Discussion item 5A5 National Arbiter title requirements

[Vladimir Drkulec]

This discussion item was added at the request of FIDE rep and Masters representative Victor Plotkin.

[Victor Plotkin]

Vlad, thank you for adding this item with short notice.

Until a few months ago, NA title was granted almost automatically after application from provincial associations. I remember the long list from ACA which I submitted to FIDE.

A few months ago, some CFC officers initiated a discussion about NA and how CFC should deal with applications for this title. Some officers proposed a requirement of 2 recommendations from experienced (IA/FA) arbiters. I did not actively participated in this discussion, but found this requirement pretty logical and started implementing this approach.

Last 2-3 months I got many applications for this title and managed some conversations with provincial associations (Quebec, BC, Alberta). Some of them have problems with not enough active IA/FA who can give such a recommendation based on tournament experience.

I want the CFC to create a clear and transparent system which treats everyone equally.

CFC NM/CM system is a good example of this. Very simple, logical and effective.

[Vlad Rekhson]

I have been getting a good number of requests in Alberta. Currently, I believe that I am the only (somewhat) active IA/FA in the province so as Victor mentioned the two recommendations won’t work for us very well. Instead, for the past 10 years or so we had an NA course and exam which people could attend. In the past whoever passed the exam could apply for the title from CFC. Currently, Victor indicated that passing the exam would count as one recommendation which makes sense to me. As the qualifications have changed and I did have some people asking for recommendation without actually running events, I also feel that there should be some requirement that they either run a tournament or assist with one before the recommendation can be made.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Putting some checkboxes to check for candidates:

• Age 16 years old (come directly from FIDE requirement)
• CFC member
• Played in CFC or FIDE rated event (X) times (learning by observing)
• Arbitrated CFC rated tournament (Y) times (applying learned stuff);

X and Y could be 5 and 3 or something in that scale.

Another recommendation could be from the CFC office regarding submitted events (if the chief TD) - on-time results and payment; etc.

[Paul Leblanc]

The situation in BC is similar to Alberta. We have one IA and an FA who is only occasionally available. I believe that a recommendation from an IA or FA and a second recommendation from the provincial federation President should suffice. There could be guidelines that a candidate has run or assisted in X number of CFC rated tournaments and shown the ability to apply the FIDE rules of chess, use pairing software and set and adjust chess clocks.

[Victor Plotkin]

My proposal:

1. Recommendations

a. 2 recommendations from IA/FAs based on tournament experience

b. Seminar + test = 1 recommendation

c. Provincial president's recommendation + any NA recommendation = 1 recommendation

2. Tournament experience as arbiter/player

a. At least 10 tournaments as an arbiter/organizer

b. At least 20 tournaments as an arbiter/organizer/player

3. In certain cases CFC could waive 1 recommendation.

[Paul Leblanc]

I support this proposal

[Paul Leblanc]

May I add that if the Provincial President is an NA that meets para 1.c

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

a. At least 10 tournaments as an arbiter/organizer

b. At least 20 tournaments as an arbiter/organizer/player

These numbers are quite high. FIDE does not require so many tournaments even for FAs and IAs.

On a formality note - will this require a motion from VMs, or the execs can adopt the policy and move on?

[Victor Plotkin]

These numbers are quite high. FIDE does not require so many tournaments even for FAs and IAs.

On a formality note - will this require a motion from VMs, or the execs can adopt the policy and move on?

We will count every CFC rated event with any Time Control, not only FIDE-rated tournaments.

I don't think we need a motion right now, as we can learn how it works for a few months.