International Grandmaster
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The title International Grandmaster is awarded to world-class chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from "World Champion", Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain.
It is a lifetime title, in chess literature usually abbreviated as GM or IGM (this is in contrast to FM for FIDE Master and IM for International Master).
GM, IM, and FM are open to both men and women. A separate gender-segregated title, WGM for Woman Grandmaster, is also available, but is something of a misnomer. It is awarded for a level of skill between that of a FIDE Master and an International Master. In 1991 Susan Polgar became the first woman to earn the GM title under the same conditions as the men, and these days most of the top 10 women hold the GM title.
The requirements for becoming a Grandmaster are somewhat complex. A player must have an ELO chess rating of at least 2500 at one time (although they need not maintain this level to keep the title). A rating of 2400 or higher is required to become an International Master. In addition, three favorable results (called norms) in tournaments involving 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 World Junior Championship. Current regulations may be found in the FIDE Handbook [1].
International Grandmaster titles are also awarded to correspondence chess players by the International Correspondence Chess Federation, and composers and solvers of chess problems.
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Origin and Current Statistics
The title "Grandmaster" was first formally conferred by Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who in 1914 awarded it to five players (Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall), who were finalists of a tournament in Saint Petersburg which he had partially funded. The tournament was won by Lasker ahead of Capablanca.
FIDE first awarded the International Grandmaster title in 1950 to 27 players. These players were Bernstein, Boleslavsky, Bondarevsky, Botvinnik, Bronstein, Duras, Euwe, Fine, Flohr, Grünfeld, Keres, Kostić, Kotov, Levenfish, Lilienthal, Maroczy, Mieses, Najdorf, Ragozin, Reshevsky, Rubinstein, Sämisch, Smyslov, Stahlberg, Szabó, Tartakower, and Vidmar.
In 1972 there were only 88 GM's with 33 being Russian. In July 2005, the FIDE ratings list included over 900 grandmasters; see list of chess players and category chess grandmasters for some of them. The increase is at least partly due to the greater ease of travel, which makes it simpler to organize the international tournaments required to provide norm opportunities.
The Grandmaster title retains its prestige because it represents a very high level of chess performance against other titled players. A chess master is typically in the top 2% of all tournament players. A Grandmaster is typically in the top 0.02% percent at the time he or she earns the title. [2]
"Super-grandmasters"
A player whose ELO rating is over 2700 is sometimes informally called "Super-GMs". From 1970 when FIDE first adopted the ELO rating system to April 2006, there have been only 39 players who have achieved a peak rating of 2700 or more. Below is a list compiled by Przemek Jahr of Pila, Poland. This list however does not account for the inflation of ELO ratings over time, as is evident by the fact that almost all of these peak ratings are from recent years. As of April 2006, FIDE lists seventeen active players rated 2700 or higher [3].
| Rank | Rating | Player | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2851 | Garry Kasparov | 1999.07 | Russia |
| 2 | 2811 | Vladimir Kramnik | 2002.01 | Russia |
| 3 | 2804 | Veselin Topalov | 2006.04 | Bulgaria |
| 4 | 2803 | Viswanathan Anand | 2006.04 | India |
| 5 | 2785 | Bobby Fischer | 1972.04 | United States |
| 6 | 2780 | Anatoly Karpov | 1994.07 | Russia |
| 7 | 2765 | Peter Svidler | 2006.01 | Russia |
| 8 | 2763 | Péter Lékó | 2005.04 | Hungary |
| 9 | 2758 | Alexander Morozevich | 1999.07 | Russia |
| 10 | 2756 | Levon Aronian | 2006.04 | Armenia |
| 11 | 2755 | Michael Adams | 2000.07 | England |
| 12 | 2752 | Vassily Ivanchuk | 2005.07 | Ukraine |
| 13 | 2751 | Alexei Shirov | 2000.01 | Spain |
| 14 | 2745 | Gata Kamsky | 1996.07 | United States |
| 15 | 2743 | Ruslan Ponomariov | 2002.04 | Ukraine |
| 16 | 2739 | Evgeny Bareev | 2003.10 | Russia |
| 17 | 2735 | Judit Polgar | 2005.07 | Hungary |
| 18 | 2732 | Alexander Grischuk | 2003.07 | Russia |
| 19 | 2731 | Etienne Bacrot | 2005.04 | France |
| 20 | 2727 | Boris Gelfand | 2006.04 | Israel |
| 21 | 2717 | Teimour Radjabov | 2006.04 | Azerbaijan |
| 22 | 2715 | Valery Salov | 1995.01 | Russia |
| 23 | 2714 | Loek van Wely | 2001.10 | The Netherlands |
| 24 | 2712 | Nigel Short | 2004.04 | England |
| 25 | 2710 | Alexander Beliavsky | 1997.07 | Slovenia |
| 26 | 2709 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2006.01 | Azerbaijan |
| 27 | 2707 | Vladimir Akopian | 2005.10 | Armenia |
| 28 | 2707 | Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu | 2005.10 | Romania |
| 29 | 2706 | Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2001.10 | Uzbekistan |
| 30 | 2706 | Ivan Sokolov | 2004.01 | The Netherlands |
| 31 | 2705 | Mikhail Tal | 1980.01 | Latvia |
| 32 | 2705 | Alexey Dreev | 2003.10 | Russia |
| 33 | 2702 | Michal Krasenkow | 2000.07 | Poland |
| 34 | 2702 | Ilia Smirin | 2001.07 | Israel |
| 35 | 2702 | Alexander Khalifman | 2001.10 | Russia |
| 36 | 2702 | Zurab Azmaiparashvili | 2003.07 | Georgia |
| 37 | 2700 | Vladimir Malakhov | 2004.01 | Russia |
| 38 | 2700 | Victor Bologan | 2005.04 | Moldova |
| 39 | 2700 | Sergei Tiviakov | 2005.10 | The Netherlands |
Title Inflation
Some people have argued that the players currently awarded the title of Grandmaster are not as dominant as those five original Grandmasters were in their day. Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine were all World Champions, and both Tarrasch and Marshall were strong enough to play world title matches (both losing against Lasker). Tarrasch was regarded as the strongest player in the world in the period between the decline of Steinitz and the rise of Lasker.
This argument says that the title of Grandmaster ought to be reserved for those who, at some time in their lives, become serious contenders for the World Championship, or who have actually held that title. Otherwise, a "super-GM" designation becomes necessary in order to refer to that group, leading to an accumulation of superlatives.
See also
de:Großmeister (Schach) el:Διεθνής γκρανμαίτρ es:Gran Maestro Internacional fr:Grand-maître international it:Grande Maestro Internazionale he:רב אמן בשחמט nl:Grootmeester (schaken) no:Internasjonal stormester i sjakk pl:Arcymistrz sl:Šahovske kategorije in naslovi