In January, our one and only Aditya Vikram Sengupta achieved the title of Arena Candidate Master (ACM). A feirce opponent to any over-the-board, now a proven Master in FIDE’s Arena!

Achieving an ACM title is no small feat—out of millions of online chess players, only 1,213 hold this title worldwide. It serves as a testament to a player’s dedication, strategic depth, and consistency over many games.

What is an ACM title?

As I’m sure anyone reading this knows, FIDE, the international chess federation, awards titles to players that achieve high levels of chess both over the board and online.

The ACM title in chess is an online title awarded by FIDE through its online platform, Arena. Unlike over-the-board titles, ACM is not based on FIDE’s classical rating system but instead requires players to achieve a specific rating threshold in FIDE’s online Arena.

How do you achieve the ACM title?

FIDE states that to achieve this title, the player must maintain at least a rating of 1100 for either 50 games of Rapid, 100 of Blitz or 150 of Bullet.

For more information on FIDE’s Arena titles, click here.

Aditya’s own words on becoming an Arena Candidate Master:

After a lot of hard work and dedication to chess, I finally accomplished the ACM title (Arena Candidate Master). I achieved this by keeping on playing on the FIDE Online Arena website.

My journey has been filled with studying openings, analysing positions and improving my skills. I am incredibly grateful for the support and encouragement of my family, friends and seniors of my club who have been with me every step of the way.

This accomplishment not only represents how much I have grown as a player but also motivates me to keep pushing my limits and simply enjoying chess.