FIDE inaugurates new Chess Rapid and Blitz Rating Lists
Today June 30, one day early, FIDE published the new chess rating lists. The big novelty is that new Rapid and Blitz rating lists have been inaugurated! So each player who plays all speeds of chess will have 3 ratings. In my case (see Alexandra Kosteniuk’s official FIDE rating page), on July 1, 2012 I will have 2472 ELO for classical chess (that’s +15 vs. last list), and I enter the Rapid list with 2568 ELO, and the Blitz list with 2505 ELO, which gives an average of 2515 ELO. I think that it is a great idea to have different rating lists for different styles of chess (classical, rapid, and blitz), as it is a fact that players have different success in different styles of play. In my case, I am close to 100 ELO stronger in rapid chess, which was obtained in having good success in most recent top level Rapid tournaments. Do you agree it is a good idea to have different chess ratings for classical, rapid and blitz chess? Please write your opinion in the comments or vote on the issue on www.chesspolls.com.
Definitions:
Rapid Chess: 15 to 60 minutes per player, sometimes with a small time increment per move (e.g. 10 seconds).
Blitz Chess: 15 minutes or less per side. Usually sudden death (no increment), but may also be played with a small increment. More recently due to the influx of digital clocks, 3 minutes with a 2-second add is also preferred.
Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk's Rating Card on July 1, 2012
Tags: Alexandra Kosteniuk, chess rating, FIDE, Rating
Posted in Chess | 11 Comments »
According to the FIDE site: “Rapidplay”: each player must have at least 15 minutes, but less than 60 minutes thinking time; or the time allotted + 60 times any increment or delay is at least 15 minutes, but less than 60 minutes for each player. “Blitz games”: each player has at least five minutes, but less than 15 minutes, after adjustment for any increment or delay mode. Thus, the time control of 3 minutes plus 2 second increment or all the moves in 5 minutes is acceptable.