(FIDE) What are "ghost Players"?

[Brian Towers]

The following Zambian players have either all appended "(ghost Player)" to their names or, perhaps more likely, FIDE is classifying them as ghost players within the FIDE rating system-
Pascal Kangwa,
Richard Kasiya,
Layson Mbewe

What exactly does this mean? What exactly do you have to do to achieve ghost Player status and where does it fall within the GM, IM, FM, CM, etc, hierarchy?

As a supplemental, why is there no "FIDE" category/topic at the same level as "International News"? Or is that a silly question in a forum which contains "ecf" in its name?

[Roger de Coverly]

What exactly does this mean?

I doubt anyone knows until FIDE tells us. They've probably been flagged as an alternative to deletion. Pure speculation of course, but it might be a case of detected ratings fraud, either that or a simple error.

As a supplemental, why is there no "FIDE" category/topic at the same level as "International News"?

I expect it's because no one ever made the case for creating one.

Or is that a silly question in a forum which contains "ecf" in its name?

[/quote]

The e stands for English, the c for chess and the f for forum.

Discussions on the ECF attitude to FIDE and why FIDE is evil under its current President are usually under "General", "ECF Matters" or "International News".

[NickFaulks]

What exactly does this mean?

I'm guessing that it is something thought up by Online Commission, but have asked.

[Stewart Reuben]

I know what a 'virtual player' is in FIDE, but 'ghost player' has defeated me.

[NickFaulks]

The explanation turns out to be simple. This term was used in a tournament report to describe a filler, and when the players were registered it was not removed. It will be.

[Brian Towers]

Thanks, Nick.

I can remove my tinfoil hat now