Invitation to National Arbiter Seminar (In-person) on Aug 25th 9am-7pm

[Markham Chess Club]

We are excited to invite you to the National Arbiter Seminar hosted by the Markham Chess Club. This seminar is a unique opportunity for chess enthusiasts to achieve the National Arbiter title and gain valuable experience as an official tournament arbiter or organizer.

Event Details:

• Date: Sunday Aug 25th 2025
• Time: 9am - 7pm
• Location: 205-1020 Denison St. Markham, ON L3R 3W5
• Hosted by: Markham Chess Club
• Instructor: Hal Bond, International Arbiter

Seminar Highlights:

• In-depth training on the rules and regulations governing chess tournaments.
• Hands-on sessions on managing chess events and ensuring fair play.
• Interactive discussions and Q&A sessions with experienced arbiters.
• Official title as a National Arbiter upon successful completion of the seminar and required tournament officiating hours.

Who Should Attend:

• Aspiring chess arbiters looking to earn the National Arbiter title.
• Current arbiters seeking to update and enhance their skills.
• Chess enthusiasts interested in the administrative and regulatory aspects of the game.
• High school students who wish to gain professional and executive-level volunteer experience.

Why Attend:

• Gain official certification and recognition as a National Arbiter.
• Enhance your resume with professional and executive-level volunteer experience.
• Connect with a community of like-minded chess enthusiasts and professionals.
• Open up opportunities to officiate at local, national, and international chess tournaments.

Registration:

To register for the seminar, please complete the registration form HERE. The seminar fee is $120/person, which includes all training materials lunch and refreshments.

We warmly welcome you to join us for this enriching seminar and take the next step in your chess journey. Should you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at 905-604-5522.

Thank you for your interest and support. We look forward to seeing you there!

[Markham Chess Club]

High school chess players are especially encouraged to join us! Beyond earning volunteer hours, the professional experience you’ll gain as an arbiter in formal chess tournaments will undoubtedly be a standout addition to your university applications.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Completion of a National Arbiter course does not make you a national arbiter. It fulfills one half of the 2 recommendation requirement. Only a request from the CFC to FIDE and FIDE acceptance of that request will make you a national arbiter. The CFC has concerns that some newly minted NA's may not have the knowledge required due to a lack of experience. Victor Plotkin our FIDE rep has come up with a framework for the National Arbiter title.

CFC policy on the National Arbiter title is outlined by Victor Plotkin, our FIDE rep on the following thread:

https://www.chesscanada.info/forum/s...6238-NA-policy

A cut and paste of Victor's post below lists the requirements:

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

Any FIDE rated tournament outside of Canada is counted. CMA events counted only if they are CFC rated.

3. In certain cases CFC could waive 1 recommendation.


I would update the above to say that CMA events count if they are CFC, FQE or FIDE rated. Due to the CFC-FQE agreement FQE members are treated the same as CFC members and the same goes for FQE tournaments being treated the same as CFC tournaments.

The National Arbiter title is the minimum title required to be an arbiter at a FIDE rated tournament which is not a norm tournament. You do not have to be a NA to run a CFC event.

[Erik Malmsten]

I find 2a and 2B, arbiting 10 CFC-rated events, may take some time in areas that only have a couple of tournaments a year. So they can't help out, be"deputy" arbiters, at a FIDE-rated event, but they could arbitrate lower,non-FIDE rated sections. Any kind of certificate available for passing a course in Swiss Manager or Swiss Sys?

Another issue is perhaps for organizers: having an arbiter who has passed St. John's First Aid and police screening. It may be useful to have some kind of sexual anti-harassment class, resolving conflict resolution among players. Also, securing a site, marketing your event and press contact.

[Alex Ferreira]

Hi,

The requirements make a lot of sense. Please note that you only need to become a National Arbiter if you intend to run FIDE rated tournaments. To run FIDE rated tournaments, you probably best run just CFC rated tournaments first, whether in your local club, youth events as example. I would caution those who only have experience at youth events. While youth events have their own very real challenges, they're different. The standards / laws of chess applied are often over-looked / watered down in comparison to adult competitions. Which is understandable.

Erik, true that some regions would be lagging behind as far as opportunities / events. But experience is experience. Should CFC accept an unqualified person to have the same credentials because they're from Yukon? mmmm. What Victor Plotkin has drafted tries to bring everyone up to a certain minimum, it makes a lot of sense. I wasn't aware of the presidential exceptions, reminds me a bit of FIDE under Ilyumzhinov and Presidential wildcards at events. But alright.

In Toronto we are spoiled, and I am aware of many "newly minted NAs" here, some of them with my written recommendation.
There is a problem with a written recommendation. Who verifies it? Is someone out there handing them out like candy to unqualified people? Hopefully not. I also hope that the restrictions put in place recently were a result of "The CFC has concerns that some newly minted NA's may not have the knowledge required due to a lack of experience." -- and not something that has happened since. Alternatively CFC can step up and create their own courses / exams / etc like FIDE, in addition or in contrast of what's currently in place.

Or... perhaps even better: some people in CFC can show up at some of these tournaments and see the newly minted NAs in action.

Alex Ferreira

[Vlad Drkulec]

Each section of a multi section tournament also counts as a separate tournament. I have been relatively inactive the last two years after Covid but still managed to add 21 entries to my organizer /TD tab.

[Markham Chess Club]

This reminds me of the real estate market—many people obtain their licenses, but only about 10% work full-time and gain significant experience. Similarly, the National Arbiter seminar provides a solid foundation, but it’s the experience of officiating 10-20 tournaments that truly allows us to practice and internalize the rules and regulations from an arbiter’s perspective. Even those who earned their NA title before 2023, if they’ve been inactive for years, may no longer be as effective.

Just as a serious chess player needs to participate in at least two tournaments within three months to hone their skills, an active arbiter should ideally officiate at least one tournament per quarter to keep their skills sharp.

[Markham Chess Club]

To cultivate more chess Masters (NMs, IMs, GMs), we must create an environment where talent can thrive. This requires hosting more high-level international tournaments, which, in turn, means we need more high-level International Arbiters. These arbiters develop from FIDE Arbiters, who start their journey as National Arbiters. By increasing the number of arbiters and tournaments, we can make a significant impact on our society, encouraging more students to join the chess world. This will drive greater demand for chess coaching and foster a vibrant chess community in Canada. Let's take the first step with the National Arbiter Seminar on Sunday, August 25th, 2024! One move at a time!

[Hal Bond]

I look forward to working with everyone on Sunday. I have invited IA Omar Shah to join us as well.

[Vlad Rekhson]

I also ran a National Arbiter seminar at the end of July. We had over 40 attendees and over 20 have passed the test that I created for them. I agree that they need some experience first but in my opinion 5-10 tournaments as organizer/arbiter should be enough and I wouldn’t include experience as a player with that as this is different.

The other issue is that it’s not so easy to prove affiliation with the tournament as a non main organizer because only one person is listed on the CFC website. For example, we have one arbiter who has been directing at least 10 junior events last year but he doesn’t appear as TD on the CFC website in any of them.

also, I think CFC rules need to be updated on that in general, right now the website lists regional TDs, National TDs and there is no mention about National Arbiters (maybe it’s updated somewhere now but I couldn’t find it).