Club News
So You Want to Organize a FIDE Event?
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- Written by Sevan Muradian Sevan Muradian
In this article we’ll switch hats from player to organizer and look at what needs to be done in order to organize a FIDE rated event (no title norms available). We’ll discuss first regular Swiss tournaments and then invitation based Round Robin tournaments.
One of the first requirements for having a FIDE rated event is to ensure you have enough FIDE rated players in your area because without a large prize fund it’s going to be hard to pull people in from out of town. In general I would say look for a ratio of 1 FIDE rated player per 2 non-FIDE rated players, and try to have at least 7-10 FIDE rated players. The reason for this is simple – the majority of players will not have scored their initial performance norm (see the first article in this series for information on this) thus these players will need to meet at least 3 FIDE rated players in a single event.
So You Want to Get a FIDE Title Norm?
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- Written by Sevan Muradian Sevan Muradian
So now your FIDE fever has reached new heights and you want to try to get a FIDE title! You’re seeing people in your local community get them and you think you’ve got what it takes to get one as well. So let’s then talk about how to get that to happen.
FIDE has 4 titles which require achieving levels of performance called ‘norms’. These titles are Grandmaster (GM), International Master (IM), Woman Grandmaster (WGM), and Woman International Master (WIM). Now of course those titles with the word ‘Woman’ in them are only open to females. There are other titles as well such as Candidate Master (CM), Woman Candidate Master (WCM), FIDE Master (FM), and Woman FIDE Master (WFM). These 4 titles are based on achieved ratings. For title norm tournament purposes, the CM and WCM title are not meaningful (this is really more for organizers but if you are thinking of applying for one to increase your chances to get access to an invitational event, don’t bother). You can find the rating requirements here - http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=58view=article
So You Want to Get a FIDE Rating?
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- Written by Sevan Muradian Sevan Muradian
With the FIDE rating floor dropping to 1000 from a previously lowered 1200, more class players have the possibility of achieving a FIDE rating. Let's look at both the players' side and the organizers side of what is necessary.
Unlike a USCF rating where you play 1 game and then receive a provisional rating, getting a FIDE rating is more complicated, and you require a minimum of 9 games against FIDE rated players to achieve your first FIDE rating. The prevalent way of achieving of rating is playing in a Swiss paired tournament (the normal ones we all play in) but you have to meet certain criteria:
(1) For your first performance rating norm you must have met 3 FIDE rated players and scored 1 point or more (1 win or 2 draws)
Holiday Chess Blitz Tournament
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- Written by Serge Bonda Serge Bonda
The Holiday season is around the corner! Windy City Sports Club (WCSC, the Chess is #3 sport there after Soccer and Hockey) and Academy of Intellectual Games (AoIG) ran a Holiday Chess Bllitz (G5mins +2s) Tournament featuring a 100% payoff - as promised a guaranteed $800.00 prize money pool was distributed to 7 winners. It was our first tournament at a new venue: 718 S Milwaukee in Wheeling, IL.
In a very tough competition, GM Dmitry Gurevich (rated 2nd out of 35 participants) showed a remarkable result beating all his main opponents, but one (10 out 11). He lost only one game to his own student FM Sam Schmakel.
December Chess Roundup
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- Written by Dan Leroy Dan Leroy
The holidays. A time to reflect on the year that was and the year that will be. To celebrate the season with family and friends.
The chess scene in Illinois is much like a family. Yes, it can be dsyfunctional at times, but there is definitely a lot of joy and cameraderie. A lot we can learn from one another. There were 15 tournaments within Illinois within the month of November. The largest of which was the 2011 All Grade tournament with 224 entrants. I'm sure tournament directors Jeff Wiewel and Wayne Zimmerle have at least an interesting story or two from the tournament.
Click below for a snapshot look at all the Illinois Tournaments that happened in November.