FIDE rated at last

I played in the Bedford Round Robin chess tournament over Columbus Day weekend in (you guessed it!) Bedford, NH. Expertly organized by Alex Relyea, Nita Patel, and Ken Ballou, the tournament consisted of two randomly assigned (but roughly balanced) ten-player round-robin sections. The goal of the tournament was to generate additional FIDE-rated players in the region.

First, an explanation of the FIDE rating system. FIDE, which is the French acronym for what translates into "World Chess Federation," is the worldwide governing body for chess. It administers the World Championship, assigns international titles (i.e., Grandmaster), and so forth. A tournament can be rated both by the national federation sponsoring it--in this case, the U.S. Chess Federation--and by FIDE, although certain conditions about the time control and the number of games in the event must be satisfied for an event to be FIDE-rateable.

One of the most vexing requirements, in my view, is that an unrated player must play at least three games against FIDE-rated players in the same event and score at least 1/3--either two draws or one win--in order to receive a provisional FIDE rating. Once you have a FIDE rating, all future games played against FIDE-rated players in FIDE-rated tournaments will be FIDE rated (no more minimums). I have previously played in a number of FIDE-rated tournaments, and even faced some FIDE-rated players, but I have always fallen short of the minimum games requirement.

But no more! Provided that each player in the section scored at least one point out of the nine games, every player in the section would receive a FIDE rating. From that standpoint, the tournament was a complete success, as all the requirements were met and approximately a dozen new FIDE ratings were issued (some of the players already had FIDE ratings).

From a chess standpoint, it was a mediocre event. I won a couple nice games, and I saved a couple draws (and even one victory) from difficult positions, but on the whole my score of +3 -3 =3 was a disappointment, especially considering I had the highest USCF rating in the section. There was a silver lining, though (beyond obtaining a FIDE rating, which truthfully was my sole goal going into the event). A couple mistakes popped up in almost all of my games at the event, bringing to light holes in my game of which I had been previously unaware. I will be much better able to target my studying now. My goal is to attain the National Master title, and I believe it is well within reach!