FIDE ONLINE ARENA FOR CHESS PLAYERS

FIDE, The world Governing body for chess launched the FIDE ONLINE ARENA in year 2014 , It is an online platform powered by  Premium chess INC. for chess players to come online and play chess.
FIDE has also introduced an Online rating system which is reflected on a players official FIDE  profile on www.fide.com.Online ratings are official ratings are reflected on the players' profile card on FIDE website. for example Nigeria's CM Oluwafemi Balogun 's profile reflects his FIDE online  ratings for Bullet, Blits and Rapids (Click on his name to see Profile). one can also get Online FIDE titles on this platform. to get full membership one has to pay 25 Euros but at the moment there is a promotional offer that gives new members with FIDE Identity free Full membership till May 31st 2015.
FIDE Online Arena, the virtual chess club for chess players around the world is upgraded with new features and offers to new members full membership services for a period of 4 months, free of charge.

Promotional offer
Players, who already have a FIDE ID number, are welcome to create an account with full membership privileges until May 31st, 2015.
Players without a FIDE ID number have to pay the annual subscription fee of 25 euros in order to become full members. In return, their membership will be automatically extended until May 31st, 2016.
FIDE titled players GM/WGM and IM/WIM are entitled a free lifetime full membership upon proof of their identity.
10 reasons why FIDE Online Arena is the best choice

1. It is the only virtual chess club supported by FIDE.
2. The application's interface is available in 7 languages.
3. The chess boards are designed with high resolution graphics.
4. Online ratings are official ratings mentioned on the players' profile card on FIDE website.
5. Online ratings are aligned with over the board ratings.
6. Official FIDE titles can be achieved in FIDE Online Arena.
7. The arena titles are designated for players with rating between 1100 and 2000 points.
8. Official FIDE online tournaments to be organised in 2015 for the first time.
9. The annual membership fee is only 25 euros.
10. FIDE innovations are impressive and there are more to be announced early.

Rating alignment with over the board games.
From January 2015, Arena ratings are calculated to include players' online activity as well as over the board game results. The first day of each month, as soon the traditional FIDE rating lists for rapid and blitz are published, the total over the board rating change is added to (subtracted from) the player's Arena rating. In this way, Arena ratings are upgraded to an official status because they reflect a player's overall activity, online and over the board. Arena ratings shall be used exclusively for online rankings and pairings of official FIDE online tournaments. Calculations of Arena ratings are powered by the advanced Premium Chess technology.

Official FIDE Online tournaments
A series of new FIDE online tournaments are currently being planned for the near future. Our main target is to establish regular annual events such as the FIDE Online Women's World Blitz Championship, the Online Amateur World Championship and the Online Juniors World Championship. These events are going to be held before the end of 2015 for the first time.
FIDE Online Arena is also going to organize special tournaments to determine three qualifiers for the World Cup 2015, which is held in September 2015, in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Final announcements and regulations are expected

ZONE 4.4 INDIVIDUAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2014. PRODUCES INTERNATIONAL MASTERS !!

FM Ebosse, Kingue Victor Patrick (CAM)

                           IM Anquandah Francis Eric (Ghana)
The    4.4 Zonals Individual Chess championship held in  YAOUNDE CAMEROUN in the year 2014 has produced a number of FIDE titled  players from Zone 4.4. The tournament Final ranking is posted below.

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	9		Anquandah Francis Eric	GHA	1970	7.5	1.0	29.00	6
2	1		Amba Marius Claude Oyon	CMR	0	7.5	0.0	26.50	7
3	3		Agbor Ebot John	CMR	1960	7.0	0.0	24.00	6
4	7		Ebosse Victor Patrick Kingue	CMR	2009	6.5	0.0	22.25	6
5	2		Fumey Enyonam Sewa	TOG	1780	5.0	0.0	14.50	5
6	4		Ebongue Emile	CMR	0	3.5	0.5	11.75	2
7	10		Ikouti Elie	CMR	0	3.5	0.5	6.25	3
8	5		Mbusnoum Henri Celestin	CMR	0	3.0	0.0	5.00	3
9	8		Kouevi Mawuvi Koue	TOG	1749	1.0	0.0	0.50	1
10	6		Mevi Herve Stephane	BUR	0	0.5	0.0	1.75	0

Agbor, Ebot John (FM)
  Anquandah, Francis Eric  ELO 1965  and Amba, Oyon Marius Claude ELO 1933 are now the first ever International Masters (IM) in Ghana and Cameroon respectively  Agbor, Ebot John ELO 1963 and  Ebosse, Kingue Victor Patrick ELO 199became the first ever FIDE Masters (FM) from Cameroon  Fumey, Enyonam Sewa of Togo was awarded the Candidate Master title. ELO 1859

Though  the Zone 4.4 is comprised of countries from

1. BURKINA FASO

2. CAMEROON

3. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

4. COTE D’IVOIRE

5. GABON

6. GAMBIA

7. GHANA

8. NIGERIA

9. SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE

10. SIERRA LEONE

11. TOGO

IM Amba, Oyon Marius Claude (CAM)

Only  players from Burkina Faso, Cameroon , Ghana  and Togo took part in the last edition in year 2014. Nigeria  which is  by far the strongest Chess playing Nation did not send  players to the event for some reasons, though the award of Those titles to the participants of the 2014 event could be seen as questionable as there were no titled players at the event and the FIDE rating of the players at the event were very low in fact  IM Amba, Oyon Marius Claude  had was unrated before the event, this seems weird but then FIDE must have its reasons for going ahead  with the approval of the award to those players. 

  Looking at it from the positive angle  it is a good thing that players from Ghana and cameroon now has International masters and FIDE masters albeit gotten on a platter of Gold since Nigeria did not send players for that particular event which would have made it a very difficult task for other countries to get close to the top Titles as nigeria has got so many players above ELO 2000 and even above 2200, it is hoped that Nigeria Chess federation  will present Players for the 2015 edition this time around  to ensure the Zone 4.4 Tournament gets a higher standard and a stronger field of Players. 

    To Check the Info for the 2015 CLICK ZONE 4.4 Individual Chess Championships