Chess titles

Chess titles are lifetime titles for the best players specific by the world chess organization FIDE: [World Chess Federation. [http://www.fide.com/official/handbook.asp?level=B0101 FIDE Handbook: Chess Rules. 1.0. Requirements for the titles designated in 0.31.] Retrieved 9 December 2006.]

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 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. [Current FIDE lists of top players with their titles are online at [http://www.fide.com/ratings/toplist.phtml fide.com] . Retrieved 11 December 2006]

Problem chess

: See List of grandmasters of the FIDE for chess compositions.Just as in over-the-board play in problem chess the titles International Grandmaster, International Master and FIDE Master are awarded by FIDE via the Permanent Commission of the FIDE for Chess Compositions (PCCC) [http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/statutes.htm#annex%20III PCCC Statutes ] ] 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

For composition, the Grandmaster of the FIDE for Chess Compositions [ [http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/gm.htm Grandmasters ] ] title was established in 1959, with André Cheron, Arnolodo 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, 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 Albums. 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 of the FIDE) 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 Championship (WCSC) [ [http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/wcsc.htm Rules for the 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 Compositions [ [http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/ij.htm International judges ] ] is given to individuals considered capable of judging composing tourneys at the highest level.

Correspondence Chess

In correspondence chess in order to rank players, FIDE, ICCF and national chess organizations use the Elo rating system developed by Arpad Elo. Elo is a statistical system 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. [FIDE Handbook [http://www.fide.com/official/handbook.asp?level=B0210 The working of the FIDE Rating System] . Retrieved 13 December 2006]

The ICCF awards the titles International Master, Senior International Master and International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster — 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 overl
Joop van Oosterom 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.

Notes