How much FIDE rated chess was played in April 2020? FIDE has just published the May 2020 rating list which brings the ratings up to date for games played in April. The rating file can be downloaded from the FIDE download page.

Many countries have locked down some time in April (due to the current pandemic) and chess is no longer played. Some countries haven't locked down and chess may still being played. How has this affected the numbers?

A short explanation of how FIDE counts games.   

Suppose I have a rating and I play two games, one against Jim Unrated and one against Jane Rated and I draw both games.   

In Jim Unrated's record his game against me will be recorded because if he has enough games and reached a high enough level then his game against me will be used to calculate his rating. Even if he didn't qualify yet it will still be recorded to be used to calculate his first rating sometime in the future.  

In Jane Rated's record her game against me will, of course, be recorded. The result will be used to calculate her rating adjustment.   

In my record the game against Jane will be recorded because that affects my rating but the one against Jim won't be. He is unrated so our game won't affect my rating.

So, between the three of us we played 2 games but that will be recorded as 3 "half games".

I have some statistical questions regarding these “half-games.”

1) How many half-games of standard time control were played in April?   

2) How many half-games of rapid were played in April?   

3) How many half-games of blitz were played in April?   

4) How do these numbers compare to March?

Note that some chess was played in April. For instance the Nigerian national championships was played. It was a 10 player all-play-all which started on 30th March and finished on 3rd April. 

Sweden is also a country where there has been no lockdown and (some) chess has continued. Here is an example of a tournament which is played over several months but in any case lasting more than 90 days (looks like a club tournament where one round is played per month, started in October 2019) Round 7 of Horndal KM 201920 played on 15th April.
Fascinating question. I computed the stats for each individual file (Standard, Rapid and Blitz) downloaded from the FIDE download page.

I added up the number of games reported for each FIDE player for each control time and list. 

Standard Time Control


145,618 games played in  and reported in the April list.
Only 9,946 games played in standard time control and reported in the May list!


Rapid


54,192 games played and reported in the April list.
Only 1,446 games and reported in the May list!


Blitz


24,514 games played and reported in the April list.
only 1,005 games and reported in the May list!




Regarding games played in April 2020. 

The round 7 of Horndal KM 201920 has indeed been played on 15th April. However, the Nigerian national championships were played in March. See the report of the Nigerian Chess Federation.