The Turkish Chess Federation has been a member of FIDE since 1962. The history of Turkish Chess goes back to the eighteenth century. The Turkish Chess Federation was established in 1954 as an autonomous federation. In 1991, it was connected to the Government under the General Sport and Youth Directorate. This was very important since chess was accepted as a 100% sport in Turkey. Today, TCF has more than 200,000 licensed members, 58000 trainers and 3500 arbiters. Turkey had by the March of 2012 seven Grandmasters, thirteen International Masters, twenty-nine FIDE Masters, two Women Grandmastes, two Women International Masters, five Candidate Masters and four Women Candidate Masters.