2nd GM norm for Daniel Fernandez

[Alex Holowczak]

Alex H > England doesn't host any international events< Well, that puts Hastings, the London Chess Classic and British Championships in their place! What you mean is that we haven't hosted a FIDE event since the Candidates - and just before that the FIDE Grand Prix all play all.

I think what I meant was clear in the context of the paragraph as a whole.

Regulations: http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/RegsC ... biters.pdf

Thanks. I have (briefly) been trying to work out which events held in England (and Gibraltar and the Isle of Man) in the recent past (e.g. last 10 years) were the ones that were the major events meeting the category A or category B criteria. From memory, the major events would be tournaments like the most recent Isle of Man Open, the more recent Gibraltar Opens, the London Chess Classic round robins, and the March 2013 Candidates Tournament in London.

EDIT: Adding the Grand Prix APA in September and October 2012, mentioned by Stewart below.

Yes, the London Chess Classic Round Robins are the only ones of the ones you've listed that count for Category A. There should probably be some thought into how to incorporate Swisses into that structure. It is strange, the financial regulations are biased strongly in favour of running Swisses, but the arbiter regulations are strongly biased towards Round Robins in Category A.

How can it possibly be the responsibility of FIDE to award a national title?

NA isn't so much an award as a designation - and, of course, a scam. There is no requirement that you have ever played, or even watched, a game of chess. You need only to be at least 16 years old and to have paid some money.

For arbiters registered to ENG, you also need to have passed an arbiter exam.

[Roger de Coverly]

The last time I costed a major FIDE event, the World Youth, I estimated a cost of £1.3 million to be held in London in 2012.

I suppose unlike out of season Greek, Turkish and perhaps other holiday centres, there isn't anywhere in the UK where the difference between what an organiser might pay to bulk hire the venue and accommodation and what can be charged to participants is both high enough to make the event self financing and also low enough to make the event plausibly affordable to participants.

It may be recalled that Kirsan himself vetoed the use of Torquay for the European Championships on the grounds of the potential expense of team accommodation.

[NickFaulks]

For arbiters registered to ENG, you also need to have passed an arbiter exam.

Yes, but that is an ENG add-on in which FIDE has no interest. The effect is that if being involved in a FIDE rated tournament would be helpful towards passing the exam, you can't do it. Not a big problem in England for obvious reasons, but in countries where nearly all serious chess is rated it would be unworkable.

[Stewart Reuben]

Roger >It may be recalled that Kirsan himself vetoed the use of Torquay for the European Championships on the grounds of the potential expense of team accommodation.<

I think you are referring to the European Team Championship which was to have been held in Torquay in 1999. Kirsan had nothng whatsoever to do with it. It became clear in Elista 1998 that a very large number of federations thought it would be too expensive. Gerry Walsh and I did a role call at the ECU to find out how many federations would commit to playing. Only about 3 said yes. It was too dangerous a project in terms of funding and could have bankrupted the ECF. So we cancelled it.
The ECU had agreed to it the previous year and the cost was in the high level of the hotel charges.
Of course it would be cheaper today, with the fall in the value of the pound. But there are even fewer English organisers for such an undertaking.

[NickFaulks]

Of course it would be cheaper today, with the fall in the value of the pound.

Even that may not be true. Since early 1999 the pound has fallen by about 20 per cent, and I suspect that our cost of living has outstripped theirs by more than 1 per cent per annum.

[Stewart Reuben]

Since interest has been expressed in titles.
I sought to introduce the ELITE GRANDMASTER TITLE.
Basicaly it was 200 points higher than GM. Minimum average rating of opponents 2580. Minimum TPR 2800. + a requirement to finish 1st or 2nd in the tournament. This was rejected basically I think because GMs thought it might devalue their title. Perhaps today you would put it up to 250 points, but I am not even sure Michael Adams had enough norms.
Of open tournaments, only Gibraltar and now also the IOM could achieve such a high Ra. Thus I hoped it would lead to more 10 player RR with all players 2600 or better. One norm per tournament would be normal. It is very difficult nowadays to get invitations to RR if below 2700. I think it would help such players improve.

[Brian Towers]

Regulations: http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/RegsC ... biters.pdf

Fascinating. Right at the very end, table 5.2 details which level of arbiter can officiate in various FIDE events. This introduces the additional breakdown of - "Chief Arbiter", "Deputy Chief Arbiter", "Arbiter" and "Assistant Arbiter".

Now, I get the differentiation between Chief Arbiter and the rest. I've been Chief Arbiter twice and the buck stopped with me, I was responsible for trying to ensure good playing conditions, I drove Swiss Manager, etc., etc. But I don't get what the difference is between the other levels. Just to add further to the confusion sections 3.3.5 and 3.4.3 bring up the role of "Sector Arbiter".

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I believe (though David and others in this thread who are well-versed in this can add more) that Sector Arbiter refers to being in charge of an area within a large team event such as a Chess Olympiad (which is absolutely massive, and has more arbiters than you can shake a stick at). Some examples of this nomenclature:

https://www.fide.com/component/content/ ... iters.html

http://www.bakuchessolympiad.com/content/44

4.3.3 The FIDE principals are:

• the President,

• the Chief Arbiter,

• the two Deputy Chief Arbiters and six Sector Arbiters,

• the four members of the Technical Administration Panel,

• the three members of the Appeals Committee, and

• the FIDE Press Officer and his/her Deputy.

[...]

The play shall be controlled by:

• the Chief Arbiter and the two Deputy Chief Arbiters

• 6 Sector Arbiters;

• the Match Arbiters.

[...]

The Match Arbiters shall be assigned duties by the Chief Arbiter and supervised by the Deputy Chief and Sector Arbiters.

[David Sedgwick]

I believe (though David and others in this thread who are well-versed in this can add more) that Sector Arbiter refers to being in charge of an area within a large team event such as a Chess Olympiad (which is absolutely massive, and has more arbiters than you can shake a stick at).

This time the document which you need is at http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/ArbStructure.pdf.

When you register an event for FIDE rating, you must name one person, and only one person, as the Chief Arbiter. You may in addition name no more than two Deputy Chief Arbiters and / or one or more Arbiters.

Most tournaments will have arbiters in only one or two of the three fields, but the Chess.com Isle of Man International Masters is a recent instance where there were all three. See https://ratings.fide.com/tournament_det ... ent=163925.

[Stewart Reuben]

I have in the past been a sector arbiter at the Olympiad. They trusted me for large numbers and crowd control.
Geurt Gijssen and I were not very hierarchical. A Chef Arbiter certainly, but the others just arbiters, all working together. This penchant for designation has grown in recent years.
In Bled, people from Adelaide consulted me about bidding for a future Olympiad. At the end of the lunch, they said to me, 'If we hold the Olympiad, we would like you to be the Chief Arbiter - provided you are still alive.' I wasn't quick enough to point out to them that sending my ashes to Australia and putting the urn on the table, would be cheaper and possibly just as effective.

[Alex Holowczak]

A Chef Arbiter certainly

All good arbiting teams have one of them.

[LawrenceCooper]

GM title now shows on his FIDE profile along with IM titles for Ravi Haria & John Pigott:

https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=5801605
https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=415820
https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=400459