The Malaysian Chess Federation encourages all chess players in Malaysia to sign-up and register as an active individual recognized by the Federation. The registration is open to all Malaysians and Non-Malaysians who plans to become an active chess participant in the Malaysian chess community – be it as a Player, an Arbiter, a Trainer, or an Organizer.
Registration can be done by going the MCF Rating website – we will provide the link later, and you can choose to register either as a Player, Arbiter, Trainer and/or Organizer.
To register as Arbiter and/or Trainer, you must first obtain the necessary title from FIDE – such as International Arbiter (IA) or FIDE Trainer (FT), before your application can be approved. Local coaches who do not have a title but would like to register as a recognized Trainer will have the opportunity to do so once MCF introduces a Trainer Certification which is expected to roll out later in the year.
To register as Organizer, aside from having an Arbiter title (IA/FA or NA), the applicant is also required to submit a short overview of the events that he/she have organized (at least 5 events – a mix of Online and Over the Board events in the last 2 years) before the Organizer title can be awarded.
Once you have completed your registration, a verification link will be sent to your registered email address for confirmation purposes. The approval process will take approximately five (5) to seven (7) working days for it to be verified by the Malaysian Chess Federation and for your registration to be accepted.
Please take note that registering as an Arbiter, Trainer or Organizer will also identify you as a Player.
Each registration is valid for two (2) years and needs to be renewed at the end of the term.
This is an initiative by MCF to help in its effort to monitor and evaluate the proper growth and development of chess in Malaysia including to regulate and administrate better governance for the local chess community. When the National Rating program was discontinued in 2017, it was impossible for the Federation to understand how the chess community has grown in the last few years. The introduction of the MCF Registration system together with the MCF Rating System, will help the Federation to overcome these challenges and allow for a more structured way of managing the progression and improvement of our chess community and playing standard.
The registration will also allow the Federation to provide and introduce more benefits and activities for the chess community, and to reward and award chess individuals who have contributed to the improvement of our chess landscape in Malaysia.
As a registered player with MCF, the player’s rating will be calculated, updated, and published on a monthly basis. Players who do not register with MCF will not appear in the MCF Rating System list and will remain as Unrated.
Currently, no penalty will be imposed on Players, Arbiters, Trainers, or Organizers if he/she does not wish to register with MCF.
By 1st January 2023, in order for an event to be rated, ALL PLAYERS playing in the event must be a registered MCF player. All Arbiters managing the event and the event organizer must also a registered Arbiter/Organizer with MCF otherwise, the event MAY NOT be rated.
From March 2022 until 1st January 2023, MCF encourages all organizers to register their event to be rated for MCF Rating System without any charge. From 1st January 2023, the charges is set at RM100 per event with no additional charges impose on the players. From now until 31st December 2022 - All events are free but as of 1st Jan 2023, all events need to pay RM100 for it to be rated
Only registered individuals with MCF are allowed to represent Malaysia at International events. MCF will not endorse or acknowledge any Players, Arbiters, Trainers, or Organizers if they are interested to conduct or be involved in Tournaments outside of Malaysia if they are not registered with MCF.
All registered individuals will receive an MCF Certificate that acknowledges their status within the Federation, and their names will be included in the MCF Rating System. Only Players, Arbiters, Trainers, and Organizers who are registered with MCF are allowed to participate, arbitrate, train, and organize chess events within Malaysia (effective 1st August 2022).
All the names of registered Arbiters, Trainers, and Organizers will be published and listed on MCF website. This will provide a reference point to the General Public should any of them are interested to engage a trainer or coach to train their chess team or children, a qualified arbiter to run their tournament, and a recognized organizer to manage their event.
On a monthly basis, MCF will also published and list out the top ranked players in the country, the most active player, arbiters and organizer, and other list deemed fit to honour and highlight Malaysia’s most active contributor to the community.
MCF also intends to introduce Awards and Rewards Program to honour and thanked chess players who are the most improved, the most active, the highest rated, etc. for the year before. MCF hopes to start this program by January 2023 to Award and Reward those who have been very active and most improved for 2022.
Registration fees are as follows:
All registration is valid for two (2) years after which, all individuals are required to renew their registration. This is to avoid inactive players especially students who usually becomes inactive after leaving school
The Malaysian Chess Federations reserves the right to increase or decrease the fees as and when it deems necessary and appropriate. In the event that the rate for the fees changes, no request for a refund or rebate shall be entertained.
Once an application to register has been approved, each person will receive a Malaysian Chess Federation certificate (as depicted below) to confirm their registration, and the validity of the registration. The Malaysian Chess Federation reserves the right to accept or reject any application without providing any reasons whatsoever and in such a case, a full refund will be given to the applicant.
RATING COVERAGE The MCF Rating system will be used to rate all event disciplines – Standard, Rapid and Blitz for both Over-The-Board and Online tournaments. All FIDE Rated events that has been approved by MCF will also be used as part of the MCF Rating calculation.
HOW TO GET AN EVENT TO BE RATED From March until 31st December 2022, there will be no charges for any organizer who wants to get their event to be rated by the MCF Rating system. However, only registered players will receive their rating report while player who are not registered will remain as Unrated or will default to their FIDE Rating points – if any. From 1st August 2022 onwards, the following will be enforced:
A player must be registered with MCF for him/her to earn or get rating points. The player will continue to be recognized as having an MCF Rating as long as he/she is a registered Player with the Federation. Once the registration period has lapsed, the player rating point will be deleted, and he/she will be considered as Unrated or will default to his/her current FIDE Rating points – if any.
For March until 31st December 2022, MCF allows players who are not registered with MCF to participate in MCF Rated events. However, MCF will only maintain the Rating list and points for the registered player whereas the player who is not registered with MCF, will not earn any rating points, and will be deleted from the list.
Example: Player A is a registered with MCF and Player B is not After a tournament is completed, both Player A and Player B rating points will be calculated but only the rating for Player A will be listed, whereas the rating for Player B will be deleted and default back as “Unrated” with “0” rating points.
After the two (2) year registration term ends, the player’s rating will no longer be listed in the MCF Rating System list unless he/she renews before the expiration date. Although not listed, MCF Rating System will continue to keep the player’s rating for two (2) months before it is deleted and remove from the list. Once this happens, the player once again becomes “Unrated” with “0” rating points provided the Registration renewal is made before the two (2) months cooling period ends
Only one game against a Rated player is enough for a player to get an MCF Rating.
Only players who has a rating of 1000 points or more will be listed in the MCF Rating System. Players who achieve a rating of 999 and below, will not be list in the rating list and shall be considered as “Unrated”.
The MCF Rating System uses the same calculation formula that FIDE uses to calculate its rating. Players can check their rating calculation by going to the FIDE website and use the FIDE Rating Calculator to check the accuracy of the calculation.
However, due to the rounding up/down factor when doing a calculation, the Rating variance should not exceed +/- 2 points from the FIDE Rating Calculator.
The MCF Rating System will use the foreign player’s FIDE Rating for calculation purposes and once the calculation for the entire event is completed, the foreign player’s rating points and records will be deleted from the list.
If the foreign player decided to participate again in Malaysia, then his rating will default to his current FIDE Rapid Rating, or FIDE Standard Rating.
All the effective dates and fees mentioned in this document may change from time to time – either earlier or later with higher or lower rates, without providing any notices or reasons whatsoever. While Malaysian Chess Federation strives to keep the critical timeline and fees as mentioned, adjustments may be needed to ensure that the system remains effective, accurate and achieve its purposes.
Any questions or clarification including suggestions or proposals for improvement can be forwarded to mcfsecretariat@malaysiachess.org for the MCF Committee to review the proposal and implementation – where possible.