Pls. help identify Fide countries - Chess Forums

watcha

Dec 3, 2013

0

#1

For the thread concerned with the popularity of chess worldwide I compiled a list of the number of registered players per country based on the nationality data extracted from the XML format players list downloadable from Fide.

The problem is that Fide country codes are not all according to the ISO standard.

If anyone can identify the countries with question marks in this list please do it:

	IND	India	35394
	FRA	France	35364
	ESP	Spain	31947
	RUS	Russia	28599
	GER	Germany	27287
	TUR	Turkey	13217
	POL	Poland	12187
	GRE	Greece	11958
	ITA	Italy	11919
???	IRI	Fide Country 'IRI'	10459
	USA	United States	10074
	CZE	Czech Republic	8390
	HUN	Hungary	8115
	BRA	Brazil	7533
	SRB	Serbia	6217
	UKR	Ukraine	5725
	SVK	Slovakia	5026
	SRI	Sri Lanka	4940
	COL	Colombia	4926
	NED	Kingdom of the Netherlands	4886
	BEL	Belgium	4619
	ARG	Argentina	4603
	DEN	Denmark	4565
	CRO	Croatia	4547
	AUT	Austria	4541
	ROU	Romania	4506
	ENG	United Kingdom	3950
	POR	Portugal	3922
	SUI	Switzerland	3177
???	SLO	Fide Country 'SLO'	3133
	PER	Peru	2988
	ECU	Ecuador	2742
	VEN	Venezuela	2725
	SWE	Sweden	2711
	MEX	Mexico	2571
	EGY	Egypt	2551
	BUL	Bulgaria	2401
	AUS	Australia	2380
	CHI	Chile	2343
	NOR	Norway	2207
	CAN	Canada	2091
	CUB	Cuba	2062
	PHI	Philippines	1834
	LTU	Lithuania	1804
	MAS	Malaysia	1773
???	RSA	Fide Country 'RSA'	1746
	SIN	Singapore	1722
	ISR	Israel	1627
	GEO	Georgia	1470
	AZE	Azerbaijan	1457
	BAN	Bangladesh	1437
	CHN	China	1414
	DOM	Dominican Republic	1367
	KAZ	Kazakhstan	1361
	UAE	United Arab Emirates	1344
	VIE	Vietnam	1257
	FIN	Finland	1223
	ISL	Iceland	1212
	NEP	Nepal	1130
	BLR	Belarus	1042
???	BIH	Fide Country 'BIH'	1041
	BOT	Botswana	980
	IRQ	Iraq	958
	BOL	Bolivia	938
	ARM	Armenia	929
	ALG	Algeria	866
	IRL	Ireland	845
	LAT	Latvia	836
	CRC	Costa Rica	805
	JOR	Jordan	728
	URU	Uruguay	677
	UZB	Uzbekistan	647
	ZAM	Zambia	631
	MDA	Moldova	625
	EST	Estonia	612
	MNE	Montenegro	592
???	ESA	Fide Country 'ESA'	544
???	SCO	Fide Country 'SCO'	544
???	INA	Fide Country 'INA'	533
	TUN	Tunisia	527
???	LBA	Fide Country 'LBA'	520
	SYR	Syria	503
???	PUR	Fide Country 'PUR'	480
	NZL	New Zealand	449
	MKD	Macedonia	432
	PAR	Paraguay	432
	NCA	Nicaragua	425
	LUX	Luxembourg	420
	NGR	Nigeria	414
	KOR	South Korea	391
	THA	Thailand	386
	TKM	Turkmenistan	370
	TTO	Trinidad and Tobago	366
???	WLS	Fide Country 'WLS'	358
	ANG	Angola	344
	LIB	Liberia	329
	CYP	Cyprus	312
	BAR	Barbados	302
	MGL	Mongolia	276
	HKG	Hong Kong	268
	MAR	Morocco	265
	KGZ	Kyrgyzstan	264
???	FAI	Fide Country 'FAI'	245
???	MYA	Fide Country 'MYA'	241
	YEM	Yemen	240
	PAN	Panama	232
	BRN	Brunei	218
	PLE	State of Palestine	204
	JAM	Jamaica	199
	JPN	Japan	198
	UGA	Uganda	195
	ALB	Albania	191
	HON	Honduras	184
	MLT	Malta	172
	ZIM	Zimbabwe	154
???	KSA	Fide Country 'KSA'	153
???	BRU	Fide Country 'BRU'	150
	KEN	Kenya	143
	SUR	Suriname	143
	GUA	Guatemala	136
	SUD	Sudan	129
	MTN	Mauritania	124
	QAT	Quatar	107
???	AHO	Fide Country 'AHO'	103
	PAK	Pakistan	102
	TJK	Tajikistan	95
	AND	Andorra	92
	AFG	Afghanistan	91
???	BER	Fide Country 'BER'	84
	TPE	Sao Tome and Principe	84
	KUW	Kuwait	84
	MAD	Madagascar	83
???	JCI	Fide Country 'JCI'	75
	PLW	Palau	74
???	ARU	Fide Country 'ARU'	69
???	MNC	Fide Country 'MNC'	62
???	MAC	Fide Country 'MAC'	62
	NAM	Namibia	59
	MDV	Maldives	56
	FIJ	Fiji	55
	ETH	Ethiopia	55
	BAH	Bahrain	54
	GHA	Ghana	48
	GUY	Guyana	41
	MAW	Malawi	39
	TAN	Tanzania	36
???	MRI	Fide Country 'MRI'	30
???	GUM	Fide Country 'GUM'	28
	GAM	Gambia	28
	SEY	Seychelles	26
???	ISV	Fide Country 'ISV'	23
	MOZ	Mozambique	22
	LAO	Laos	21
???	GCI	Fide Country 'GCI'	20
	HAI	Haiti	18
	LES	Lesotho	16
???	SOL	Fide Country 'SOL'	16
	LIE	Liechtenstein	14
	PNG	Papua New Guinea	14
	RWA	Rwanda	13
	SOM	Somalia	13
???	STP	Fide Country 'STP'	12
???	SMR	Fide Country 'SMR'	12
???	FID	Fide Country 'FID'	11
	SEN	Senegal	9
	MLI	Mali	9
	BDI	Burundi	9
???	SLE	Fide Country 'SLE'	7
	TOG	Togo	6
???	CGO	Fide Country 'CGO'	5
???	IVB	Fide Country 'IVB'	5
	CMR	Cameroon	5
	CAM	Cambodia	3
???	Ind	Fide Country 'Ind'	2
	GAB	Gabon	2
	SWZ	Swaziland	1
???	SAO	Fide Country 'SAO'	1
	CIV	Ivory Coast	1
	BHU	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1

watcha

Dec 3, 2013

0

#2

Some names in the list are already resolved. For example while 'GER' is not a standard country code but with its more than twenty thousand players it can not be any other country than Germany. But some of the resolved names may be wrong. For example I'm not sure that 'MAS' stands for Malaysia.

If you can spot incorrectly resolved country codes please let me know.

Scottrf

Dec 3, 2013

0

#3

I'll help.

SLO=Slovenia

RSA=South Africa

BIH=Bosnia Herzogovina

SCO=Scotland

INA=Indonesia

PUR=Puerto Rico

WLS=Wales

FAI= Faroe Islands

MYA=Myanmar

BRU=Brunei

BER=Bermuda

ARU=Aruba

MAC=Macau

MNC=Monaco

Got bored of the smaller countries.

Scottrf

Dec 3, 2013

0

#4

MAS is indeed Malaysia.

watcha

Dec 3, 2013

0

#5

Scottrf wrote:

I'll help.

SLO=Slovenia

RSA=South Africa

BIH=Bosnia Herzogovina

SCO=Scotland

INA=Indonesia

PUR=Puerto Rico

WLS=Wales

FAI= Faroe Islands

MYA=Myanmar

BRU=Brunei

BER=Bermuda

ARU=Aruba

MAC=Macau

MNC=Monaco

Got bored of the smaller countries.

Great! This was really helpful.

Scottrf

Dec 3, 2013

0

#6

Ah. IRI is Iran.

LBA=Libya

watcha

Dec 3, 2013

0

#7

Thanks for your help.

I have published the corrected list in the thread

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/countries-where-chess-are-most-popular

and mentioned you as a source.

real_tzs

Dec 5, 2013

0

#8

You can look up any FIDE country code here: http://ratings.fide.com/topfed.phtml?tops=0&ina=1&country=BIH Simply replace the country code in the URL with the code you are interested in, and the full country name will be given on the resulting page. You can probably get the complete list at once from the source for the country drop down on the page. Some of the FIDE codes are ISO, some are IOC, some are FIFA. An interesting case is Central African Republic. FIDE lists it as CAR, which does not match ISO, IOC, or FIFA. I have no idea where they got that one.

ivandh

Dec 5, 2013

0

#9

Bhu is Bhutan, not Bosnia.

watcha

Dec 6, 2013

0

#10

real_tzs wrote:

You can look up any FIDE country code here: http://ratings.fide.com/topfed.phtml?tops=0&ina=1&country=BIH Simply replace the country code in the URL with the code you are interested in, and the full country name will be given on the resulting page. You can probably get the complete list at once from the source for the country drop down on the page. Some of the FIDE codes are ISO, some are IOC, some are FIFA. An interesting case is Central African Republic. FIDE lists it as CAR, which does not match ISO, IOC, or FIFA. I have no idea where they got that one.

Thank you, to extract the meaning of country codes from the source of the country option menu in the referenced page was an excellent idea.

Using your suggestion I was able to identify all but two country codes.

Still 'FID' with 11 players, and 'SAO' with 1 player is unidentified. Also the country option menu mentions 'Congo' which is ambigous since there are two Congos. I assumed that 'CGO' means Democratic Republic of the Congo.

It would be impracticable ( and unnecessary, since they are 99% correct ) to modify all the stats I have posted in different threads based on the players list but I have modified my registry so should I do any processing of the data in the future I will be able to do it in the correct way.

[ EDITED ]

I was wrong on Congo: both IOC and FIFA lists Congo as CGO and The Democratic Republic of the Congo ( Congo DR ) as COD.

JessieWong

Nov 7, 2020

0

#11

Correct for CHN! 👍 China🇨🇳