chess tournament A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London 1851 chess tournament, London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard ...

s, an arbiter is an official who oversees matches and ensures that the

rules of chess The rules of chess (also known as the laws of chess) govern the play of the game of chess. Chess is a two-player Abstract strategy game, abstract strategy board game. Each player controls sixteen chess piece, pieces of six types on a chessboar ...

are followed.

International Arbiter

''International Arbiter'' is a title awarded by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

to individuals deemed capable of acting as arbiter in important chess matches. The title was established in 1951. Requirements for the title to be awarded are detailed in section B.06 of the FIDE Handbook. As well as thorough knowledge of the laws of chess and a proved impartiality, they include the ability to speak a FIDE-approved language and previous experience as an arbiter in important tournaments. International Arbiters are further categorized by FIDE into four groups, in order of experience, from group D, C, B to A. The

World Chess Federation displays the list of International Arbiters with their ID numbers, name, and title on its official website.

Notable International Arbiters

Some individuals have had careers as strong players and later become International Arbiters. Notable examples include: *

Albéric O'Kelly de Galway Albéric Joseph Rodolphe Marie Robert Ghislain O'Kelly de Galway (17 May 1911 – 3 October 1980) was a Belgium, Belgian chess Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster (1956), an International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1962), and the third ICCF ...

, Grandmaster who was third

correspondence chess Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, traditionally through the postal system. Today it is usually played through a correspondence chess server, a public internet chess forum, or email. Less commo ...

world champion before becoming an International Arbiter in 1962 and acting as Chief Arbiter at the

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

and

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

over-the-board This glossary of chess explains commonly used terms in chess, in alphabetical order. Some of these terms have their own pages, like ''#fork, fork'' and ''#pin, pin''. For a list of unorthodox chess pieces, see Fairy chess piece; for a list of ter ...

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

matches; * Lothar Schmid, Grandmaster who finished joint second with the then World Champion

Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vardani Petrosian (; ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster and the ninth World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing s ...

at Bamberg 1968 and was also a strong correspondence player before becoming an International Arbiter in 1975 and acting as Chief Arbiter in the

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, and 1986 World Championship matches. * Gideon Ståhlberg, Grandmaster who was

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

's top player for many years and refereed several of

Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik (; ; – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who held five world titles in three different reigns. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer sci ...

's world championship matches. *

Zoltán Ribli Zoltán Ribli (born September 6, 1951 in Mohács) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster and International Arbiter (1995). He was twice a World Championship Candidate and three times Hungarian Champion. A career in chess As a youngster, he was tw ...

, was a

Candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

twice and Hungarian Champion three times. *

Yuri Averbakh Yuri Lvovich Averbakh (; 8 February 1922 – 7 May 2022) was a Russian chess grandmaster and author. He was chairman of the USSR Chess Federation from 1973 to 1978. Averbakh was the first centenarian FIDE Grandmaster. Despite his eyesight and ...

, was a

and winner of the 1954 USSR Chess Championship. *

Salo Flohr Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr (November 21, 1908 – July 18, 1983) was a Czechoslovak and Soviet chess player and writer. He was among the first recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Flohr dominated many tournam ...

Nana Alexandria Nana Alexandria ( ka, ნანა გიორგის ასული ალექსანდრია, ''Nana Giorgis asuli Aleksandria''; born 13 October 1949) is a Georgian chess player. A three-time Soviet women's champion, she was the c ...

Peter Romanovsky Pyotr Arsenyevich Romanovsky (; 29 July 1892 – 1 March 1964) was a Russian and Soviet chess player and author. He won the Soviet Championship in 1923 and, jointly, 1927. Biography At the beginning of his career in Saint Petersburg, he shared f ...

Isaac Kashdan Isaac Kashdan (November 19, 1905, in New York City – February 20, 1985, in Los Angeles) was an American chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was twice U.S. Open champion (1938, 1947). He played five times for the United States in chess Oly ...

* Daniel Yanofsky * Robert Wade *

Vasja Pirc Vasja Pirc ( ; ) (December 19, 1907 – June 2, 1980) was a Yugoslav chess player. He is best known in competitive chess circles as a strong exponent of the hypermodern defense now generally known as the Pirc Defence. Pirc was champion of Yugo ...

* Milunka Lazarević

External links

Requirements for the title of International ArbiterRegulations for the classification of Chess Arbiters
{{chess *International Arbiter Chess titles 1951 in chess Awards established in 1951