Ratings
In sports, players are usually put into different classes for matches so that they play against an equal opponent. To see how good a player is, a rating is calculated for them. This rating number shows how good the player is and can be compared to the opponent’s rating. There are many ways to calculate this number, but for reliability, it is important that enough results are known. Fortunately, with the introduction of Lidraughts and the many tournaments played there, there is no shortage of results.The rating on Lidraughts is calculated automatically and is a reasonable indication of a player’s strength. In the world of competitive mind sports, there usually is a kind of hierarchy of classes. The Frisian Draughts Federation traditionally had seven classes: champions’ league, premier league AA, reserve premier league AA, premier league A, premier league B and first, second and third league.
Titles
In international mind sports, the titles of Master and Grandmaster are often used to indicate levels of skill approaching and including the top. These titles are issued by an organisation that organises international competitions and world championships. As such, the WFD Foundation has decided to start issuing the titles of Master and Grandmaster in Frisian Draughts in 2025. We have decided to use international over-the-board tournaments of Frisian Draughts (full board) as a basis, so that in principle every draughts player has the opportunity to earn these titles. These tournaments must be organised either by the WFD Foundation itself or by one of its partners. So, the Fryslân Open and World Championships Frisian Draughts (not FRYSK!) are the only tournaments that meet these criteria right now. But of course, it is perfectly possible and we certainly hope that some of our partners will organise international open tournaments in the future, for example an Italian Open, Czech Open or even Lithuanian or Polish open! In the summer of 2025 the first international open tournament has already taken place: African Open 2025.
How to gain a title
To become a Master of Frisian Draughts, a player has to meet two requirements. First of all, he or she has to gather 25 master (MP) or grandmaster points (GMP) in international official WFD tournaments. Secondly, the player must have taken part in three Master Tournaments (MT) after 2020, Grandmaster Tournaments (GMT) or World Championship Finals. To become a Grandmaster of Frisian Draughts, a player has to meet two requirements as well. First of all, he or she has to gather 25 grandmaster points (GMP) in international official WFD tournaments. Secondly, the player must have taken part in three Grandmaster Tournaments (GMT) or World Championship (WC) Finals. Master points are given to the top ten players in all Fryslân Open Tournaments since 2015 (1 point for tenth place, 10 points for first place) and for the Master Tournaments since 2015 (in the same way, 1 to 4 points). When two or more players finish in the same place, the master or grandmaster points are divided between them. The same thing happens when two or more players finish in shared tenth place in a Fryslân Open Tournament. Finally, for the Master Tournaments up to 2020, not 4, 3, 2 and 1 points are awarded but rather 2 and 1 for the top two players only. Grandmaster points are awarded for Grandmaster Tournaments since 2015 (1 point for fourth place, 4 points for first place), for World Championship Finals (similarly), for World Championships (as in Fryslân Open Tournaments: 1 point for tenth place, 10 points for first place) and for World Championship Matches (one point for each game). The same rules for shared places apply as for master points.
On this basis, the WFD Foundation has determined that the following players will be issued the following titles.
