Of Understanding Our Growth and Progress - FIDE Rating

I like to write hence the reason I put up my blog. And now that I am back in chess again – especially in MCF, I would probably have a better view about the progress and development of chess in the country. Aside from chess, I also like doing my job, something which I have done for almost 20 years now. I would probably prefer my previous task rather than my current one – it is still in the same department but with different focus area, as my previous job deals more with numbers compare to the current one which deals more with people and management. So, for this one, I am going to combine the two and hope it will make some sense. The focus of the topic will be related to FIDE rating but, to a certain extent, it also relates to other matters i.e. selection, National Rating, development, etc. But, let me start first and you can figure it out yourself later.

The general impression that many has is the fact that, with more FIDE rated events in Malaysia, it can help to develop the growth, quality and talent of our local chess community. We are proud to have many chess players who are FIDE rated, and many are generally happy that we are using only FIDE rating as our means of evaluating the performance of our players. And of course, we are also eager to send our children for FIDE events abroad. On the same, many parents are also eager to have their son or daughters to be FIDE rated as it means, our child achievement is recognized worldwide. 

So, is this the correct strategy to move forward with, to have as many players to be rated by FIDE and to continue having many more events sanctioned by FIDE in the country? And, in the end of this all, if we were to follow this idea, will it help us to become a better chess nation?

Let us look at the numbers and I leave if for you to decide.

According to the latest listing, there are 879,112 chess players currently registered under FIDE from 192 countries around the world. India is the leading country with 86,413 players registered with FIDE followed by Russia at 84,714 players and France at 60,001 players. But the surprising thing is that Malaysia sits at number 17 with 10,501 players registered – the highest in ASEAN, beating Philippines who is a distant second at 4,623 players. As a comparison, Philippines is the 40^thcountry with the highest number of FIDE players but Philippines has 13 GMs to boast while we are yet to produce even a single one. Interesting to note that 18 of the top 20 countries with the highest FIDE population has no less than 10 GMs per country – the exception being Sri Lanka and Malaysia as we are both without any GM. And with that, Sri Lanka is the only country without GM who has a higher FIDE population than Malaysia at 14,900 players and they are ranked 13^thcountry in the world. We can probably boast about our numbers but what about quality?

In terms of the number of players with FIDE rating, only 22% of our population has some sort of FIDE rating which ranked us at number 165^thin the world. The only other country worse than us in the top 20 is Turkey who is worse than us by a mere 0.2%. Even Sri Lanka is higher at 24% and by comparison, German has 70% of its population rated and Cuba at 76% of its players rated, ranking them 5^thand 2^ndrespectively.

On the same, only 10% of our players (with FIDE rating) are active players whereas the balance 90% are either not active or active but without any rating making us the 154^thcountry in the world with the highest number of active rated plyers. 

Our rating average (for all players regardless if they are active or otherwise) is 1497.3 – making us to be number 175^thin the world but, we should not be disheartened because India is ranked 186^thin the world at 1354.5 so by average, we are stronger than India. But, if we look only at active players, we are ranked 176^thin the world at an average rating of 1403.2 – a drop of almost 94 points but India’s ranking improved to 183^rdin the world at 1298 rating point, dropping only 56 points. 

For the Juniors below the age of 12, we ranked 88^thin the world at an average strength of 1189 rating points. Comparing with our neighbors, Indonesia is ranked 11^thin the world at an average strength of 1464 point and Vietnam is 25^th in the world with an average FIDE rating of 1371 points. 

We fare even worse in the Under 16 category with a world ranking of 123^rdin the world with an average strength of 1271 points. By comparison, our neighbor Philippines is 45^thin the world with an average strength of 1443 points, Vietnam at 33^rdrank with an average strength of 1485 and Indonesia is 2^ndin the world with an impressive average strength of 1694 points per player.

From the perspective of growth, Malaysia does have a larger population of Junior players. We are ranked 19^thin the world with the highest percentage of U12 FIDE registered players comparing against our overall FIDE population. In comparison, Vietnam is 10^thin the world, Singapore is 22^ndin the world and Indonesia 109^thin the world. 

For total number of Junior players below the age of 20, we stand at number 12^thin the world with 65% of our players population comprising of players in this age group. However, Singapore beat us to be at 8^thin the world (at 68%), and Vietnam at 10^thin the world (at 65%). Indonesia ranked 98^thin the world and Philippines at 88^thin the world.

Of course, there are a lot more to look at, and of course, we need to focus more in comparing our performance against our regional neighbors. That will be the focus of my next writing and I am already seeing some interesting figures.

Based on these numbers, while we can brag about having the quantity, there is much to be improved in terms of our quality. For me, the argument that the more FIDE rated players we have therefore our quality of play will also improve, does not seem to jive. While we are promoting and eager to get our players to earn the title of “FIDE Rated Players” and to hold many “FIDE Rated events”, is this move doing justice to our players? Is it a true reflection of our strength and our so called growth? 

To me, growth is not about numbers or quantity, but it is about quality and strength. Development needs to be properly outlined and we need to have focus on the way we manage our younger chess population, and those who are eager to be known as “FIDE Rated players”.

I sincerely feel that having a National Rating would curb and control the growth of having too many FIDE rated players – who just seems to fill up the numbers but lacks the quality. And I also feel that sending players to International events need to be justified – again to ensure that the growth is in the right direction and to focus on quality and not so much of quantity.

My conclusions are mostly based on the numbers that I see and I am sure, there are people out there who may have a different point of view. So, what do you think?