Qualification Commission Title Application Review

At the review of title applications by the Qualification Commission unfortunately some applications are rejected as these do not fulfill the requirements. Below we will address some issues we have encountered at the latest review. This may help arbiters and federation title officials in assessing whether a norm or application may be viable. With this, we hope to avoid disappointments of future applicants.

• A norm of which the tournament has not (yet) been rated by FIDE, will not be considered.

• When a player has an overscore in a tournament, the number of games for the title application may be increased, e.g. a norm over 8 rounds with an overscore of one point will count as a norm over 9 rounds. However, in case no norm is scored due to missing a round by a loss by forfeit, an overscore will not create a norm. See 1.4.1.c and 1.4.1.d.

• Furthermore, in case of two tournaments with each an overscore of ½ point, this does not increase the number of games. See 1.4.1.d.

• In tournaments with pre-determined pairings (such as a round robin), a norm must be based on all scheduled rounds. Thus, a norm cannot be based on 9 rounds in a 12-player round robin. See 1.4.1.e.

• The foreigner requirement may not need to be met in case the tournament has at least 20 FIDE rated players from another federation (from at least 3 different federations), of whom at least 10 hold the title of (W)GM or (W)IM. Please note that (for norms after 1 January 2022) players are only considered for this exception if they play (at least) all but one round. See 1.4.3.d.

• Please note article 1.5.6. Any title application with a norm achieved as of 1 July 2022 needs to have at least one norm that meets specific requirements, such as certain FIDE tournaments or (the final stage of) the national individual championship or an individual Swiss tournament. Such Swiss tournament should have at least 40 participants playing each round with an average rating of at least 2000 (players who do not play in more than one round are not taken into account).

• Finally, please note that we have a new form for titles and norms from Direct Title Tournaments. Please see here.