FIDE calls an online General Assembly for 27 December; time controls still open
Published · By TG, the site operator
FIDE has issued an invitation to an Extraordinary General Assembly 2026. The meeting is set for 27 December 2026 at 14:30 CET and will be held online, with the access link to follow. The invitation was issued by FIDE President Timur Turlov after a decision of the FIDE Council and is dated 26 October 2026.
What is still unknown
The agenda has not been published. FIDE says it will circulate the agenda with the relevant documents by 27 November 2026. The invitation gives the purpose only in general terms: to finish work begun at the Samarkand meeting and to decide on FIDE's continued functioning and development. No registration or proposal deadline is listed on the page.
A separate FIDE article on a new organisational structure, also dated 26 October, says the General Assembly remains the supreme governing body and that the FIDE Council is to play a more active role in setting strategic priorities.
The open question: classical time controls
The item most players will care about is the length of classical games. On 12 October 2026 the General Assembly formally supported a proposal from the Icelandic Chess Federation, with 33 votes in favour. FIDE's article on that vote stresses that adoption does not change the regulations immediately. The original proposal was to make 45+30 a standard classical control that needs no special approval, and to allow three games a day.
The FIDE Council plans to put a different version forward: 60+30 as a guaranteed classical control, and 45+30 for FIDE Circuit tournaments that meet its requirements and for events where no participant is rated 2400 or higher. The limit of two games a day for titles and norms would stay. Wider use of 45+30, and the question of three games a day, will be decided after public consultation. The article says the outcome could go to an extraordinary online General Assembly towards the end of 2026, but it does not say whether the 27 December meeting will deal with it.
Until then, the rules for 2026 are a one-year pilot. It allows 60+30, and in exceptional cases 45+30, subject to approval by the Qualification Commission. Games remain rated as classical. A player may count only one title norm from a tournament with a shortened classical control; other norms must come from 90+30 events.
Reading the notation
In "60+30", the first number is the minutes each player starts with and the second is the seconds added after every move. So 45+30 means 45 minutes plus 30 seconds a move. Our World Junior Rapid and Blitz note explains how the increment enters the category of a game.
What this site does and does not do
chessplayonline.com has no clock, so it cannot enforce any of these controls. The only time limit online is the one in the rules guide: if ten minutes pass with the position unchanged, the online game closes. To practise a time control, use a separate timer, such as a phone or kitchen timer, and play a few games on Normal while keeping to the limit you have set yourself. Afterwards, note which moves used most of your time, and whether that time went on calculation or on indecision.
What to watch
- The agenda for the 27 December meeting, due by 27 November 2026 according to FIDE's invitation.
- The public consultation on 45+30 and on three games a day.
- The Council's formal amendment that would make 60+30 a guaranteed classical control.
Sources
- Invitation: FIDE Extraordinary General Assembly 2026 — FIDE, 26 October 2026
- FIDE General Assembly adopts resolution on shorter time controls: What it means — FIDE, 12 October 2026
- FIDE: The Next Stage of Development — FIDE, 26 October 2026
Written by the operator of this site from the sources listed above. Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected] and it will be corrected.