International Arbiter

An International Arbiter, abbreviated IA, holds the advanced international arbiter title of the International Chess Federation, FIDE. It certifies a deeper record of officiating experience than the FIDE Arbiter title and is intended for officials qualified to handle demanding international competition.

An IA applicant must already be a FIDE Arbiter. Current regulations require five norm elements: successful attendance at an IA seminar and four IA tournament norm certificates from qualifying events. An arbiter norm is a certificate evaluating the official's work in an eligible activity. The IA norms must also be earned after the FA title was awarded and must be different from the norms used for FA.

The applicant must be at least 21 years old. An IA application is normally made after holding the FA title for at least two years; as an alternative, the regulations allow three additional FIDE-rated tournaments that are not part of the IA application. For that reason, IA does not simply mean “an arbiter who has worked internationally.” It is a formal title awarded under FIDE's qualification process.