Answers.Body: <p>The <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/fide_directory.phtml?content=25" rel="noreferrer">FIDE Rules Commission</a> makes the rules and maintains them.</p>
  <p>There we can see who is making the rules. We see that, in general, they are arbiters and mostly not very strong players. Here is a list with their arbiter qualifications (FA = FIDE Arbiter, IA = International Arbiter), ratings (when they have them) and titles.</p>
  <p><strong>Chairman</strong> - <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/9304207" rel="noreferrer">Abdulrahim, Mahdi</a> IA 1349 (standard)<br />
  <strong>Honorary Chairman</strong> - <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/13305670" rel="noreferrer">Vardapetyan, Ashot</a> IA unrated<br />
  <strong>Secretary</strong> - <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/12504270" rel="noreferrer">Pahlevanzadeh, Mehrdad</a> IA 2078 (standard)<br />
  <strong>Councillors</strong><br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/10607846" rel="noreferrer">Khaled, Hassan</a> IA unrated<br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/632686" rel="noreferrer">Escafre, Stephane</a> IA 1673 (standard)<br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2065657" rel="noreferrer">Hoffpauir, Mike</a> FA unrated<br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/14203251" rel="noreferrer">Turdialiev, Husan</a> IA unrated<br />
  <strong>Members</strong><br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/1113100" rel="noreferrer">Krasenkow, Michal</a> IA 2576 (standard) GM<br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/19900171" rel="noreferrer">Cisse, Ibrahima</a> - unrated<br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/3806057" rel="noreferrer">Vergara Palomino, Jorge Luis</a> IA 1975 (standard)<br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/9100075" rel="noreferrer">Press, Shaun</a> IA 1946 (standard)<br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/13700090" rel="noreferrer">Saduakassova, Dinara</a> - 2468 (standard) IM, WGM<br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/10208291" rel="noreferrer">Md Haroon or Rashid</a> IA unrated<br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/6400868" rel="noreferrer">Paulino Garcia, Wilfredo Antonio</a> IA 1922 (standard)<br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/507725" rel="noreferrer">Lehtivaara, Jouni</a> IA unrated<br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/4632060" rel="noreferrer">Johann, Gregor</a> IA 2003 (standard)<br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2084473" rel="noreferrer">Underwood, Martha</a> FA unrated<br />
  <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/profile/4135008" rel="noreferrer">Polovina, Elena</a> IA 2078 (standard)</p>
  <p>So, those are the 18 people making the rules. One chairman, one honorary (?) chairman, one secretary, 4 councillors and 11 members.</p>
  <p>Two have no arbiting qualifications, two are FIDE Arbiters and the rest (14) are all International Arbiters.</p>
  <p>Two are master strength players (one GM and one WGM/IM), five are moderately strong (1900-2100), one is average strength (1673), one is weak (1349) and the rest are unrated.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2022-01-12T14:34:35.233Z
Answers.Text: An interesting detail would be how the individuals are chosen? On a quick look, the names look like there's international representation at least. Having so many unranked players seems kinda surprising too.
Answers.UserDisplayName: ilkkachu
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2022-01-12T14:44:48.823Z
Answers.Text: @ilkkachu they're almost all arbiters though, you don't need to be a good at a game to be a good arbiter.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Pierre Arlaud
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2022-01-12T14:45:50.223Z
Answers.Text: Are the unrated members even players at all?  I don't see how that would necessarily be a requirement.  For example, most sports referees are not usually current or even former players themselves.  You can have a full understanding of the rules of the game without being very good at it.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Darrel Hoffman
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2022-01-12T14:57:41.957Z
Answers.Text: @PierreArlaud, no, you don't need to be a (very) good player to be a good arbiter, but I'd guess people usually find their way into games through wanting to play them, so I would have expected many arbiters to at least have a background as a player... (I was just surprised, not commenting on their competence as arbiters/rules editors.)
Answers.UserDisplayName: ilkkachu
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2022-01-17T17:44:13.727Z
Answers.Text: The game had been under Arabic and Persian control for 1000 yrs and then moved on to European hands to 500+ years. Overall, 1500 yrs under influential people who modified and damaged the Original Chess.
Answers.UserDisplayName: ShadYantra
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Answers.CreationDate: 2022-01-11T14:10:29.520Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2022-01-11T14:10:29.520Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Brian Towers
Body: <p>We all know the rules we play competitive chess under. They are the <a href="https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/E012018" rel="noreferrer">FIDE Laws of Chess</a>. Our individual federations in different countries may tweak the parts of the rules they're allowed to tweak (the ECF, for instance, overrides the FIDE &quot;zero tolerance&quot; by saying that if an organizer doesn't specify a default time then for standard time control it is 30 minutes) but basically we play by FIDE's rules.</p>
  <p>Who makes those rules? Every 4 years or so FIDE has a major revision of the rules. The last major revision was in 2017 with a tweak to rapid and blitz in 2018. We were due a major revision last year, delayed no doubt by Covid. We should expect a new revision soon. What kind of people are going to be making those changes?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2022-01-11T18:59:05.703Z
Comments.Text: Related: [What is the process for amending the rules of chess?](https://chess.stackexchange.com/q/30464)
Comments.UserDisplayName: double-beep
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2022-01-12T20:14:22.347Z
Comments.Text: Does this answer your question? [What is the process for amending the rules of chess?](https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/30464/what-is-the-process-for-amending-the-rules-of-chess)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Varun W.
Tags: <rules><fide>
Title: Who makes the rules of chess?
ThreadText: # Who makes the rules of chess?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2022-01-11)
  
  We all know the rules we play competitive chess under. They are the [FIDE Laws of Chess](https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/E012018). Our individual federations in different countries may tweak the parts of the rules they're allowed to tweak (the ECF, for instance, overrides the FIDE "zero tolerance" by saying that if an organizer doesn't specify a default time then for standard time control it is 30 minutes) but basically we play by FIDE's rules.
  
  Who makes those rules? Every 4 years or so FIDE has a major revision of the rules. The last major revision was in 2017 with a tweak to rapid and blitz in 2018. We were due a major revision last year, delayed no doubt by Covid. We should expect a new revision soon. What kind of people are going to be making those changes?
  
  **Tags:** rules, fide
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Related: [What is the process for amending the rules of chess?](https://chess.stackexchange.com/q/30464)  
  > **username_2**: Does this answer your question? [What is the process for amending the rules of chess?](https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/30464/what-is-the-process-for-amending-the-rules-of-chess)  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_0 on 2022-01-11. Score: 21
  
  The [FIDE Rules Commission](https://ratings.fide.com/fide_directory.phtml?content=25) makes the rules and maintains them.
  
  There we can see who is making the rules. We see that, in general, they are arbiters and mostly not very strong players. Here is a list with their arbiter qualifications (FA = FIDE Arbiter, IA = International Arbiter), ratings (when they have them) and titles.
  
  **Chairman** - [Abdulrahim, Mahdi](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/9304207) IA 1349 (standard)  
  **Honorary Chairman** - [Vardapetyan, Ashot](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/13305670) IA unrated  
  **Secretary** - [Pahlevanzadeh, Mehrdad](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/12504270) IA 2078 (standard)  
  **Councillors**  
  [Khaled, Hassan](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/10607846) IA unrated  
  [Escafre, Stephane](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/632686) IA 1673 (standard)  
  [Hoffpauir, Mike](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2065657) FA unrated  
  [Turdialiev, Husan](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/14203251) IA unrated  
  **Members**  
  [Krasenkow, Michal](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/1113100) IA 2576 (standard) GM  
  [Cisse, Ibrahima](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/19900171) - unrated  
  [Vergara Palomino, Jorge Luis](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/3806057) IA 1975 (standard)  
  [Press, Shaun](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/9100075) IA 1946 (standard)  
  [Saduakassova, Dinara](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/13700090) - 2468 (standard) IM, WGM  
  [Md Haroon or Rashid](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/10208291) IA unrated  
  [Paulino Garcia, Wilfredo Antonio](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/6400868) IA 1922 (standard)  
  [Lehtivaara, Jouni](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/507725) IA unrated  
  [Johann, Gregor](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/4632060) IA 2003 (standard)  
  [Underwood, Martha](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2084473) FA unrated  
  [Polovina, Elena](https://ratings.fide.com/profile/4135008) IA 2078 (standard)
  
  So, those are the 18 people making the rules. One chairman, one honorary (?) chairman, one secretary, 4 councillors and 11 members.
  
  Two have no arbiting qualifications, two are FIDE Arbiters and the rest (14) are all International Arbiters.
  
  Two are master strength players (one GM and one WGM/IM), five are moderately strong (1900-2100), one is average strength (1673), one is weak (1349) and the rest are unrated.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_3**: An interesting detail would be how the individuals are chosen? On a quick look, the names look like there's international representation at least. Having so many unranked players seems kinda surprising too.  
  > **username_4**: @username_3 they're almost all arbiters though, you don't need to be a good at a game to be a good arbiter.  
  > **username_5**: Are the unrated members even players at all?  I don't see how that would necessarily be a requirement.  For example, most sports referees are not usually current or even former players themselves.  You can have a full understanding of the rules of the game without being very good at it.  
  > **username_3**: @PierreArlaud, no, you don't need to be a (very) good player to be a good arbiter, but I'd guess people usually find their way into games through wanting to play them, so I would have expected many arbiters to at least have a background as a player... (I was just surprised, not commenting on their competence as arbiters/rules editors.)  
  > **username_6**: The game had been under Arabic and Persian control for 1000 yrs and then moved on to European hands to 500+ years. Overall, 1500 yrs under influential people who modified and damaged the Original Chess.  
  
  ---
  
  