be adhered to:

  • For a game to be rated each player must have the following periods in which to complete all the moves:
    • For a rapid game all the moves must be made in a fixed time of more than 10 minutes but less than 60 minutes for each player; or the time allotted + 60 times any increment must be more than 10 minutes but less than 60 minutes for each player.
    • For a blitz game all the moves must be made in a fixed time of more than 3 minutes but not more than 10 minutes for each player; or the time allotted + 60 times any increment must be more than 3 minutes but not more than 10 minutes for each player.
  • Games where the players have different playing times are not rated.

Increment and/or delay (these are equivalent/interchangeable terms in the FIDE Laws) must be included when calculating the amount of time a player has for the time control. For example, if you have an increment of 30 seconds per move (+30) then you would add 30 minutes to the time calculation for meeting the above requirements, based on 60 moves.

Time Control Examples:

  • G/90; +30 - This is 120 minutes per player, 90 minutes plus 30 minutes increment for 60 moves.
  • 40/90, SD/30; +30 - This is 150 minutes per player, 90 minutes, plus 30 minutes, plus 30 minutes increment for 60 moves.
  • G/90; d/5 - This is 95 minutes per player, 90 minutes plus 5 minutes delay for 60 moves.
  • G/120; d/0 - This is 120 minutes per player.

ALL PLAYERS IN A FIDE RATED TOURNAMENT MUST HAVE A FIDE ID

All players who participate in a FIDE rated tournament must have a FIDE ID. US Chess may only assign USA FIDE IDs. To receive a USA FIDE ID, the player must have either US citizenship, naturalization, or residency in the USA. The FIDE Regulations for Registration and Licensing of Players can be viewed online at https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/B032015.

The Chief Arbiter is responsible for ensuring all players in a FIDE rated event have a FIDE ID. Submission of any rating report to US Chess without all players having a FIDE ID may result in the tournament not being FIDE rated.

Please use one of the following methods for requesting FIDE IDs:

  1. Any player who meets the eligibility requirements for a USA-flagged FIDE can complete our simple FIDE ID request form at https://forms.gle/fCCTis7WgtJEb2rv6. All players eligible for a USA-flagged FIDE ID who do not have a US Chess ID must submit their request using this method.
  2. The Chief Arbiter or Chief Organizer must submit a request to Click here to show email address providing ALL of the following information:  US Chess ID, gender, DOB and email address, along with a statement attesting that “the player(s) is/are eligible to get a USA-flagged FIDE ID and has agreed to have a USA-flagged FIDE ID”.  FIDE requires a UNIQUE email address for each ID.  Please note, as of 07/28/2023, FIDE only provides male or female options for gender, and a selection is required.
  3. The Chief Arbiter or Chief Organizer may collect the information on the following spreadsheet and submit it to Click here to show email address for processing, https://new.uschess.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/fide-id-requests.xlsx.
  4. Foreign players not eligible for a USA-flagged FIDE ID must contact their own federation to obtain a FIDE ID. The contacts for other federations can be found at https://fide.com/directory/member-federations. It is advisable to start this process as early as possible as other federations may have longer timelines for providing FIDE IDs.
  5. If a player does not wish to have a FIDE ID associated with any federation, you must collect their name, address, email address, birth date and a photocopy of their passport or identification and submit it to Click here to show email address. The tournament will be charged a 60 Euro license fee and the player will be assigned a generic FIDE-flagged FIDE ID for which they will be charged 60 Euro per year by FIDE.

DEADLINES FOR SUBMITTING FIDE RATED TOURNAMENT REPORTS

All FIDE rated tournaments that end at least 6 days prior to the end of the month must be submitted to US Chess and FIDE for rating in that month, no later than 3 days prior to the end of the month. All other FIDE rated tournaments must be submitted to US Chess and FIDE for rating no later than 7 days after the end of the tournament.

For FIDE rated tournaments lasting more than 30 days, an interim report (the most up to date pairings/results file) must be submitted to Click here to show email address no later than 4 days prior to the end of each month so that all games played so far may be submitted to FIDE for rating in that month. Such events will not need to be submitted to US Chess for rating on an interim basis.

HOW DO I SUBMIT MY TOURNAMENT FOR FIDE RATING?

US Chess requires that all FIDE rated tournaments be submitted to US Chess for processing using a FIDE Endorsed Pairing Program. The current list of endorsed programs can be found in Annex 3 at https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/C04A.

The first step is to submit your tournament to US Chess for rating. Care must be taken during this step to ensure you check the "FIDE Rated" box for each section (FIDE tournament) that is going to be FIDE rated. You must also ensure that only licensed FIDE arbiters are listed in the overall tournament TD area and within the FIDE rated sections during submission of the US Chess rating report. The US Chess rating report must match the FIDE rating report in terms of arbiters that oversaw each tournament.

When listing arbiters in the US Chess rating report, this information will correspond to the following positions on the FIDE rating report:

  • Chief TD (Overall) - Chief Arbiter
  • Chief Asst. TD (Overall) - Deputy Arbiter
  • Chief TD (Section) - Deputy Arbiter
  • All other TD positions - Arbiter

After submitting your tournament to US Chess for rating, the tournament files must be submitted to the US Chess FIDE Events Manager at Click here to show email address who will create the report and submit it to FIDE.

All players must have the following information included for them within the pairing program files:

  • Name
  • US Chess ID
  • FIDE ID
  • Federation
  • Gender (M/F)
  • Birthyear

Please send the final round tournament file, containing all player information, pairings and results for each round. If your tournament has multiple schedules with games having time controls that are not FIDE ratable, please send the pre-merge file(s) too.

Example Using SwissSys for a FIDE Open, 5 round tournament that had a 3-day schedule with round 1 on Friday, rounds 2 and 3 on Saturday and rounds 4 and 5 on Sunday at a time control of G/90; +30, and a 2-day schedule with rounds 1 and 2 on Saturday having a time control of G/60; d/5, which then merges with the 3-day schedule in round 3:

Send both the “FIDE Open.S5C” file plus the “FIDE Open 2-day.S2C” file so that the 2-day games can be removed from the FIDE rating report before submission to FIDE.

Per FIDE Title Regulations 1.91: Tournament reports must include a PGN file of at least those games played by players who achieved title results for Swiss and team tournaments, and all games played for other tournaments. A failure to provide all the games required in a PGN file will mean that the norm will not be approved.

FIDE (PLAYER) TITLE REGULATIONS

For more information on the FIDE (player) title regulations and norm tournaments, please visit https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/B012023.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Brian Yang
US Chess FIDE Events Manager
Click here to show email address | 314-661-9500 ext 147

(Updated October 12, 2023)