Sunday, December 23, 2007

Indian Fed Switch to FIDE Ratings

The All India Chess Federation has reportedly amended the way it selects team-members for Olympiads. Selection will now be based on players' FIDE ratings.

The AICF has decided to select the Indian team for the Olympiads based on the rating list of FIDE, the world governing body of chess. In fact, this is something the AICF should have done long, long ago. Up until now, the Indian teams — men as well as women — for the Olympiads were picked purely on the basis of the performances at the National ‘A’ championships: the top finishers make the squad (along with a few seeded players like World champion Viswanathan Anand). That is a bit like selecting Indian cricket team based solely on Challenger Trophy; pick the players with the best batting and bowling averages and leave out even a proven performer just because he was going through a bad patch or couldn’t play in the tournament because he was nursing an injury.

From The Hindu.

No comments: