ICCF International Arbiter

ICCF International Arbiter, abbreviated IA, is the highest-level title for tournament directors in the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF). ICCF also identifies it as level 3 Tournament Director. In correspondence chess, a director administers a remote competition by applying procedures, answering claims, handling time-related incidents, preserving records, and communicating decisions. The role is not continuous supervision of a physical board.

An application must be supported by a mentor, meaning an experienced tournament director who supervises and documents the candidate's work. The current quantitative requirements are:

• For server events, more than 2,000 completed games from qualifying ICCF tournaments over at least two years of mentored directing.
• For postal events, more than 1,000 completed games over at least four years of mentored directing.
• For a mixture of both, twice the number of postal games plus the number of server games must exceed 2,000.

Quality is also assessed, including responses to problems and questions, timeliness, game archiving, and delivery of information. The Tournament Director Committee decides by simple majority, and the Qualifications Commissioner accepts the title. In ICCF terminology, IA is a directing credential, not a playing-strength title such as ICCF Grandmaster.