Hi,
I have been asked to direct a 6-man closed tournament next month. The tournament is to be USCF and FIDE rated (4 of the 6 players are FIDE rated).
Are there any special requirements for having the tournament FIDE rated?
Thanks in advance
Hank Anzis
Marshalltown, Iowa
I believe it must be long time control (at least 30/90 SD/1), must have a certain number of FIDE rated players (I think at least half have to be), and for a group that small I believe there must be no withdrawals.
Hank, you may want to check with Walter Brown in the USCF office. He’s the USCF’s FIDE Ratings Officer and will be the one who ultimately winds up submitting the event to FIDE.
The specific time control listed above is wrong, although the idea is correct. You’re also not allowed to play more than three games in one day (two if norms are at stake), and you need to be at least a senior TD. No problem on that front. If whoever organized the tournament knows what he’s doing, then all requirements should be taken care of.
Alex Relyea
A literal reading of the FIDE handbook seems to say that the event is supposed to be registered with FIDE before it is held, but in practice it only needs to be registered before it is submitted to FIDE for rating. (In order for Walter to upload the event to FIDE’s web site he has to have the event registered.)
A new FIDE regulation (which takes effect in June, I think) limits the time controls that can be used for events in which norms can be earned to something like 4 choices, but they’re (still) a little more flexible in terms of the time controls that can be used for FIDE rated events.
The FIDE handbook is on their website, but if you think the USCF rulebook is hard to read, the FIDE regs are far worse.
Hi,
Thanks for your responses. The time control is 90 min with a 30 second increment. I’ll send a note to Walter Brown today.
Thanks again,
Hank Anzis
Marshalltown, Iowa
You should read over the FIDE Laws of Chess so that you are aware of things that may be allowed in USCF tournaments but that are not allowed in FIDE tournaments. For example, touching the Rook first when castling is allowed in USCF tournaments, but not in FIDE tournaments.
I would recommend getting a copy of the Tournament Organizers Handbook that was put out by Stewart Reuben. It will become outdated effective July 1 but it’s still a good reference manual to keep on hand just like a USCF rule book.
You are correct but what makes you think FIDE rated tournaments in the US are run using FIDE rules? Most of the ones that I know of are run using USCF rules, not FIDE.
The FIDE rules appeared to me to say that a tournament had to conform to FIDE rules to be FIDE rated. But maybe I misinterpreted what they said.
Once again you are correct and you did not misinterpret what is stated in the FIDE rules.
Yeah, but ‘conform’ is interpreted somewhat liberally, even in Europe.