FIDE
FIDE, the Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation, is the international body that publishes the Laws of Chess, keeps the rating lists and awards titles, working through its member national federations.
Also called: World Chess Federation
FIDE sits at the top of organized chess. Its Handbook gathers the regulations that matter to players: the Laws of Chess, the Rating Regulations, the Title Regulations and many rules for events. The Laws were adopted by a FIDE Congress, and the Preface notes that member federations can ask FIDE for rulings on them. The Rating Regulations and Title Regulations are maintained through FIDE's Qualification Commission under the FIDE Council, which can change them. For a player, the effects are concrete. Your FIDE rating comes from games in events registered through your national federation. Titles such as International Master and Grandmaster are awarded by FIDE, and they are valid for life once confirmed. Players listed under the code FID are accepted as opponents in norm games, but do not count as foreign players. The Handbook also holds fair-play rules, online-chess regulations and the regulations for FIDE's own competitions. To use FIDE material correctly, remember that the Handbook is a living document: regulations are dated by their effective date, and a rule that applied to last year's tournament can have changed. When you quote a number such as a rating threshold, check the current edition first.
Compare it with USCF. The USCF, now branded US Chess, is the official governing body for chess in the United States, a nonprofit that represents the country in FIDE and maintains the national rating system most American tournament players are measured by.
Rating and title terms like "FIDE" matter once you know your next step, and the improvement plans by rating band set out a weekly routine for each rating range.
Related terms
A FIDE rating is the Elo-based number that the World Chess Federation publishes each month for players with rated games, with a published minimum of 1400, and it is the rating that FIDE titles are measured against.
A national federation is the chess body that represents a country within FIDE; players register through it to appear on the rating list, and it applies for titles and reports rated tournaments for them.
The rules of chess are the Laws of Chess, the document FIDE publishes that sets out how pieces move, how a game ends, how clocks and records work, and how arbiters handle problems.
Grandmaster is the highest title FIDE awards for over-the-board standard chess, earned through a rating of at least 2500 reached at some time together with qualifying norms, or through certain event results.
International Master is the second-highest FIDE open title, below Grandmaster, earned through IM norms and a rating of at least 2400 reached at some time, or through certain event results.
A title requirement is a condition that FIDE sets for awarding a title, such as a rating level, a number of rated games, a performance result or an approved event.
Guides that go further
How the Candidate Master, FIDE Master, International Master and Grandmaster titles are earned, with every Handbook clause.
Check one tournament against the FIDE norm rules, with every Handbook clause.
The Handbook rules for a first FIDE rating: five rated games, the 1400 floor, the two 1800 draws and a worked example.
Sources
- FIDE Laws of Chess (effective 1 January 2023), Preface 0.1 and 0.2, read Oct 21, 2026.
- FIDE Handbook B02 FIDE Rating Regulations (effective 1 March 2024), Articles 0.1 to 0.2 and 10.1, read Oct 21, 2026.
- FIDE Handbook B01 FIDE Title Regulations (effective 1 January 2024), Articles 0.3 and 0.4, read Oct 21, 2026.
- FIDE Handbook B01 FIDE Title Regulations (effective 1 January 2024), Article 1.4.2, read Oct 21, 2026.
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