Unfortunately, I am practically forced to make my recent letter to the FIDE Online Arena support team public. The reason is that I have repeatedly signalled to that chess platform about their shortcomings through different channels, such as a letter to the support team or a public post on their social media site. I have never received a single comment, not a single word. Now, however, I received a notice that my ability to play has been temporarily restricted because I have cancelled some chessgames.
As a result, I wrote a letter to the support team and shall publish it here on my blog below.
I Protest FIDE Online Arena Decision Concerning Game Cancellations
Recently, I received the following notice:
“Game start paused due to recent cancellations.”
My ability to make a challenge was paused for 10 minutes.
I have to stress that the FIDE Online Arena does not have the feature “rating difference,” “rating range,” or whatever it is called. Unlike all other major online chess platforms, the FIDE Online Arena does not allow players to automatically reject opponents with very low ratings compared to the challenger.
Currently, my rating is approximately 1750, and I did not make a move in a game against an opponent with a rating of approximately 1200. The reason is evident: praxis has shown that if I win against such an opponent, I receive 0 rating points; if I lose, I lose 15 or 20 rating points.
It is also not the case that I often dismiss the opponents with a much lower rating than mine. Quite to the contrary: during my previous session, I played approximately 10 games against opponents with a much lower rating, usually earning only 1 or 2 rating points. I spent approximately 4 hours and earned about 15-20 rating points.
Finally, someone with a rating of approximately 1500 played with astronomic speed and precision, and I lost my first game in that session. I sent a report about a possible use of a chess engine and ended that session. In a few minutes, I lost all the rating points I had earned in 10 games over 4 hours.
Today, I also already played one game against a player with a rating of approximately 1200.
There are other compelling reasons the player might not want to play against a given opponent, unless it is a tournament game. While these do not concern the present case, generally, it too often happens that the player thinks to know that the opponent is a chess engine user or has the tendency to unsportsmanlike behaviour.
I have to note that I have written to the Support Team about similar issues before, but I have never received any feedback.
Unfortunately, I have to inform you that, as long as the current, uncommon practice of the FIDE Online Arena persists, I shall not make any public lobby challenges on that online chess platform.
All this does not mean that I do not appreciate many excellent features of the FIDE Online Arena platform.
Sincerely yours
Jüri Eintalu
