The chess community criticized the program by FIDE and World Chess, the ‘First Rating Experiment’. Players of various skill levels and content creators left comments under FIDE’s official post. Anish Giri pointed out a logical inconsistency in the program:

Anish Giri

Anish Giri

Netherlands' No. 1

“This literally says, ‘earn [] over-the-board rating [] online’…”

Photographer and Journalist David Llada believes FIDE is desperate:

David Llada

David Llada

Photographer, Journalist

“I didn’t expect FIDE to be THIS desperate…”

Peter Heine Nielsen calls the program a shady backroom deal, and notes that it could hurt chess:

Peter Heine Nielsen

Peter Heine Nielsen

Danish coach

“No public tender, FIDE elections in a few months… This is not how one operates in a transparent democracy, by instead chooses shady backroom deals favouring individuals, but hurting the game of chess…”

Indian GM Srinath Narayanan questions the effectiveness of fair-play checks, and believes that online and over-the-board ratings should not be mixed:

Srinath Narayanan

Srinath Narayanan

Indian GM

“Very skeptical about the efficacy of fair-play checks. Online play and over-the-board ratings shouldn’t be mixed.”

CEO of World Chess, Ilya Merenzon, responded to the criticism on social media. Merenzon says the program is about access, and notes that in about 50 countries there are almost no rated players.

Ilya Merenzon

Ilya Merenzon

CEO of World Chess

“We announced a huge initiative, a path to potentially convert online rating into Blitz and Rapid over-the-board up to 1800. Right now, there are only 250,000 active rated players in the world — and in 50 countries there are almost no rated players at all! This initiative is about access, but of course, not everyone approves…”

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.

Credit: Michal Walusza / FIDE