Chess titles
Encyclopedia
Title
A title is a prefix or suffix added to someone's name to signify either veneration, an official position or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may even be inserted between a first and last name...
created by the world chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
organization FIDE bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Examples of chess titles are Master and Grandmaster.
Over board chess
- Grandmaster (shortened as GM, sometimes International Grandmaster or IGM is used) is awarded to world-class chess masters. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Before FIDE will confer the title on a player, the player must have an Elo chess rating (see below) of at least 2500 at one time and three favorable results (called norms) in tournaments involving other Grandmasters, including some from countries other than the applicant's. There are also other milestones a player can achieve to attain the title, such as winning the World Junior Championship.
- International Master (shortened as IM). The conditions are similar to GM, but less demanding. The minimum rating for the IM title is 2400.
- FIDE Master (shortened as FM). The usual way for a player to qualify for the FIDE Master title is by achieving a FIDE Rating of 2300 or more.
- Candidate Master (shortened as CM). Similar to FM, but with a FIDE Rating of at least 2200.
All the titles are open to men and women. Separate women-only titles, such as Woman Grandmaster (WGM), are also available. Beginning with Nona Gaprindashvili
Nona Gaprindashvili
Nona Gaprindashvili is a Georgian chess player, the sixth women's world chess champion , and first female Grandmaster. Born in Zugdidi, Georgia , she was the strongest female player of her generation....
in 1978, a number of women have earned the GM title, and most of the top ten women in 2006 hold the unrestricted GM title.
Other titles for players not as strong also exist, such as Chess expert
Chess expert
Chess expert is a title given by the United States Chess Federation . It is awarded to chess players rated from 2000 to 2199. Players rated above that are masters while players below that are class players. Approximately 400,000 chess players have USCF ratings, of which approximately 4000 are rated...
. The USCF currently gives a national title for achieving 5 norms of that level. The titles are the following: (note these are national titles and are not recognized by FIDE)
- Life Senior Master: 2400
- Life Master: 2200
- Candidate Master: 2000
- 1st Category: 1800 (note 1st Category Titles and lower do not require the listed rating)
- 2nd Category: 1600
- 3rd Category: 1400
- 4th Category: 1200
Problem chess
- See List of grandmasters for chess composition.
Just as in over-the-board play, in problem chess
Chess problem
A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle set by somebody using chess pieces on a chess board, that presents the solver with a particular task to be achieved. For instance, a position might be given with the instruction that White is to move first, and checkmate Black in two...
the titles International Grandmaster, International Master and FIDE Master are awarded by FIDE via the PCCC
Permanent Commission of the FIDE for Chess Compositions
The Permanent Commission of the FIDE for Chess Compositions is the highest body governing the official activities in the chess composition, mandated by FIDE.Currently 39 countries are represented in the PCCC.Main duties of the Commission include:...
(Permanent Commission for Chess Composition) for especially distinguished problem and study composers and solvers (unlike over-the-board chess, however, there are no women-only equivalents to these titles in problem chess).
Composers
André Chéron
André Chéron was a French chess player, endgame theorist, and a composer of endgame studies. He lived in Switzerland for many years...
, Arnoldo Ellerman, Alexander Gerbstmann, Jan Hartong, and Cyril Kipping being the first honorary recipients. In subsequent years, qualification for the IM title, as well as for the GM title (first awarded in 1972 to Genrikh Kasparyan, Lev Loshinsky, Comins Mansfield
Comins Mansfield
Comins Mansfield was a chess problem composer. He gained title International Grandmaster FIDE in 1972 and 94,33 points in FIDE Album.-Biography:...
, and Eeltje Visserman) and the FM title (first awarded 1990) has been determined on the basis of the number of problems or studies a composer had selected for publication in the FIDE Album
FIDE Album
The FIDE Albums are publications of the world chess governing body, FIDE, via the Permanent Commission of the FIDE for Chess Compositions , containing the best chess problems and studies of a certain period ....
s. These albums are collections of the best problems and studies composed in a particular three-year period, as selected by FIDE-appointed judges. Each problem published in an album is worth 1 point; each study is worth 1⅔; joint compositions are worth the same divided by the number of composers. For the FIDE Master title, a composer must accumulate 12 points; for the International Master title, 25 points are needed; and for the Grandmaster title, a composer must have 70 points.
Solvers
For solvers, the GM (International Solving Grandmaster) and IM titles were both first awarded in 1982; the FM title followed in 1997. GM and IM titles can only be gained by participating in the official World Chess Solving ChampionshipWorld Chess Solving Championship
The World Chess Solving Championship is an annual competition in the solving of chess problems organised by FIDE via the Permanent Commission of the FIDE for Chess Compositions ....
(WCSC): to become a GM, a solver must score at least 90 percent of the winner's points and on each occasion finish in at least tenth place three times within ten successive WCSCs. For the IM title they must score at least 80 percent of the winner's points and each time finish in at least fifteenth place twice within five successive WCSCs; alternatively, winning a single WCSC or scoring as many points as the winner in a single WCSC will earn the IM title. For the FM title, the solver must score at least 75 percent of the winners points and each time finish within the top 40 percent of participants in any two PCCC-approved solving competitions.
Judges
The title International Judge of Chess CompositionsInternational Judge of Chess Compositions
International Judge of Chess Compositions is a title award by FIDE via the Permanent Commission of the FIDE for Chess Compositions to individuals who have judged several chess problem or study tournaments and who are considered capable of judging such awards at the highest level.The title was...
is given to individuals considered capable of judging composing tournaments at the highest level.
Correspondence Chess
In correspondence chessCorrespondence chess
Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, usually through a correspondence chess server, through email or by the postal system; less common methods which have been employed include fax and homing pigeon...
in order to rank players, FIDE, ICCF
ICCF
ICCF may stand for:*International Conservation Caucus Foundation*International Correspondence Chess Federation...
and national chess organizations use the Elo rating system
Elo rating system
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor....
developed by Arpad Elo
Árpád Élo
Arpad Emrick Elo is the creator of the Elo rating system for two-player games such as chess. Born in Egyházaskesző, Austro-Hungarian Empire, he moved to the United States with his parents as a child in 1913.Elo was a professor of physics at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was...
. Elo is a statistical system
Statistical model
A statistical model is a formalization of relationships between variables in the form of mathematical equations. A statistical model describes how one or more random variables are related to one or more random variables. The model is statistical as the variables are not deterministically but...
based on assumption that the chess performance of each player in their games is a random variable. Arpad Elo thought of a player's true skill as the average of that player's performance random variable, and showed how to estimate the average from results of player's games. The US Chess Federation implemented Elo's suggestions in 1960, and the system quickly gained recognition as being both fairer and more accurate than older systems; it was adopted by FIDE in 1970.
The ICCF awards the titles International Master, Senior International Master and International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster
International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster
International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster is a title created by the FIDE in 1953, second only to that of world correspondence champion. Now awarded by the International Correspondence Chess Federation.-American ICCGMs:* Hans Jack Berliner, GM 1968...
— these are equivalent to similar titles awarded by FIDE for over-the-board chess. The ICCF also runs the World Correspondence Chess Championships. Because these events can last a long time, they may overlap: for instance, in February 2005 Joop van Oosterom
Joop van Oosterom
Joop van Oosterom is a Dutch billionaire and chess enthusiast. For many years he has staged the annual Melody Amber tournaments in Monaco, where world-class Grandmasters play rapid and blindfold games....
was declared winner of the eighteenth Championship (which began in June 2003), though the winner of the seventeenth Championship (which began in March 2002) had not yet been determined.