CEO of World Chess, Ilya Merenzon, commented on the FIDE and World Chess program, the ‘First Rating Experiment’. Merenzon says that the vast majority of chess amateurs cannot access FIDE ratings, and notes the difficulty of obtaining a rating through the standard path.

Ilya Merenzon

Ilya Merenzon

CEO of World Chess

“For 80% of players, a professional career is simply unavailable under the current format.

It is not enough to ask FIDE for a rating. You also need to play in a tournament. And in many countries, tournaments are not held at all. Insurmountable infrastructure and logistics problems arise.”

FIDE and World Chess announced the launch of the ‘First Rating Experiment’ program on June 23. The program aims to allow new players to earn their first official FIDE Rapid and Blitz ratings through online play. This will be the first time in history that a FIDE rating can be earned beyond over-the-board play.

The chess community criticized the program on social media. Anish Giri, David Llada, Peter Heine Nielsen, Srinath Narayanan, Chris Bird, and others expressed doubts about the program.

Credit: Harry Gielen