This is a discussion related to regular rating an online CFC event.
This is a discussion related to regular rating an online CFC event.
Online chess is not over the board chess
The current CFC rating rules only allow this if an arbiter is present at all playing sites. I would be reluctant to support an exception.
Paul Leblanc
Treasurer, Chess Foundation of Canada
CFC Voting Member
I am not supportive of online chess performance affecting traditional CFC ratings.
I believe there is a fundamental difference in the experience of playing OTB versus online. You have a physical board, different sightlines, you have to hit the clock, you have to write down your moves, there is body language, the shared physical environment, etc.
You could be unwittingly playing a bot in online chess, not unlike a video game, whereas, OTB is a shared human experience.
As such, there should be different ratings as the field of play is significantly different.
At the moment all online CFC tournaments are Quick Chess Rated. It seems to be popular (check the rating fees for 2020/2021).
If we can return to full over the board play then there would be no reason to consider regular rating a restricted number of online tournaments. The effect of the current situation is that ratings (aside from those who took advantage of the COVID bonus) have been frozen as of February or March of 2020. Ratings determine who is eligible for selection to teams or who can go as an official player to certain tournaments. The longer you don't give people the opportunity to play, the less relevant the CFC is and the more players you lose, some of whom might not come back after a long layoff. In normal years we lose one third of our players year over year and have to replace them. Up until the start of the pandemic, we were adding players faster than we were losing them.
At some point soon (probably a year or so) we will start to run out of money (if the pandemic continues) and have to tap the foundation for funds. This will happen sooner if we have a return to in-person FIDE olympiads which I don't see happening soon given the covid situation around the world.
We lost the book contract and we will need to look at ways to replace some of those funds perhaps by advertising on the CFC website. We have to plan for all contingencies and having some rated online play will help keep people engaged until such time as we can return to normal.
It was not renewed in the midst of the COVID pandemic because CFC members were not buying as many chess books and it did not make sense financially for the CMA to continue the arrangement. We missed two years of Canadian Opens and CYCC's where they made some money selling books.