New FIDE Rules on Player Transfer

FIDE has come up with some new regulations which govern a player who wishes to transfer to a new federation. It is all about money now. From what I understand, the new federation has to pay a compensation fee to the old federation. The chart below shows the amount payable



That's not all. FIDE needs its cut and a notification fee of two hundred and fifty euros are required, plus a transfer fee. The transfer depends on how long the player has resided in the target country. The fee can be worked out as follows:



What happens when the fees are not paid? Well, the player will not be able to play in official FIDE tournaments under his new federation. And I'm sure the old federation will not give its blessings if the player has made known that he is switching federation. Which means the player will be stuck. This is serious if you are a professional and depends on chess for your livelihood.

FIDE knows chess players are creative people, so someone is bound to find a loophole or two. FIDE already thought of this and included various penalties, if any of the rules are breached, but I'm already too bored to bother reading it. Here is the link if you are into self torture.

If only chess were as simple as this ....