FIDE migration – update & FIDE conversion formula

Following up on our plan to migrate to a FIDE-only rating system, the FIDE council has approved the conversion formula to convert national ELO to FIDE ELO.

At the moment of the migration, players without FIDE ELO, but with national ELO, will see the following formula applied to calculate their FIDE ELO based on their national ELO:

FIDE ELO = national ELO – 2

For most players, this formula does not apply

We refer to the migration proposal, and retake below how this migration will affect a player’s ELO:

• Players with existing FIDE ELO will keep their FIDE ELO as is.
  By far the majority of (active) players is in this situation. They will just keep their existing FIDE ELO.
• Affiliated players without FIDE ELO but with national ELO will have their national ELO converted to FIDE ELO using a standardized formula based on statistical analysis by FIDE. National ELO and FIDE ELO are very similar, so no significant changes should be expected.
  This is the group of players that will see the above formula applied
• Players without a national ELO but with a game history (<5 games played) will only have their FIDE games converted to the FIDE ELO game history
• Non-affiliated players with LastGames since 2015 (10 year history), without FIDE ELO but with old national ELO, will have their national ELO converted to FIDE ELO, provided they already have a FIDE ID.
  Also this group of players will see the above formula applied.

When is this migration planned?

July 1st 2026, but this timing might still shift forward with 1 month when your rating officer and the RBCF board see sufficient benefit in it, provided RBCF and FIDE are ready to execute the migration.