FIDE Arena Titles – Frivolous and not worth the money
For someone like me, it’s pretty safe to say I will not attain a “formal” FIDE title, even a low tier one like FIDE Master (FM) . I have been most of my life at ELO 1700 only recently been bumped up to ELO 1800 because of FIDE rating “adjustments”. An FM title requires at least an ELO of 2300. CM is in the realm of possibilities but I personally see that as titles kids attain when they win some junior event.
Consequently, It is definitely attractive to get an “online” title awarded no less than FIDE themselves like AGM, AIM, AFM and ACM. All you have to do is play a number of games and attain a particular FIDE Arena online rating.
I currently have a starting rating of 1793 on FIDE Arena and according to their chart should be of AIM strength. I just have to play 150 bullet games and maintain an online rating of 1700. Heck even AGM title is within reach with a little effort and training.
FIDE markets the title as “usable” in that you are recognized and the title appears in your FIDE rating profile. And nowadays almost all FIDE rated tournaments will even list your title beside your name in the starting list or pairing list.
But that’s the extent of the “recognition” given.
Of course, FOA (FIDE Online Arena) titles are not totally valueless. I imagine them compared to the official FIDE title in the following scale based on actual ELO rating and not online rating :
Take note, the above is totally arbitrary and based on what I think the scale looks like because it’s not mentioned by FIDE anywhere in their website.
Based on that scale, it’s totally feasible an actual FIDE Master can trounce an Arena Grandmaster.
Also you need to pay EURO 50 (used to be EURO 25 – 2 years ago) for an annual FOA subscription in order to be qualified for the title.
Personally I think the titles are totally a waste of money for a club player like me. But I guess this depends heavily on who you are also. If you are someone young and want to get an initial title as well as if you are parents and want your chess kids to have that additional motivation of getting FIDE titles then it can be a good thing.
Who knows? As a blogger I may take it as a challenge and simply try to get one of these titles to show how easy (or hard) it can be!
