to FIDE rate, or not to FIDE rate
that is a no brainer, in my opinion!
You play chess. You want to find out how well you are doing compared to the thousands of other players out there? Get a RATING. Just play as few as* five games in rated tournaments.
There are domestic ratings (English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish) which cover club matches and most tournaments (so you can compare yourself to other players locally, and sometimes update every so often), and International (FIDE) ratings, which cover the whole world and updates every month. So with an international rating you can compare your progress to that of World Champioon Magnus Carlsen!
In the UK there are plenty of FIDE rated events - far more per capita than some other English-speaking countries, and the distances between events are a great deal smaller than say Australia or the USA. All my events are usually FIDE rated, blitz, rapid or weekenders.
Yet a lot of English events (probably true in other areas) are still not FIDE rated. In the particular case of rapid chess tournaments (usually take a day for 6 rounds, about half an hour per player for the game) this MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER AND REALLY BUGS ME. Stay with me…
If you are mad enough to want to organise a tournament (some of us are) and you run a weekend tournament (AKA a “congress”, or a “standard” event), and want players to gain their first FIDE rating, yes there is some admin to do, and perhaps the risk of a small bill from the English Chess Federation (ECF) after the event. For the English players there is the requirement to be Gold or Platinum members of the ECF to take part in weekenders. If you don’t charge players that supplement, you will have to pay it personally.
However for rapid chess tournaments the requirement for all players, whether or not the event is FIDE rated, is Silver or above. The ECF registration form for the event is the same. There is a small supplement for non members. Then, all you need is an arbiter who is registered with the ECF as a National Arbiter, and the ECF will register them in turn with FIDE. After the event there is just one more submission to make in addition to your usual ECF rating submission, to the ECF International Rating Officer (you can generate these reports automatically from Swiss Manager, see below), and there you go - your first FIDE rated rapid tournament is done!
*There is one problem with FIDE. Only games played against a player who is ALREADY rated count for FIDE rating. (ECF = all games) So if you live in an area where very few people have a FIDE rating, then even if all the tournaments you play in are FIDE rated, you will find it harder to find the minimum 5 rated opponents you need to eventually earn that coveted FIDE rating on ratings.fide.com. Where I am in North West London, we have so many tournaments that more or less everyone gets a rating after a few events. When I run a tournament in Sheffield or Swindon, the number of rated players, especially in the lowest sections, drops sharply.
The solution.
FOR ORGANISERS
All rapid tournaments should be FIDE rated. It’s simple. If you are unsure of anything, ask me! YOU WILL GET MORE PLAYERS. Players travel huge distances to play weekenders and internationals. They travel impressive distances to play FIDE rapid tournaments. Organise one in your area!
Learn to use a program like Swiss Manager to run your events. In conjunction with Chess Results this is a low cost way to improve your tournaments. Here is my FAQ / help file, which might be useful. It’s worth every Euro…
FOR PLAYERS
Be prepared to travel, usually South, but also to cities where the rated players congregate like London or Birmingham.
Play up a section - unless you are just starting out, this might give you access to more rated players. So play in the Major, Not the Minor - you may not win a prize (who knows?) but you will get a few games against FIDE rated players and be on your way.