How to get a FIDE Rating – Explained

After finally getting my FIDE rating last month, I looked back and noticed how few resources there were online about how to get a FIDE rating. All the articles, posts and official documents from FIDE were either about improving your FIDE rating, or just the requirements for one. In this article, I will explain not only the criteria for getting a FIDE rating, but also some practical tips I have learnt along the way. And this can be applied to getting a rapid and blitz OTB rating, so you don’t have to jump in the deep end with classical chess. Here we go! 

FIDE’s Official Requirements 

To meet FIDE’s standards, you must have played at least 5 rated games against rated opponents, and score at least half a point (0.5). Then, they will do a series of calculations based on the results and ratings of your opponents to determine your first rating.  

The catch is that this rating must be above 1400, which is the cutoff for all FIDE ratings. This means that if you don’t score well enough, those previous results will be ignored, and you will need to meet the requirements again. However, the calculations done put the odds in your favour, which means that even if you score 2/6 with an average opponent rating of 1500, you could still get a rating. 

Also, these results can be obtained across multiple tournaments in up to 26 months, so you don’t have to play in lots of tournaments for one month. There are lots of options which I will discuss later that could help you meet the requirements without having to play in weekend tournaments. 

Training Plans 

While preparing for my tournaments, I had two main things that I wanted to do before entering any sort of competition. The first was to get my skill level to around 1500 rapid on chess.com since this time control’s ratings seem to match up quite consistently to OTB classical ratings. The second was to get some experience in classical chess, as there are many things which are vastly different to online and rapid chess. 

For getting up to 1500, I used the following training methods: 

Tactics – I would do a mix of puzzle rush, to improve my reflexes and pattern recognition in a short span of time, and general rated puzzles, where I would spend as much time necessary (sometimes up to 15 minutes!) to find the correct solution and calculate everything to the very end as opposed to playing the obvious moves. 

Calculation – I would do mate in 5s, calculating each sequence and each possibility to the end, and ensuring that I had a good grasp of the different situations. If I got one wrong, I would go back and see why my move was weak, which allowed me to see what common mistakes I was making. 

Openings: I spent way too much time on openings than I should have! I learnt many different lines on Chessable, but what I would recommend is to find openings which are solid and reliable, such as the Colle System or the French Defence, as opposed to the Alien Gambit, something I would only ever use in a blitz tournament! 

Strategy: For this, I used the incredible Jeremy Silman’s “How to Reassess Your Chess,” which for me was a real game changer. I worked through the book one chapter at a time and then would play a few blitz games focusing just on that aspect of the game (e.g. minor pieces, rooks, weak squares). On the other hand, it is close to 400 pages, so as an alternative I would suggest using the chess.com lessons, where you can do lots of exercises and watch videos which makes learning more interactive. 

Endgames: I again used Jeremy Silman’s “Complete Endgame Course,” which outlines all the fundamentals, breaking this segment of the game down into the most important parts for each rating bracket. This means you aren’t studying triangulation before you have learnt ladder mate! As an alternative, the drills on chess.com are amazing for putting your knowledge into practice, and GothamChess’ videos on theoretical endgames are a particularly good starting point. 

When it comes to experience with classical chess, the best way is to head to your local chess club and speak to people about it. Finding a training partner who has already played lots of classical chess, and playing against them in this time control will teach you a lot, particularly about time management, anticipation, and the more strategic foundation needed to play this format. 

Tournaments 

In this section, I will give some practical tips about playing in tournaments, as well as choosing tournaments and actually getting the rating. 

At these tournaments, there are some common “procedures” which many players may not be aware of at first. Here is a brief list of them: 

• You have to notate your games on your scoresheet, which will most likely have a white sheet for ink and then a graphite one below which responds to the pens pressure and creates a copy for the arbiter 

• Whoever wins the game brings the extra scoresheets for both players to the organiser 

• At the end of a game, it is common practice to discuss the game with your opponent, regardless of the results – use this opportunity, as it can be a really good learning experience to see why your opponent made certain decisions, and if your opponent is higher rated you can get feedback about what areas of the game you could improve upon 

• Always arrive early, as schedules can very easily change! 

• In between rounds, rather than analysing the games you played, rest and do something unrelated to chess – at the very most do some puzzles 

• Don’t stress over opening prep – games below the 1800 level are very rarely decided by what opening is played 

• Turn off your phone before each game 

• If there is a problem, pause the clock and put your hand up, and wait for the arbiter to come to you 

When it comes to choosing a tournament, I would recommend playing in some form of Swiss event, ideally with at least five rounds. I would also say that playing in a U1600-U1800 section is better, as in an open event you could get terrible pairings and lose five straight games against 2000s.  

However, I know that many chess players have school or work and so would rather not spend a whole weekend playing five games of chess. That’s why you can find month long tournaments, where you play one game each week on a set day in the evening. This is much more flexible and means that you can learn and improve from each game before the next. 

Final Thoughts 

In conclusion, to get any sort of FIDE rating, all you need to do is get to around 1500 in that time control and then play and win some rated games. During this process, just remember that you are going to lose your share of games, but using these losses to get you even further will exponentially increase your chances of getting a solid rating. For example, I got 2.5/6 against an average of 1600 rated opponents, and that included a loss to a 1400, but I still managed to get a first rating of 1591. Good luck, and happy hunting!