English Chess Forum

Paolo Casaschi wrote: If this means the on-line membership is free and the ECF partner would cover the grading cost (hence removing the need of compulsory membership)... why not?

Compulsory ECF membership has nothing to do with grading cost. The money raised pays for the ECF's employed office and for the English International teams.

See https://grahamcluley.com/2015/08/chess- ... -password/ for a professional analysis.

John Upham wrote:See https://grahamcluley.com/2015/08/chess- ... -password/ for a professional analysis.

Thanks for this, I've tucked it away. There are of course professional staff within FIDE who know all this stuff, but they are not being consulted.

Paolo Casaschi wrote:[
If this means the on-line membership is free and the ECF partner would cover the grading cost (hence removing the need of compulsory membership)... why not?

You would hand over the ECF grading database to a commercial organisation about which you know nothing and which is accountable to nobody? Surely that could go wrong.

NickFaulks wrote: but they are not being consulted.

Perhaps Stewart could advise them?

John Upham wrote:See https://grahamcluley.com/2015/08/chess- ... -password/ for a professional analysis.

Excellent!

Fun The bit about passwords wouldn't matter so much if it was just an online chess site of course - you just use a throw away/one off password and if its cracked, well, you pick a new one and move on.

Once you start storing stuff like peoples passports......

In no sense do I seek to mitigate the inadequacy of FIDE's efforts here when I point out that ID verification using a passport is not unusual if you register with an online (invariably offshore) bookmaker such as WH Hill. Bookmakers are of course regulated; must comply with age verification & money-laundering legislation; and generally have secure servers. They also a reputation to lose, which alone makes them different from FIDE. So 'Know Your Customer' procedures can often require passport ID.

That said: would I give FIDE my passport ID? Not a chance.

Reviving this old thread, as it refers to FIDE Arena.

The minutes of the "Online Commission" are now available.
http://www.fide.com/images/stories/NEWS ... nex_49.pdf

It contains some previously unknown data about the take up.

4805 active members of whom 2078 have paid a subscription fee.

Of these members 81 are from the UK.

It's hardly a stunning growth even by comparison to the headcount of over the board FIDE rated players or those playing in the larger Federations, let alone the hundreds of millions in Kirsan's fantasy world.

Why then should such a small commercial enterprise be allowed to dictate policy on access to historic rating information?