How do professional chess players become Grandmasters?
Chess is considered to be one of toughest brain stimulating board games in the world, played between two opponents. In a game of chess, professional players of all ages receive prestigious titles such as International Master (IM), FIDE Master (FM), Candidate Master (CM), Woman Grandmaster (WM), Woman International Master (WIM), Woman FIDE Master (WFM), Woman Candidate Master (WCM), and Grandmaster. While, most of us know that Grandmaster is a high-ranking title for a professional chess player, we do not know how and when they become one. Read out to find out the process.
Why is Grandmaster such a prestigious title?
The Grandmaster title is a badge of honour for the game’s super elite players and is a recognition of the greatest and best chess talents of the world. Before the Grandmaster title is awarded, a chess champion is tested and proven against a group of peers, time and again as part of world’s toughest chess competitions.
The title is conferred by the Qualification Commission of International Chess Federation or FIDE (acronym for its French name Federation Internationale des Echecs) that is based in Lasusanne, Switzerland and is the governing body of the international level of chess.
Qualifications required to become a Grandmaster
Qualifications to become a Grandmaster has undergone changes for many times in 1957, 1965 and 1970. At present, FIDE confers the highest honouring title for chess to a player who is able to achieve a Fide Classical, also known as a Standard rating of 2500 or above alongside three Grandmaster norms, that are complex and rigorous rules surrounding national and international chess tournaments, championships, and players laid down in the FIDE Title Regulations.
It is updated every year and the current regulations were approved on 27th October 2021 and implemented on 1st January 2022 by the FIDE Council. Broadly speaking, a player has to undergo nine consecutive successful rounds in a FIDE tournament against titled opponents from foreign federations or countries.
The title of a Grandmaster is valid for life unless a player breaches FIDE’s Anti-Cheating Regulations. Till date, FIDE has recognised 2000 Grandmasters, among which 70 are from India.
How and when did the Grandmaster title originate?
The Grandmaster title is a century old term and was formerly used as a generic mode of recognition for players who were highly talented in chess and more skilled and accomplished than those of a master. However, in the year 1950, FIDE officially began to designate the best global chess players as Grandmasters, based on their own set of criteria. In the first year itself, FIDE had awarded twenty-seven Grandmasters from across the world including the then world champion, the Russian chess legend Mikhail Botvinnik and several of his peers and seniors.