The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced a change to its rating regulations that will already take effect on October 1, removing the so-called 400-point rule for players rated above 2650. The change was triggered by GM Hikaru Nakamura‘s race to qualify for the Candidates, but will affect around 70 of the world’s top grandmasters.
FIDE’s rating system continues to be a heavily debated topic in the chess world. Today, the governing chess body has announced a significant change that will go into effect from October 1, intended to address what is known as “farming” by top players. The final decision was made by the FIDE Council after a proposal by the Qualification Committee, FIDE said.
“This amendment ensures that rating adjustments at the highest level accurately reflect a player’s performance against a pool of statistically equal opponents, safeguarding professional standards set by FIDE,” they said in a statement.
♟ The FIDE Council has approved the amendments to the Rating Regulations, effective as of 1st of October, following the proposal from the Qualification Commission.
The amendment is designed to ensure the fairness and integrity of the FIDE rating system and provide a… pic.twitter.com/H312yMixWv
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 29, 2025
Since the last change in 2024, a player was never treated as more than 400 rating points higher-rated than their opponent. That meant that a top player could earn the minimum 0.8 rating points for every win against significantly weaker players.
Under the new rule, the full rating gap will always be applied for players rated above 2650. Instead of a rating gain of 0.8 per win, their expected score can now be as high as 99 percent, which equals a rating gain of 0.1 point, or 100 percent, and zero points gained if the rating difference is more than 735 points.
In other words: For the very best players, games against much lower-rated opposition will now be almost completely “rating-free” on the upside, but highly punishing in case of a draw or a loss.
The timing of the change has raised eyebrows, as it comes just weeks after Nakamura gained nine rating points from his 11 wins against players rated as low as 1800 in the Iowa Open and the Louisana State Championship this month.
The world number-two has been playing in what he described as “Mickey Mouse” tournaments in order to secure the required 40 classical games in order to qualify for the rating spot in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament.
Critics noted that this had allowed the 37-year-old to close the gap to GM Magnus Carlsen on the world rating list and reach a new rating high, without facing top-level opposition.
Carlsen himself weighed in during a Take Take Take show earlier this month, joking that his rival’s strategy is “absolutely shameless,” but “probably the right thing to do.” He added: “It looks like the system could do with some fixing.”
Carlsen on Nakamura’s Candidates run:
“I kind of admire the way he’s going about it because it’s so shameless… it’s the pragmatic and probably the right thing to do.”
“It looks like it’s a system that could do with some fixing, but I’m not part of that s*** anymore.” pic.twitter.com/ZnJZVpxSAF
— chess24 (@chess24com) September 9, 2025
FIDE CEO GM Emil Sutovsky was direct about the intentions of the change.
“No more farming,” he wrote in a tweet, adding: “If you are a 2650+ player, do prove your skill vs opponents of comparable strength. Why 2650? It is a top-100 level, and these players rarely face low-rated opponents. While, for example, GMs with 2500-2650 mostly play in large opens, and they should not suffer from the new regulations.”
No more farming.
—Emil Sutovsky
The FIDE CEO later followed up in another tweet, confirming Nakamura “triggered” the rule change.
Just to be clear.
The rule is not about Hikaru. He did trigger it, but when we started to dig, it turned out there were at least five players more of 2650+ level who, in 2024-25 regularly played events with a string of very low-rated opponents, abusing 400-points rule.
It was…
— Emilchess (@EmilSutovsky) September 29, 2025
Not everyone is convinced by FIDE’s sudden regulation change. GM David Howell labeled the reform “short-sighted and flawed” in a response to Sutovsky’s tweets:
Very short-sighted. Farming was never a big issue, and this artificial manipulation of the rating system (choosing a random cut-off point for convenience) creates far worse negative consequences.
In several follow-up tweets, Howell argued that FIDE has misdiagnosed the problem and “called the fire department to blow out a small candle.”
Punishing the whole ecosystem for one player’s choices hardly seems fair. Ironically, this will least impact the top players. This will mainly negatively affect those who are dependent on open tournaments to make a living, guaranteeing they lose points or stay away altogether.
This can be solved by a simple rule, specific to Candidates qualification, stating a minimum average of opponents’ ratings. FIDE’s announcement doesn’t look at the bigger picture. They’re punishing players lower down and negatively impacting the whole ecosystem.
— David Howell (@DavidHowellGM) September 29, 2025
While the rating change is unlikely to affect Nakamura’s real priority, which is to qualify for the Candidates by securing the required 40 games, the potential risk will now be significantly higher. A loss, or even a draw, will be more costly as the full rating gap will be applied, while no 0.8-point gains will cover the lost points.
Sutovsky added that they are also looking into ideas to adjust rules related to inactivity. One measure discussed is “rating decay,” where your rating decreases gradually if you remain inactive. That suggestion is welcomed by GM Hans Niemann.
Chess desperately needs some form of rating decay for a multitude of reasons:
1: Top players can maintain their ranking with very few games per year, preventing up and coming players from challenging them. Making it easier for them to blacklist players like myself.
2: Rating… https://t.co/GCTcUgI850
— Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) September 29, 2025
The change comes just 18 months after FIDE made major changes in the rating regulations. In March 2024, FIDE adjusted ratings for 350,000 players rated below 2000, and restored the 400-point rule for all games, in an effort to combat rating deflation and improve the accuracy of the rating system.
