Grandmaster
You have probably heard someone talking about a chess grandmaster before, but do you know what that title means?
Here is everything you need to know about it:
- What Is A Chess Grandmaster?
- How Do You Earn The Grandmaster Title?
- Other Official Titles
- Wrapping Up
- Grandmaster Video
What Is A Chess Grandmaster?
The grandmaster title (abbreviated as GM) is the highest chess title in the world, and only the best players have achieved it. Believe it or not, there are fewer than 2000 grandmasters in the world!
We have many grandmasters who created videos for ChessKid.com, including GM Ben Finegold and legendary GM Judit Polgar.
How Do You Earn The Grandmaster Title?
There are a few things that a person needs to do to become a grandmaster. The first one is to achieve an official FIDE rating of at least 2500 points.
Not only that, but the player also has to achieve three different norms. Think of a norm as a spectacular performance during an international tournament.
If a player has done that, they can be awarded the grandmaster title by FIDE. The good news is, once you get a FIDE title, you hold it for life!
Other Official Titles
Aside from grandmasters, there are many other official titles that FIDE gives out. One example is the FIDE master, which stands two titles below the grandmaster. Does that title sound familiar to you? That is because this is the title that FunMasterMike has, as you can see by the letters FM that appear before his name.
There are two other official titles given out by FIDE, which everyone can have: the international master and the candidate master. The international master is just one step below the grandmaster, while the candidate master is three.
There are also titles given out exclusively to women. They are, from easiest to hardest to get: woman candidate master, woman FIDE master, woman international master, and woman grandmaster.
Do you want to check out titled players who are on ChessKid? Then, visit our Titled Players page.
Wrapping Up
You now know what a grandmaster title is and what you need to do to earn it. Getting one of those titles is very hard and requires a lot of study and dedication. Head over to our Lessons page to learn essential chess concepts to get you on the right track to earning a FIDE title.