FIDE International Chess Federation
The international governing body of chess — founded in Paris in 1924, today headquartered in Lausanne, recognised by the IOC and responsible for the world championship cycle, ratings, titles, and the biennial Olympiad.
FIDE was founded at the 1924 Paris Olympics — actually three days before the Olympics opened, on 20 July 1924, by representatives of fifteen national chess federations meeting at the Hotel Continental. The original FIDE motto, Gens una sumus (Latin for ‘We are one people’), remains in use a century later. FIDE administers the world championship cycle, the official FIDE rating list, the titles of Grandmaster, International Master, FIDE Master, and Candidate Master, the biennial Olympiad, and the calendar of FIDE-sanctioned international events.
The Structure
FIDE is governed by a General Assembly that meets annually at the FIDE Congress, with executive operations run from Lausanne by an elected FIDE President and an Administrative Director. The current president is Arkady Dvorkovich, elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. FIDE recognises four continental confederations (ECU, ACF, ACC, CCA) and accepts 200 national federations as full members as of 2026. FIDE was officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee in 1999 as the sole authority on chess.