The recent decision by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) to change the long-debated 400-point rule for top grandmasters has sparked an outcry, with accusations of “stealing” rating points and warnings that the system is losing credibility.
This week, it was announced that players rated 2650+ no longer benefit from the 400-point rule in rating calculations. Instead, the full rating gap of the opponent will be applied, which increases the risk and reduces the gain from winning.
FIDE CEO GM Emil Sutovsky defended the change by saying it was made to prevent “farming.” He admitted it was “triggered” by GM Hikaru Nakamura‘s race to qualify for the Candidates by playing in lower-level U.S. tournaments, where he earned nine rating points last month.
However, the revision has led to critical reactions from players and fans. IM Levy Rozman, better known as the world’s biggest chess YouTuber with 6.7 million subscribers, also weighed in with a video.
“This is a big problem because in the chess world, tournaments are invitation-only,” Rozman said, adding: “To make it to the invitation list, how do you do that? How do you gain all that rating? How do you get to 2760 FIDE if you are now not incentivized to play regular open tournaments in your home country, for example?”
Rozman also noted that this is not the first time players have rushed last-minute in order to pick up the coveted rating spot for the Candidates. In 2023, GM Alireza Firouzja scored 7/7 in a local tournament in France to wrap up qualification for the 2024 Candidates Tournament.
In 2022, GM Ding Liren had to play 26 more rated games in a month in order to meet the requirements to take the rating spot. He played in local double round-robin tournaments organized by the Chinese Chess Federation to meet the requirement of at least 30 games.
Nakamura was also blunt about his views in a YouTube video on his channel.
“The fact of the matter is: I am not super young. I don’t have time to go and play long chess tournaments which are nine rounds or more,” Nakamura explained.
“I make much more money from streaming and content creation than I do as a professional chess player. That is the reality. Shame on chess for not having more money, and shame on FIDE for not doing more for the game.”
Shame on FIDE for not doing more for the game.
—Hikaru Nakamura
The controversy also deepened when it turned out that the 400-point rule wasn’t the only major change FIDE made, as observed by U.S.-based Ukrainian GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, one of the world’s strongest blitz players and ranked sixth with 2793 on FIDE’s September list. Together with clubmate GM Daniel Naroditsky, who finished ninth in the 2024 World Blitz Championship and is currently ranked 23rd in the world, they regularly dominate monthly blitz tournaments organized by Charlotte Chess Center.
However, they noticed that in the end of September something mysterious had happened. “FIDE just stole my points! How can they go back in time and steal all my ratings? Nonsense!” Bortnyk wrote on X/Twitter. Naroditsky shared the post and confirmed points vanished for him as well.
Documenting this achievement with another case; not every day does the International Chess Federation solve the mystery of time travel! Now, if they’d be so kind as to help me get to 1858, so I can experience Paul Morphy’s genius firsthand https://t.co/WFwGv3Rj2t pic.twitter.com/mtGZuYEHbq
— Daniel Naroditsky (@GmNaroditsky) September 29, 2025
Sutovsky was quick to respond to Bortnyk’s post on X/Twitter, denying allegations of theft. “FIDE didn’t rob you. It never applies rules retroactively,” he insisted.
The FIDE CEO referred to a little-known change of blitz and rapid regulations ahead of the December 2024 ratings, which revealed the new “600-point rule” had been implemented:
Games played between players with a rating difference of 600 points or more shall not be rated if at least one of the players is rated above 2600 on the relevant list.
The FIDE CEO noted that Bortnyk had faced significantly weaker players. “Alex, you are a fantastic blitz player, but most of your rating gains in the last years came from playing hundreds of games vs. opposition of nearly 1000 points below.”
“I don’t ‘farm.’ I just play in blitz tournaments. There are not many tournaments around the world, especially in the USA. We just play, and a lot of strong grandmasters come and play here as well,” Bortnyk explained on Take Take Take’s Titled Tuesday broadcast on Tuesday.
“I don’t ‘farm.’ I just play in blitz tournaments.
—Oleksandr Bortnyk
Sutovsky noted that few had paid attention to the change back then and blamed the loss of rating points one year later on a technical error.
“What happened is that the algorithm was poorly adjusted and kept calculating ratings as if such a provision did not exist,” he said. “This is our fault. But this technical mistake is not ‘stealing rating’ and is totally different from applying the rules retroactively.”
This technical mistake is not ‘stealing rating’ and it is totally different from applying the rules retroactively.
—Emil Sutovsky
British grandmaster and prolific Chess.com commentator GM David Howell has been a vocal critic of scrapping the 400-point rule and was not convinced by the argument.
Emil, this is literally the definition of the word. Once a rating has been officially published and used, amending it later is retroactive.
— David Howell (@DavidHowellGM) September 30, 2025
Sutovsky responded, noting Howell does not have a legal background. “While FIDE legal department was very clear about that. Calculating ratings properly even with a significant delay has nothing to do with applying new rule retroactively.”
Former Polish Champion GM Bartlomiej Macieja has long been a critic of FIDE on rating issues. In a public post on his Facebook account, he warned that FIDE’s repeated mid-cycle adjustments and “ad-hoc fixes” undermine trust in the rating system itself.
He listed four objections to the change, with the first one pointing out that this is the fourth time the 400-point rule has been changed. “If you were a 2700 player, then it would be already the 4th wording of the ‘400 rule’ for you in the last 4 years. Would it make you feel confident that they ‘finally got it right’?
Recent changes of the 400-point rule:
Until December 31, 2021: A difference in rating of more than 400 points shall be counted for rating purposes as though it were a difference of 400 points.
From January 1, 2022 to February 29, 2024: A difference in rating of more than 400 points shall be counted for rating purposes as though it were a difference of 400 points. In any tournament, a player may benefit from only one upgrade under this rule, for the game in which the rating difference is greatest.
From March 1, 2024 until September 30, 2025: A difference in rating of more than 400 points shall be counted for rating purposes as though it were a difference of 400 points.
From October 1, 2025: A difference in rating of more than 400 points shall be counted for rating purposes as though it were a difference of 400 points for players rated below 2650. For players rated 2650 and above, the difference between ratings shall be used in all cases.
The Polish grandmaster also pointed out that there was no analysis provided of the potential consequences, unlike in 2024 when statistician Jeff Sonas was involved.
In a response to GM David Smerdon, who is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Queensland in Australia, Sutovsky acknowledged that no simulations were made but argued they weren’t necessary.
With respect, Elo is a complex, interdependent system where small changes can have unexpected consequences. I would argue every proposal should be first tested via sims. It’s like playing a novelty without checking it with an engine – maybe your intuition is right, but maybe not.
— David Smerdon (@dsmerdon) September 30, 2025
Macieja argued in his third objection that the Elo formula is known to misrepresent expected scores when a rating gap is very large, consistently underestimating a lower-rated player’s chance. “Literally, the 2650+ players will be expected to lose rating when facing low-rated players, which is not what a good rating system should predict.”
Sutovsky explained in a later tweet that the decision was taken by a “special task force” consisting of members from FIDE’s Qualification Committee and members of the FIDE Management Board. He noted that they have “massive knowledge of the professional chess world” and “understanding of the tiny details.”
While admitting FIDE doesn’t always make correct decisions, the FIDE CEO dismissed some of the criticism, hitting back at critics: “Do you really believe someone who never analyzed the data behind it, who either does not know half of the facts, or conveniently forgets to mention them, someone who just briefly looked at it and jumped to a conclusion—or someone who indeed just looking for another drama—is properly qualified to judge our decisions?”
“Do you really believe someone who never analyzed the data (…), who … does not know half the facts, (…) just looking for drama (…) is properly qualified to judge our decisions?”
—Emil Sutovsky
Asked about the criticism, Sutovsky told Chess.com they will review Macieja’s proposals.
“We need to come up with a formula that will not only be objective, reflect players’ strength and close loopholes, but should be clear for players and spectators,” he said. “It should not become impossible to grasp, and the level of complexity is one of the important factors. “
“Bartek came up with sophisticated proposals on various matters, which aim to perfect the matters, but often that comes at a heavy price, becoming too difficult to follow,” he said.
