Saturday 22 September 2012

FIDE Arbiter!

My application for the title of FIDE Arbiter was approved at the recent FIDE Congress in Instanbul (held alongside the Olympiad).
This means I am now officially a FIDE Arbiter!

The next step as far as arbiting titles are concerned, is the International Arbiter title.
The requirements for the title are as follows (from the FIDE Handbook):


4. Requirements for the title of International Arbiter (IA).
All of the following:
4.1 Thorough knowledge of the Laws of Chess, the FIDE Regulations for chess competitions, the Swiss Pairing Systems, the FIDE Regulations regarding achievement of title norms and the FIDE Rating System.
4.2 Absolute objectivity, demonstrated at all times during his activity as an arbiter.
4.3 Obligatory knowledge of English language, minimum at conversation level; and of chess terms in other official FIDE languages.
4.4 Minimum skills at user level to work on a personal computer. Knowledge of pairing programs endorsed by the FIDE, Word, Excel and E-mail.
4.5 Skills to operate electronic chess clocks of different types and for different systems.
4.6 Experience as chief or deputy arbiter in at least four FIDE rated events such as the following:
a. The final of the National Individual (adult) Championship (maximum two norms). 
b. All official FIDE tournaments and matches. 
c. International tournaments where FIDE title norms for players are possible. 
d. International FIDE rated chess events with at least 100 players, at least 30% FIDE rated players, and at least 7 rounds (maximum one norm) . 
e. All official World and Continental Rapid and Blitz Championships for Adult and juniors (maximum one (1) norm).
4.7 The title of the International Arbiter for each of the IBCA, ICSC, IPCA shall each be equivalent to one IA norm.
4.8 Being a match arbiter in an Olympiad is equivalent to one IA norm. No more than one such norm will be considered 
for the title.
4.9 The title of International Arbiter can be awarded only to applicants who have already been awarded the title of FIDE Arbiter.
4.10 All the norms for the IA title must be different from the norms already used for the FA title and must have been achieved after the FA title have been awarded.
4.11 At least two (2) of the submitted norms shall be signed by different Chief Arbiters.

Hopefully I have 4.1-4.5 under control already! The main qualification is 4.6, which outlines the type of events that are required for IA norms. The difficulty of this is that there are only a small number of such tournaments in Australia (the ones I can think of off the top of my head are the Australian Championships/Open, the Doeberl Cup, the Begonia Open, the Australasian Masters, the Sydney International & Oceania Zonal events). In addition, there are limits on the number of norms possible from some of these type of events. 
Having said that, I would like to be in a position to apply for such a title within the next few years, but I'll see how things progress. 

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