What is a grandmaster?

Grandmaster is a title awarded to strong chess players by the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Except for the title of World Chess Champion, this is the highest title a player can achieve. Once achieved, the title is held forever, unless there is fraud in which case the title will be revoked. In official documents, "Grandmaster" is often abbreviated as "GM" (Grandmaster); along with the smaller FIDE titles "IM" is "International Master", "FM" is "FIDE Master" and "CM" is "Candidate Master" The phrase "International Grandmaster" ("IGM" - short for "International Grandmaster") is also used, often in older texts. GM, IM, FM are titles open to both male and female players. In 1978, female chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili became the first female player to achieve the title of "Grandmaster", through a special decision of FIDE. The first female player to actually achieve the title of grandmaster thanks to her competition results was Zsuzsa Polgár in 1991. Since 2000, most of the top 10 women have achieved the title of "Grandmaster". Another female-only title, "Women's Grandmaster" (WGM) is also commonly used. This title is given to female players who have achieved a level higher than "FIDE Grandmaster" (FM) but lower than "International Master" (IM).