English Chess Forum

When FIDE introduced their Online Arena for playing online chess games that could be officially rated and titles given I literally fainted and when I came to I promptly registered and got a FIDE Arena Master title that evening. Now apparently I'm supposed to be addressed as a FIDE Arena Master in all ECF tournaments and my blitz rating of 1805 is suppose to be used in OTB grading.

I'm very sceptical about this. Not because I personally don't have the talent to gain a real OTB FIDE title and now I've been able to get an online one from FIDE for very little effort and €15 but because the idea that you can merge an OTB rating with an online rating on FIDE Online Arena seems fanciful at best and downright impossible at worst.

This is what FIDE said they want to do with people like me who have an an Online Arena grade.

Rating Alignment
Rated games are played with a variety of predefined rapid, blitz and bullet time controls. Rapid and blitz ratings are aligned with over the board FIDE rapid and blitz ratings. The 1st day of each month, as soon the FIDE rating lists are published, rating changes from over the board rapid and blitz games are added to (subtracted from) the relevant Arena ratings.

In this way, the Arena ratings reflect the overall players’ activity, over the board and online. However, the traditional FRLs (FIDE rating lists for over the board rapid and blitz) are totally independent from online gaming results and will continue to be used for the pairings and ratings of over the board tournaments.

source: fide.com

This makes no sense from a chess statistical perspective. If you have a Arena rating of 1805 in blitz, then participate in some OTB blitz and play in the open and get 2/7 with an average rated opposition of 2000 elo. Why should your rating change from 150 ecf blitz rating (+1.62, K=15) be used to adjust your arena rating for your online games but in turn any rating changes gained online are NOT reflected back in the FIDE rating lists for OTB chess.

So you have this curious situation that you can get to 2100 on FIDE Online Arena but still have a 150 ecf/1825 elo rating which is used to adjust your Arena rating if there are any OTB blitz games played. Why is that called rating alignment? It seems to preserve and encourage rating mis-alignment.

What do you think about this?

Michael Mkpadi wrote: Now apparently I'm supposed to be addressed as a FIDE Arena Master in all ECF tournaments and my blitz rating of 1805 is suppose to be used in OTB grading.

What gives you the idea that a FIDE Arena rating is used in any OTB grade or rating?

Those trying to market Arena would like it to be so, but it's been resisted for the reasons you outline. The rest of FIDE have come up with a fudge that they can corrupt the Arena ratings if they want, but OTB ratings are not be touched. This is only FIDE ratings, ECF grades do not in any way affect Arena ratings.

I don't know what impression you get of the numbers on Arena, but their report to a recent FIDE Board meeting was not impressive in terms of headcount, being less than 5,000 worldwide. Personally I would not play serious chess on an online server unless the circumstances were that there was an arbiter present.

http://www.fide.com/images/stories/NEWS ... nex_49.pdf

Roger when I play an OTB tournament, FIDE do the calculation for my new FIDE grading and also use my OTB delta change and apply it to my Arena grade too, hence my saying maybe confusingly

Now apparently I'm supposed to be addressed as a FIDE Arena Master in all ECF tournaments and my blitz rating of 1805 is suppose to be used in OTB grading.

I don't really care what the numbers are worldwide Roger, that is someone else's problem for me as a chess fan who rarely get time to walk down to my local pub on a weekend it is a god send, that I can play in some sort of FIDE online event and get a rating.

If these ratings cannot impact the FRL then the FRL delta changes should not impact them. It is a simple point

Michael Mkpadi wrote: If these ratings cannot impact the FRL then the FRL delta changes should not impact them. It is a simple point

Arena wanted rating changes on their server to impact the OTB ratings. Quite rightly those in charge of OTB ratings and titles said "No". It's one sided then, so that it's only the FIDE Arena ratings which lack legitimacy that are hybrids.

Roger de Coverly wrote:

Michael Mkpadi wrote: If these ratings cannot impact the FRL then the FRL delta changes should not impact them. It is a simple point

Arena wanted rating changes on their server to impact the OTB ratings. Quite rightly those in charge of OTB ratings and titles said "No". It's one sided then, so that it's only the FIDE Arena ratings which lack legitimacy that are hybrids.

Thanks for re-stating the point of my post.

Michael Mkpadi wrote: Thanks for re-stating the point of my post.

I wouldn't worry about it. Hardly anyone plays at FIDE Arena and what it does to distort its ratings is of little concern as long as it stays that way.

Hijacking the historic archives of FIDE rating in an attempt to boost their membership numbers isn't very popular either.

Roger de Coverly wrote: Hijacking the historic archives of FIDE rating in an attempt to boost their membership numbers isn't very popular either.

Oh yeah. That deserves a thread all on it's own if it hasn't already. A total and utter disgraceful act by FIDE or whoever did it for FIDE.