Firouzja playing in Rouen, FIDE changes tournament registration procedure

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
12/27/2023 – Alireza Firouzja has not given up. After failing to surpass Wesley So in the ratings list in a series of matches in Chartres, the youngster withdrew from the World Rapid and Blitz Championship and registered to participate in an open tournament in Rouen, France. The tournament is a 7-round Swiss Open, with Gata Kamsky (rated 2634) and Li Min Peng (2562) the second and third seeds, respectively. In the meantime, FIDE published a reviewed tournament registration procedure. | Photo: Europe Echecs
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One more try

Looking to get a spot in the Candidates via rating, Alireza Firouzja participated in a hastily organized series of matches in Chartres. After scoring 5½/6 points and failing to surpass Wesley So in the last hurdle — a draw against Sergey Fedorchuk prevented him from reaching the perfect score he needed — Firouzja withdrew from the World Rapid and Blitz Championship and registered to play in a classical open tournament in Rouen, France.

The 20-year-old kicked off the 7-round Swiss with three wins in a row, grabbing 0.8 rating points against Philippe Andreu (rated 1686), keeping his rating after beating Alex Konidakis (1858) — according to FIDE rules, he can only gain 0.8 points against a much lower-rated opponent once in a tournament — and gaining 0.3 points against Maxime Marie (2219).

In round 4, Firouzja is set to face fourth seed Hugo Tirard. If he wins, he is very likely to play Gata Kamsky, the second seed, in the next round.

The tournament runs until Friday, December 29.

FIDE approves changes to tournament registration procedure

In the meantime, FIDE published a last-minute modification to the procedure to register tournaments. In the new procedure, “a tournament and its playing schedule must be registered not later than 30 days before the tournament starts, if one of the players in the tournament is rated in excess of 2700, or a female player rated in excess of 2500”.

Such clarifications and hasty changes tarnish the reputation of the World Championship cycle. We hope that the International Federation learns from these mistakes and improves the procedure for the next cycles (getting rid of the wildcard spot in the Candidates was a step in the right direction, surely).

After all, Firouzja is playing by the rules, while So can only sit and watch as his qualification to the most important event of next year depends on whether his colleague gets to beat much lower-rated opposition in a tournament that he would not have played under almost any other circumstances.

The full revised procedure as published by FIDE:

The FIDE Council reviewed the tournament registration procedure and approved some changes, effective immediately (see FIDE RATING REGULATIONS). These changes primarily concern the tournaments, with at least one of the participants having a rating of 2700+.

0.2 The tournaments to be rated shall be pre-registered by the federation in whose territory it is held, and they will be responsible for the submission of results and rating fees. Council may additionally designate these rights and responsibilities to Affiliated Organisations that are representing an autonomous territory which is contained within no more than one Federation.

The tournament and its playing schedule must be registered:

0.2.1 Not later than 30 days before the tournament starts, if one of the players in the tournament is rated in excess of 2700, or a female player rated in excess of 2500.

0.2.2 Otherwise, three days before the tournament starts.

The QC Chairman may refuse to register a tournament.

Exceptions to permit tournaments to be rated even though it is registered later than the prescribed notice period may be granted:

0.2.3 Tournaments in category 0.2.1: With the approval of the President

0.2.4 Tournaments in category 0.2.2: With the approval of the QC Chairman

All tournaments played under Hybrid conditions as described in 2.1 must be approved individually by the QC Chairman.

In exceptional cases involving tournaments with an average rating in excess of 2700, after consultation with the QC Chairman, the Council or the President may approve tournaments or individual games for rating which have not been submitted for rating by the national federation.

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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