Grandmaster (chess)

The title Grandmaster (GM) is awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster
is the highest title a chess player can attain.

Once achieved, the title is held for life. The abbreviation IGM for International Grandmaster is also sometimes used, particularly in older
literature.

The title of Grandmaster, along with the lesser FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and FIDE Master (FM), is open to both men and
women. The vast majority of grandmasters are men, but a number of women have also earned the GM title, with the first three having been
Nona Gaprindashvili in 1978, Maia Chiburdanidze in 1984[1] and Susan Polgar in 1991. Since about 2000, most of the top 10 women have
held the GM title. There is also aWoman Grandmaster title with lower requirements awarded only to women.

FIDE awards separate Grandmaster titles to composers and solvers of chess problems (see List of grandmasters for chess composition). The
International Correspondence Chess Federation(ICCF) awards the title ofInternational Correspondence Chess Grandmaster(ICCGM).

Contents
1 History
1.1 Early tournament use
1.2 Non-standard and Soviet usage before 1950
1.3 Official status (1950 onwards)
1.3.1 1953 regulations
1.3.2 1957 regulations
1.3.3 1965 regulations
1.3.4 1970 regulations

2 Honorary grandmasters
3 Current regulations
4 Title inflation
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

History
The first known use of the term grandmaster in connection with chess was in an 1838 issue of Bell's Life, in which a correspondent referred
to William Lewis as "our past grandmaster".[2] Lewis himself later referred to Philidor as a grandmaster, and the term was also applied to a
few other players.[2]

Early tournament use

In the Ostend tournament of 1907 the term grandmaster (Gromeister in German) was used. The tournament was divided into two sections:
the Championship Tournament and the Masters' Tournament. The Championship section was for players who had previously won an
international tournament.[3] Siegbert Tarrasch won the Championship section, over Carl Schlechter, Dawid Janowski, Frank Marshall, Amos
Burn, and Mikhail Chigorin. These players were described as grandmasters for the purposes of the tournament.

The San Sebastin 1912 tournamentwon by Akiba Rubinstein was a designated grandmaster event.[2] Rubinstein won with 12 points out of
19. Tied for second with 12 points wereAron Nimzowitsch and Rudolf Spielmann.[4]
By some accounts, in the St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament, the title "Grandmaster" was
formally conferred by Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who had partially funded the tournament.[3]
The Tsar reportedly awarded the title to the five finalists: Emanuel Lasker, Jos Ral
Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Siegbert Tarrasch, and Frank Marshall. Chess historian
Edward Winter has questioned this, stating that the earliest known sources that support this
story are an article by Robert Lewis Taylor in the June 15, 1940, issue of The New Yorker
and Marshall's autobiographyMy 50 Years of Chess (1942).[5][6][7]

Non-standard and Soviet usage before 1950

Before 1950, the term grandmaster was sometimes informally applied to other world class
players. The Fdration Internationale des checs (FIDE, or World Chess Federation) was
formed in Paris in 1924, but at that time did not formulate criteria on who should earn the
title. Siegbert Tarrasch (18621934)

In 1927, the Soviet Union's Chess Federation established the title of Grandmaster of the
Soviet Union, for their own players, since at that time Soviets were not competing outside their own country. This title was abolished in 1931,
after having been awarded to Boris Verlinsky, who won the 1929 Soviet Championship.[8] The title was brought back in 1935, and awarded
to Mikhail Botvinnik, who thus became the first "official" Grandmaster of the USSR. Verlinsky did not get his title back.[8]

Official status (1950 onwards)

When FIDE reorganized after World War II it adopted regulations concerning the award of
international titles. Titles were awarded by a resolution of the FIDE General Assembly and
the Qualification Committee. FIDE first awarded the Grandmaster title in 1950 to 27
players. These players were:

The top players of the day: world championMikhail Botvinnik, and those who
had qualified for (or been seeded into) the inauguralCandidates Tournament in
1950: Isaac Boleslavsky, Igor Bondarevsky, David Bronstein, Max Euwe,
Reuben Fine, Salo Flohr, Paul Keres, Alexander Kotov, Andor Lilienthal, Miguel
Najdorf, Samuel Reshevsky, Vasily Smyslov, Gideon Sthlberg, and Lszl
Szab.
Players still living who, though past their best in 1950, were recognised as
having been world class when at their peak:Ossip Bernstein, Oldich Duras,
Ernst Grnfeld, Boris Kosti, Grigory Levenfish, Gza Marczy, Jacques
Mieses, Viacheslav Ragozin, Akiba Rubinstein, Friedrich Smisch, Savielly
Tartakower, and Milan Vidmar.
Since FIDE did not award the Grandmaster title posthumously, world-class players who died
prior to 1950, including World Champions Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, and Alekhine, never
Akiba Rubinstein (18801961)
received the title.[9]

1953 regulations
Title awards under the original regulations were subject to political concerns. Efim Bogoljubov, who had emigrated from the Soviet Union to
Germany, was not entered in the first class of Grandmasters, even though he had played two matches for the World Championship with
Alekhine. He received the title in 1951, by a vote of thirteen to eight with five abstentions. Yugoslavia supported his application, but all other
Communist countries opposed it. In 1953, FIDE abolished the old regulations, although a provision was maintained that allowed older
masters who had been overlooked to be awarded titles. The new regulations awarded the title of International Grandmaster of the FIDE to
players meeting any of the following criteria:[10]

1. The world champion.

2. Masters who have the absolute right to play in the W
orld Championship Candidates Tournament, or any player who
replaces an absent contestant and earns at least a 50 percent score.
3. The winner of an international tournament meeting specified standards, and any player placing second in two such
tournaments within a span of four years. The tournament must be at least eleven rounds with seven or more players, 80
percent or more being International Grandmasters orInternational Masters. Additionally, 30 percent of the players mustbe

Grandmasters who have the absolute right to play in the next W

orld
 Grandmasters who have the absolute right to play in the next W orld
Championship Candidates Tournament, or who have played in such a
tournament in the previous ten years.
4. A player who demonstrates ability manifestly equal to that of (3) above in an
international tournament or match. Such titles must be approved by the
Qualification Committee with the support of at least five members.

1957 regulations
After FIDE issued the 1953 title regulations, it was recognized that they were somewhat
haphazard, and work began to revise the regulations. The FIDE Congress in Vienna in 1957
adopted new regulations, called the FAV system, in recognition of the work done by
International Judge Giovanni Ferrantes (Italy), Alexander (probably Conel Hugh O'Donel
Alexander), and Giancarlo Dal Verme (Italy). Under the 1957 regulations, the title of
International Grandmaster of the FIDE was automatically awarded to:
Jacques Mieses (18651954), one of
1. The world champion.
the first FIDE Grandmasters
2. Any player qualifying from theInterzonal tournament to play in the Candidates
Tournament, even if he did not play in the Candidates for any reason.
3. Any player who would qualify from the Interzonal to play in the Candidates but who was excluded because of a limitation on
the number of participants from his Federation.
4. Any player who actually plays in a Candidates o Turnament and scores at least 33 percent.
The regulations also allowed titles to be awarded by a FIDE Congress on recommendation by the Qualification Committee.
Recommendations were based on performance in qualifying tournaments, with the required score depending on the percentage of
[11]
Grandmasters and International Masters in the tournament.

1965 regulations
Concerns were raised that the 1957 regulations were too lax. At the FIDE Congress in 1961, GM Milan Vidmar said that the regulations
"made it possible to award international titles to players without sufficient merit". At the 1964 Congress in Tel Aviv, a subcommittee was
formed to propose changes to the regulations. The subcommittee recommended that the automatic award of titles be abolished, criticized the
methods used for awarding titles based on qualifying performances, and called for a change in the makeup of the Qualification Committee.
Several delegates supported the subcommittee recommendations, including GM Miguel Najdorf who felt that existing regulations were
leading to an inflation of international titles.[11] At the 1965 Congress in Wiesbaden FIDE raised the standards required for international
titles. The International Grandmaster title regulations were:

1. Any World Champion is automatically awarded the GM title

2a. Anyone who scores at least 40 percent in a quarter-final match in the Candidatesournament
T
2b. Scores at least the number of points in a tournament corresponding to the total of a 55 percent score against
Grandmasters plus 75 percent againstInternational Masters (IM) plus 85 percent against other players (a GM norm").
"
To fulfill requirement 2b, the candidate must score one GM norm in a category 1a tournament or two norms within a three-year period in two
Category 1b tournaments, or one Category 2a tournament and one Category 1b tournament.

The categories of tournaments are:

1aat least sixteen players, at least 50 percent are GMs, and 70 percent at least IMs
1bat least twelve players, at least 33 percent GMs and 70 percent IMs
2aat least fifteen players, at least 50 percent IMs
2bten to fourteen players, at least 50 percent IMs.
Since FIDE titles are for life, a GM or IM does not count for the purposes of this requirement if he had not had a GM or IM result in the five
years prior to the tournament.

In addition, no more than 50 percent plus one of the players can be from the same country for tournaments of 10 to 12 players, or no more
than 50 percent plus two for larger tournaments.

Seventy-four GM titles were awarded in 1951 through 1968. During that period, ten GM titles were awarded in 1965, but only one in 1966
and in 1968.[12]
1970 regulations
The modern system for awarding FIDE titles evolved from the "Dorazil" proposals, presented to the 1970 Siegen Chess Olympiad FIDE
Congress. The proposals were put together by Dr Wilfried Dorazil (then FIDE Vice-President) and fellow Committee members Grandmaster
[13]
Svetozar Gligori and Professor Arpad Elo. The recommendations of the Committee report were adopted in full.

In essence, the proposals built on the work done by Professor Elo in devising his Elo rating system. The establishment of an updated list of
players and their Elo rating enabled significantly strong international chess tournaments to be allocated a "Category", based on the average
rating of the contestants. For instance, it was decided that 'Category 1' status would apply to tournaments with an average Elo rating of
participants falling within the range 22512275; similarly Category 2 would apply to the range 22762300 etc. The higher the tournament
Category, the stronger the tournament.

Another vital component involved the setting of meritorious "scores" for each Category of tournament. A player must meet or surpass the
relevant score to demonstrate that they had performed at Grandmaster (GM) or International Master (IM) level. Scores were expressed as
percentages of a perfect maximum score and decreased as the tournament Category increased, thereby reflecting the strength of a player's
opposition and the relative difficulty of the task.

Tournament organisers could then apply the percentages to their own tournament format and declare in advance the actual score that
participants must achieve to attain a GM or IM result (nowadays referred to as norm).
a

Avg. Score Score Avg. Score Score Avg. Score Score

Cat. Cat. Cat.
Elo (GM) (IM) Elo (GM) (IM) Elo (GM) (IM)
2251 2376 2501
1 85% 76% 6 73% 60% 11 57% 43%
2275 2400 2525
2276 2401 2526
2 83% 73% 7 70% 57% 12 53% 40%
2300 2425 2550
2301 2426 2551
3 81% 70% 8 67% 53% 13 50% 36%
2325 2450 2575
2326 2451 2576
4 78% 67% 9 64% 50% 14 47% 33%
2350 2475 2600
2351 2476 2601
5 76% 64% 10 60% 47% 15 43% 30%
2375 2500 2625

To qualify for the Grandmaster title, a player needed to achieve three such GM results within a rolling period of three years. Exceptionally, if
a player's contributory games totalled thirty or more, then the title could be awarded on the basis of two such results. There were also
circumstances where the system could be adapted to fit team events and other competitions.

The full proposals included many other rules and regulations, covering such topics as:

Eligible tournament formats.

Eligible participants.
Unrated participants.
Registration of tournaments with FIDE.
Calculations, including the handling of fractions.

Honorary grandmasters
From 1977 until 2003, FIDE awarded honorary Grandmaster titles to 31 players based on their past performances or other contributions to
chess. Since 2007, no distinction has been made between an "honorary" grandmaster and a full grandmaster. The following players have been
awarded honorary Grandmaster titles:

1977 - Julio Bolbochn, Esteban Canal, Borislav Mili, Carlos Torre Repetto
1981 - Arnold Denker
1982 - Lodewijk Prins, Ral Sanguinetti
1983 - Vladimir Alatortsev, Alexander Konstantinopolsky, Erik Lundin
1984 - Eero Bk, Stojan Puc
 1985 - Harry Golombek, Mario Monticelli, Jaroslav ajtar
1986 - Arthur Dake, Theodor Ghiescu
1987 - Vladimir Makogonov, Vladas Miknas, Bogdan liwa
1988 - George Koltanowski
1990 - Andrija Fuderer, Rudolf Mari
1991 - Dragoljub Mini
1992 - Heinz Lehmann, Rudolf Teschner
1993 - Jonathan Penrose
1996 - Kroly Honfi, Enrico Paoli
1999 - Pter Dely
2003 - Elmrs Zemgalis

Current regulations
The requirements for becoming a Grandmaster are somewhat complex. A player must have attained an Elo rating of at least 2500 (although
they need not maintain this level to obtain or keep the title). In addition, at least two favorable results (called
norms) from a total of at least 27
games in tournaments involving at least three other Grandmasters, including some from countries other than the applicant's, are usually
required before FIDE will confer the title on a player. There are other milestones a player can achieve to get the title, such as winning the
Women's World Championship, the World Junior Championship, or the World Senior Championship. Current regulations can be found in the
FIDE Handbook.[14]

Title inflation
In 1957, there were 50 GMs (USSR: 19, Yugoslavia: 7, USA: 5, Argentina: 4, West Germany: 2, France: 2, Sweden: 1, Czechoslovakia: 1,
Hungary: 1, Austria: 1, Belgium: 1, Denmark: 1, Netherlands: 1, Poland: 1).[15] In 1972, there were 88 GMs with 33 representing the USSR.
The current FIDE ratings list includes over 1000 Grandmasters.[16] Nigel Short was rated the third best player in the world in 1989 with a
rating of 2650; in the 21st century such a rating would only be good enough for a player to reach the top 100 or so, with the third best player
in the world usually rated around 2800. Other minor factors come into play: there are more tournaments worldwide and cheaper air travel
makes them more accessible to globe-trotting chess professionals, who include many players from the former Soviet Union and Eastern
Europe whose movements are no longer restricted as they were before the 1990s. Additionally, players can make norms in tournaments that
would have been previously considered too short for norms,[17] making norms easier to get and allowing for more norm tournaments to be
held.

December 2008 saw a record number of GMs (1,192) and IMs (2,916), causing some FIDE officials to suggest that FIDE should consider an
"elite grandmaster" title.[18] The unofficial title "Super Grandmaster" is sometimes used by players to refer to those with a 2700+ rating to
distinguish the most serious world champion contenders. The proportion of titled players among rated players is actually becoming smaller
due to the rise in the number of all chess players worldwide who have FIDE ratings.[18] In response, one member of the FIDE Titles &
Ratings Committee observed that it is now more common for weaker players to get FIDE ratings, so the comparison of Grandmasters as a
[19]
proportion of all rated players is not really helpful.

See also
List of chess grandmasters
List of youngest grandmasters
Comparison of top chess players throughout history

References
1. http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=13600036
2. Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1992), The Oxford Companion to Chess(2 ed.), Oxford University Press, p. 156,
ISBN 978-0-19-280049-7
3. Sunnucks 1970, p. 223
4. "nimzowitsch.com" (http://nimzowitsch.com/Tourn_and_Match/sanseb12.htm). Retrieved 29 June 2015.
 5. Winter, Edward (1999), Kings, Commoners and Knaves: Further Chess Explorations(1 ed.), Russell Enterprises, Inc.,
pp. 315316, ISBN 978-1-888690-04-0
6. Winter, Edward (2003), A Chess Omnibus (1 ed.), Russell Enterprises, Inc., pp. 177178,ISBN 978-1-888690-17-0
7. "Chess Notes by Edward Winter"(http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter38.html). Retrieved 29 June 2015.
8. Cafferty, Bernard; Taimanov, Mark (1998), The Soviet Championships(1 ed.), Cadogan Books, pp. 2829,ISBN 978-1-
85744-201-4
9. Elo, Arpad (1978), The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present
, Arco, p. 66, ISBN 978-0-668-04721-0
10. Harkness, Kenneth (1956), The Official Blue Book and Encyclopedia of Chess
, David McKay Company, pp. 332336,
LCCN 56014153 (https://lccn.loc.gov/56014153), OCLC 1578704 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1578704)
11. Harkness, Kenneth (1967), Official Chess Handbook, David McKay Company, pp. 211214, LCCN 66013085 (https://lccn.lo
c.gov/66013085), OCLC 728637 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/728637)
12. Sunnucks 1970, pp. 224226
13. Keene, Raymond; Levy, David (1970), Siegen Chess Olympiad(1 ed.), Chess Ltd, Sutton Coldfield, pp. 238240
14. Actual Handbook (http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=58&view=article), fide.com
15. Ajedrez Revista Mensual 1957, p. 403.
16. Administrator. "FIDE Download Rating list"(http://ratings.fide.com/download.phtml). Retrieved 29 June 2015.
17. Praful Zaveri (December 10, 2006),Nigel Short wins Commonwealth Championship(http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.
asp?newsid=3531), chessbase.com
18. Macieja, Bartlomiej (December 17, 2008),ACP Report by GM Bartlmiej Macieja(http://www.fide.com/fide/fide-commissions/
3616-acp-report-by-gm-bartlmiej-macieja), Fide.com, retrieved 2010-01-03
19. Remarks on the ACP's FIDE Congress report(http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5111), Nick Faulks,
Chessbase, December 24, 2008

Bibliography

Sunnucks, Anne (1970), The Encyclopaedia of Chess, St. Martins Press, ISBN 978-0-7091-4697-1

External links
"Requirements for FIDE Titles" from the FIDE Handbook
"World Top Chess players" FIDE

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