You can obtain the FOA Title recognized by FIDE by playing FOA-rated games on FIDE Online Arena. This online title will appear in your profile card on the FIDE website.

Unlike over-the-board titles, the FOA titles do not differentiate by sex and apply to both women and men equally. The online titles are automatic: once the player reaches a certain rating and is able to maintain it for a required number of games, he or she is eligible for the online title. A player can request the online title on his profile page, and once the online title fee is paid, it will appear in the player's Arena profile. The FOA title will also be reflected in the player's FIDE profile card.

A player may become eligible for more than one title and it is possible to obtain either the higher or the lower online title.

If a player qualifies for the higher online title, he or she can receive it by paying the difference between the lower and the higher-online title fee (meaning that the player will not pay for the same online title twice). There is no need to extend the online title, it's assigned once and is valid for a lifetime.

🏅Arena Grandmaster (AGM) — Rating 2000; the player must maintain the rating at or above 2000 for 50 games for Rapid time control or 100 games for Blitz or 150 games for Bullet to qualify for the online title.

🏅Arena International Master (AIM) — Rating 1700; the player must maintain the rating at or above 1700 for 50 games for Rapid time control or 100 games for Blitz or 150 games for Bullet to qualify for the online title.

🏅Arena FIDE Master (AFM) — Rating 1400; the player must maintain the rating at or above 1400 for 50 games for Rapid time control or 100 games for Blitz or 150 games for Bullet to qualify for the online title.

🏅Arena Candidate Master (ACM) — Rating 1100; the player must maintain the rating at or above 1100 for 50 games for Rapid time control or 100 games for Blitz or 150 games for Bullet to qualify for the online title.

Players who receive a message that they are eligible for an FOA title are prompted to acquire their online title. An online title's eligibility is lost when the player remains under the online title's threshold for more than 30 days in the specified time control.

Only players with active FIDE Online Arena subscriptions are eligible to receive online titles recognized by FIDE.

If a player's rating drops under the threshold, the number of games is reset to zero for this time control category. The number of games in different time control categories is not affected.

This information is about FIDE Online Arena, the Official FIDE Gaming Platform. You can read more about it here and play online for free. If you have any questions about FIDE Online Arena, please contact us at support@chessarena.com

Cheating (or any kind of computer or human-assisted play) is illegal on FIDE Online Arena; fair-play policy is strictly observed. Fair play integrity is supported by advanced anti-cheating protocols.

Official fair-play regulations in FIDE Handbook.

When you use FIDE Online Arena, you agree to all the rules on this page. In all circumstances, FIDE Online Arena reserves the right to ban or close an account for any reason without warning, and without having to provide evidence that Fair Play and Community Guidelines have been breached.

The anti-cheating team reserves the right not to make public indications of the analytical tools that lead to clear evidence or strong suspicion of any of the above practices.

All FOA-rated games are checked automatically. If you feel that your opponent might be cheating, you can flag the game. After that, it will undergo additional analysis. To flag the game, hover the mouse over the fair-play monitoring icon (camera) located to the left of the board. Click 'flag game'.

Please do not publicly accuse anyone; instead, report them to us and we'll check the case.

The penalties have been developed by FIDE, the chess governing body. They can include but not limited to the following:

Penalties are applied immediately upon the decision of the Anti-cheating team. The offender is notified by email or system message.

Payments of subscription fees are not refunded for the period of account suspension. All suspensions will be reported to the player's Federation.

According to FIDE regulations, decisions and penalties against offenders of the Anti-cheating policy are not subject to any appeal or discussion, with two exceptions:

In this case, an appeal can be submitted to the Online Commission, accompanied by a deposit of 100 euros to the Arena account, which shall be refundable if the appeal is granted.

The Ace-Guard anti-cheating system is central to FIDE online arena's player protection. It offers a totally unprecedented level of protection and security. It has been approved by national chess federations and FIDE. Furthermore, the system is rigorously checked and tested over an extended period of time and has a proven track record of success.

The work done by the anti-cheating system is complemented by FIDE's procedures and a team of experts, making it particularly difficult for anyone to cheat for an extended period of time. All members of FIDE Online Arena can be identified by means of their FIDE ID numbers. FIDE is 100% committed to maintaining the high reputation chess enjoys and anyone found to be cheating faces strict sanctions not limited to online chess, further reducing the likelihood of cheating.