FIDE facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids
International Chess Federation
Fédération Internationale des Échecs

Abbreviation	FIDE
Formation	July 20, 1924; 100 years ago (1924-07-20) in Paris
Type	International organization
Headquarters	Lausanne, Switzerland
Membership	203 national associations
President	Arkady Dvorkovich
Deputy President	Viswanathan Anand
Budget	€17.56 million (2024)

The International Chess Federation, often called FIDE (pronounced FEE-day), is a global group based in Switzerland. It connects different national chess organizations and is the main governing body for international chess competitions. FIDE was started in Paris, France, in 1924. Its motto is Gens una sumus, which is Latin for 'We are one Family'.

In 1999, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially recognized FIDE. As of late 2023, FIDE has 201 member countries. The current world chess champion is Gukesh Dommaraju.

What FIDE Does

FIDE's most important job is organizing the World Chess Championship. They have been doing this since 1948. FIDE also holds world championships for:

Women
Juniors (young players)
Seniors (older players)
Players with disabilities

They also organize championships for faster chess games, like rapid and blitz chess.

A big event FIDE organizes is the Chess Olympiad. This is a chess tournament held every two years where national teams compete. In the years between Olympiads, FIDE also holds the World Team Chess Championship. Here, the best teams from the last Olympiad play against each other.

To decide who challenges the World Champion, FIDE organizes the Candidates Tournament. They also run qualifying tournaments for the Candidates, such as the Chess World Cup, the FIDE Grand Prix, and the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019.

FIDE sets the official rules of chess. These rules cover how the game is played and how international competitions are run. Local chess groups often use FIDE's rules, sometimes with small changes. FIDE also gives out special titles, like International Arbiter, to people who are trusted to oversee big chess tournaments.

FIDE also calculates player ratings and gives out titles to players who achieve great things in chess, such as the Grandmaster title. They also award titles to people who create or solve chess problems.

FIDE supports programs like "Chess for Freedom" and gives awards, such as the Svetozar Gligoric Award for fair play.

FIDE's Regions

FIDE divides the world into different chess regions. These include:

Main Regions

European Chess Union (ECU)
Asian Chess Federation (ACF)
African Chess Confederation (ACC)
Confederation of Chess for Americas (CCA)
Oceania Chess Confederation (OCC)

Partner Organizations

FIDE also works with many other chess groups around the world. Some of these are:

Arab Chess Federation (ACF)
Balkan Chess Federation (BCF)
Commonwealth Chess Association
International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) (for visually impaired players)
International Computer Games Association (ICGA) (for computer chess)
International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) (for chess played by mail or online)
International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA)
World Federation for Chess Composition (WFCC) (for chess problems)

Major Events

FIDE's History

Starting Years (up to 1939)

Before FIDE, there were a few tries to create a global chess group. In 1922, a Russian chess master named Eugene Znosko-Borovsky suggested a tournament during the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. On July 20, 1924, the players at this Paris tournament officially started FIDE. At first, FIDE was not very powerful and did not have much money.

In 1922, the World Champion, José Raúl Capablanca, suggested rules for world championship matches. These rules said the first player to win six games would be the champion. Many top players agreed to these "London rules."

FIDE wanted to help manage the World Championship. In 1926, FIDE decided to organize a "Chess Olympiad." The first official Chess Olympiad was held in London in 1927, with 16 teams competing. Hungary won the event.

In 1928, FIDE recognized Efim Bogoljubow as "Champion of FIDE." The reigning World Champion, Alexander Alekhine, agreed that future world title matches should be under FIDE's control. However, a match between Alekhine and Bogoljubow in 1929 was not run by FIDE.

In 1937, Max Euwe, who was World Champion at the time, suggested that if he kept his title, FIDE should manage how future challengers were chosen. There was a lot of discussion about how to pick the next challenger. Then, World War II started in 1939, which stopped international chess competitions and made FIDE inactive for a while.

From 1946 to 1993

How the World Championship Cycle Began

For many years, a new World Champion became champion by beating the old one in a match. But when Alexander Alekhine died in 1946, there was no champion. It was a confusing time, and many people had different ideas on how to pick a new champion.

The Soviet Union had many strong players and eventually joined FIDE to be part of the discussions. The solution was to hold a special tournament in 1948. This tournament included the best players from a famous 1938 tournament. Five players competed, and Mikhail Botvinnik won, becoming the new World Champion.

After this, FIDE set up a regular system for choosing challengers every three years. Players would compete in local tournaments, then bigger "Interzonal" tournaments, and finally the "Candidates Tournament." The winner of the Candidates Tournament would then play a match against the reigning World Champion.

More Countries Join FIDE

During the 1970s and 1980s, FIDE grew a lot, with many more countries joining. Each member country got one vote.

World Championship, 1983–1985

FIDE faced some challenges during the World Championship matches in the 1980s. In 1984, the match between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov was supposed to go until one player won six games. Karpov took a big lead, but Kasparov started to catch up. The match lasted for 159 days! FIDE President Florencio Campomanes decided to stop the match without a winner, saying it was for the players' health. Both players said they wanted to keep playing. Kasparov later won a new match and became World Champion.

From 1993 to 2018

World Championship Split and Reunion

In 1993, there was a big disagreement. Nigel Short won the right to challenge Kasparov for the world title. FIDE quickly arranged the match without talking to Short first. Kasparov and Short felt FIDE wasn't getting them the best deal, so they decided to play their match under a new group called the Professional Chess Association (PCA).

In response, FIDE took away Kasparov's title and removed both Kasparov and Short from its rating list. FIDE then held its own title match between Karpov and Jan Timman. So, for a while, there were two "world champions": Kasparov (PCA champion) and Karpov (FIDE champion).

Kasparov later realized that splitting from FIDE was not a good idea. Many attempts were made to bring the world championship back together. In 2006, a match was held between Vladimir Kramnik (who had beaten Kasparov for his title) and Veselin Topalov. Kramnik won, and the world championship was finally reunified.

Olympic Recognition

In 1999, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially recognized FIDE. FIDE then started using the IOC's anti-drug rules in chess, hoping that chess might one day become an Olympic sport.

Working with Commercial Partners

In 2012, FIDE made a deal with a company called Agon Limited. This company was given the rights to organize and promote the World Chess Championship and related events. Later, Agon was replaced by a new company called World Chess Limited. This partnership helped FIDE organize big tournaments.

From 2018 to Today

New Leadership for FIDE

In July 2018, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov stepped down as FIDE President after 23 years. He was replaced by Arkady Dvorkovich, an economist who had been a Russian deputy prime minister. Dvorkovich won the election in October 2018.

After Dvorkovich became president, FIDE worked to take back more control over the World Championship events. They signed a new agreement with World Chess that gave FIDE more power over the Candidates Tournament and the World Championship match. World Chess now mainly organizes the FIDE Grand Prix Series.

In August 2022, Arkady Dvorkovich was re-elected as FIDE President.