Today I was browsing through some of the names at the World Youth Championship in Greece. A few of the kids have the CM title, but also have ratings well below the 2200 minimum designated by FIDE. (Other kids have the FM title with ratings too low for that, too.)
For example, here is a link to a Chess Results page with a list of kids with the CM title and low ratings. (In particular, see Safin Benyahia rated 1260, Ameer Dhafer Abdulameer rated 1333, etc. There are many, many examples of the CM and FM titles awarded to kids with low ratings. To find them, one needs to just browse through the different sections of the World Youth.)
The FIDE handbook says," Titles may be gained by achieving a published or interim rating at some time or other (see 1.53a):
1.31 FIDE Master ≥2300
1.32 Candidate Master ≥2200
1.33 Woman FIDE Master ≥2100
1.34 Woman Candidate Master ≥2000"
There are many examples of kids having these titles, without the requisite rating. Am I missing something? Are titles awarded for certain achievements? A certain “donation” to FIDE, for instance?
Okay, thanks, Bob. These direct titles are such a farce. CM titles for class-D players? Yet one more way FIDE ingratiates themselves with third-world countries. I’m sure these kids won some sub-regional competition where the average rating of their competition was about 1000.
Some possibly interesting statistics: Using the November, 2015, FIDE list of players (which is a superset of the FIDE Rating List (FRL) and contains all FIDE IDs), there are 137 titled players with no standard (“regular”) rating: 7 FMs, 52 CMs, 2 WIMs, 16 WFMs, and 60 WCMs. Of these, one CM and two WCMs have a rapid (“quick”) rating, while one CM and one WFM have a blitz rating.
Looking at federations (using “unrated” to refer to standard ratings):
The Republic of South Africa (RSA) has 12 unrated CMs and 8 unrated WCMs
Vietnam has 8 unrated WCMs, 3 unrated WFMs, and 3 unrated CMs
Mexico has 6 unrated WCMs and 3 unrated CMs
Canada has 4 unrated WCMs
USA has 3 unrated CMs, 1 unrated WFM, and 3 unrated WCMs
Overall, looking at the count of unrated titled players in each federation:
Republic of South Africa has the most (23)
Vietnam has 15
Mexico has 9
USA has 7
Costa Rica has 5
Canada, Mongolia, Singapore, and Yemen each has 4
Botswana, Cuba, El Salvador, and Indonesia each have 3
Aruba, Honduras, Jamaica, Philippines, Turkey, and Venezuela each have 2
Yes, but one still needed (until recently) nine games against rated opponents within a period of 24 months to obtain a published FIDE rating. Even though the World Youth is supposed to have a minimum of 11 rounds, it is easy to imagine in the younger sections how a player (even the first place finisher) might have met three or more unrated players. Remember, unlike the US Chess rating system, games against unrated opponents simply do not count in the FIDE rating system (even if the tournament in question causes the unrated player to meet the requirements to have a published rating on the FRL). Also, there are no “provisional” FIDE ratings.
The unrated titled USA players are:
CM Thomas Elberling (deceased)(2151)
CM Joaquin K. Perkins (2065)
CM Aryah Shlionsky (1751)
WFM Maggie Ni (1713)
WCM Alara Balasaygun (1482)
WCM Amelie Phung (1437)
WCM Audrey Wang (1514)
Edit to add: I was confused when I looked at the list of entries in the Open U8 section and saw an unrated CM from USA not in the above list. CM Aghilan Nachiappan achieved a first published rating as of the November 2015 FRL (rated 1704); when the World Youth started, the October FRL was in effect, so he was unrated. That meant that until November, USA had seven living unrated titled players.
CM Nachiappan won the CM direct title in the 2015 North American Youth Chess Festival in Mexico (with a perfect score). Of the 18 players in the tournament, two were from USA and 16 from Mexico. There was only one rated player in the field, Lucas Foerster-Yialamas (USA, rated 1614, finished in second place).
Looking at the list of players in this year’s tournament, I notice there are three unrated titled players in the Girls U10 section: WCM Aarti Dartharam (RSA), WCM Mysha Gilani (CAN), and WCM Julie Kuleshova (CAN).
If one wants to rant about titles, a better target might be the FIDE “arena” titles. AFM Aikaterini Kartsidima (rated 1162) is in the Girls U10 section (“AFM” being “Arena FIDE Master”, I believe). My rule for titles connected with playing chess (as opposed to arbiter titles) is very simple: If it’s a title I stand any chance of ever achieving, then it is a laughable title.
Well, as far as WGM/WIM/WFM/WCM, there are at least two reasons I stand no chance of achieving one of those titles. One of those reasons is “fixable” … it’s remarkable what talented surgeons can do these days.
