JANUARY 10 2019: A very belated congratulations to Joe Redpath (Edinburgh West) who has been awarded the FIDE Master (FM) title some 15 years after qualifying for the award.

FIDE emailed CS on January 9, 2019

"Please be informed that FIDE Qualification Commission approved the FM
title of Redpath, Joseph (ID # 2401380) achieved in the World Major
Championships 2004. There have been extraordinary delays due to
missing paperwork, which is now all collected."

Today the title appears in the online record - a speedier approach to the admin on this occasion.

http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=2401380

Ironically Joe is now only a few points off the 2300 level at which the title would be awarded anyway.

***

https://www.chessscotland.com/documents/archives/Brit2004.htm

Joe had won the Major Open title at the British Championships in August 2004. The event was dubbed "FIDE World Major" and the BCF organisers indicated that the FM title and an IM norm would be awarded to the winner. Chess Scotland made the title application at the time but it was rejected by FIDE who had no record that the event qualified for the title.

"We are advised by the Qualification Commission Chairman that as the regulations stand now, and as they stood at the time of the competition, they do not mention World Major at all, and therefore, the FM title cannot be awarded."

CS then contacted the BCF organisers but nothing more was heard and it was assumed that the title award claim had been an error by the BCF.

The issue then surfaced on the ECF Forum in 2014 with a discussion on the 2004 British.
There is some misremembering of the facts by BCF officials before corrected later in the thread. https://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6711&start=45 (See pages 4-9 of thread)

The issue was taken up by FIDE official Nick Faulks after viewing the Forum and almost 5 years after that the title is finally awarded.

Posted on: 10-01-2019
Categories: News