A Mediocre (Above Average?) Chess Player vs. Titled Players

GM, IM, FM, CM, NM, I bet all of you have seen at least one or two, if not all of these "titles" in white capital letters surrounded by a red label in front of some chess.com players' names. Let's just be real about it, while the average person reading this article is around 800 elo, above average players are probably from 1400 to 1800 but titled players are those who are WAY above average, and most of their ratings range around above 2000 elo on chess.com. 

National Master (NM)

The National Master title is usually given by the federation of the country a player is playing for. Some countries don't issue this title while some others may. Specifically for Singapore, the requirements are stated as such:

- Firstly players have to be playing under the Singapore flag, meaning it should be reflected under their profile

- Achieve 3 Singapore NM norms with a total performance rating (TPR) of 2300 and above, and achieve a minimum live rating of 2200, Classical time control only. Total number of games at a minimum of 27.

- Direct title for the Champions of the Singapore National Championships and Women’s Championships. Norms for the 2nd and 3rd finishers.

- Norms will be awarded for the winner of the Singapore National Age Group Chess Championships U20, both boys and girls

- A candidate cannot have more than 1 norm from the National Age Group Chess Championships

Players will then need to send in an email to the Singapore Chess Federation, and the NM title will give the player some benefits, like discounts for certain tournaments and much more!

Candidate Master (CM)

The Candidate Master title is 3 titles away from the most prestigious title of chess, specifically the Grandmaster title, the highest title that can be achieved in chess! Here are some of the requirements and fun facts!

- No norms required

- Awarded to players that have achieved an established classical FIDE rating of 2200

- Sometimes given to players who perform well at highly competitive continental or national events

- Estimated 2000+ CMs in the chess community

- Notable CMs in Singapore include currently 9-year-old Ashwath Kaushik, who broke the record for youngest in the world to beat a GM, specifically GM Jacek Stopa in a tournament when he was around 8-years-old

- Another notable CM is also Ashton Chia, who has and is expected to show up to play for Team Singapore in past and this year's Chess Olympiad

FIDE Master (FM)

- Like candidate master title, does not require any sort of norms

- However, the player will need to achieve an established FIDE rating of 2300 and to have played 30 games in total

- A notable FM in Singapore would be 15-year-old Goh Zi Han, who has been participating and performing excellently in some European tournaments recently

International Master (IM)

Now we are getting to the real stuff, IM is the title right below the coveted GM title and has considerably stringent requirements that required a lot of effort and grit to achieve. 

- Player will first need 3 IM norms (which is defined as a total performance rating (TPR) of at least 2450 over 9 or more games, with the field having an average rating of at least 2230, including at least three IMs or GMs, and also include players from a mix of national federations.)

- Players also need to cross an established FIDE rating of 2400

- Some exceptions would include winning world-level chess championships or getting a decisive champion title in prestigious inter-continental events, given that the player's rating is 2200 and above

- An IM that everyone would probably know quite well is IM Levy Rozman (a.k.a GothamChess on YouTube), who recently performed quite well in the Madrid Chess Festival GM norm event, but unfortunately fell short for the GM norm requirement

Grandmaster (GM)

- Most prestigious chess title a player can possibly (other than Chess World Champion of course)

- Player will first need 3 GM norms (which is in general defined as a total performance rating (TPR) of at least 2600 over 9 or more games, with the field having an average rating of at least 2380, including at least three GMs, and also include players from a mix of national federations.)

- Players also need to cross an established FIDE rating of 2500

- Some exceptions would include winning world-level chess championships outright, showing extraordinary performance in world-class tournaments, given that the player's rating is 2300 and above

Playing against them?

Now that I am done introducing all these titled players, you may be going like, WOAH, they're so good, and you're right, they are supposedly really really bloody damn good. My FIDE standard rating is 1439 right now, and these guys have a rating of 2200 to around 2500+, which is around a 800 to 1000 elo skill difference, and you may think, hey, they should be pretty damn hard to play with and they'll likely destroy you, mice you, murder you basically anything that would destroy whatever ego you have left. Well, I've proved that they are not as good as you think they are. 

This was a Lichess simul I played against a Candidate Master and I won him, it was my first win against a titled player, so I was definitely extremely happy about it. I felt happy, but of course, he has clearly been inactive. However it is worth noting that even then, more than a year ago, I was rated 1200 on Lichess, which is actually a horrible rating and yet I could win a Candidate Master that was more than a 1000 elo points higher than me so a win is just a win, no denying. Now let's fast forward to present me. Recently I played in another simultaneous exhibition on Lichess against an experienced and active Ukranian International Master (IM) and I think I did quite decently!

Playing as Black against IM Mischuk was quite stressful, but for the later half of the game, all was extremely calm as I maintained a solid position, both sides didn't really want to take the risks, despite my skill level likely being lower and me being the underdog, I did not really expect to get a draw against such an experienced player but overall it was just me playing a pretty solid game where he had little chances to attack as many pieces were traded off. So I actually proved that even trash 1600s like me on Lichess can draw IMs now? It definitely filled me with a lot of confidence, some of them are worth fighting against for possibly a draw I guess?

This was a game I played with Singapore FM Mark Chan in an arena tournament, which I unfortunately lost as I missed out that one critical move that would've allowed me to draw the game and eventually my king was not fast enough so I lost the game, but this truly showed that there was actually a chance, being the solid and defensive player I was, I think I played decently and was able to hold him off for quite some time, but sometimes it comes down to just 1 or 2 moves, so-called the last blunders that were made to determine the result of the game of course. 

Reflections

As I reflect on my experiences of playing against titled players (actually there are more games that I actually lost against other titled players, there are plenty), I think there is actually a lot of things we can learn from them. Personally I think that as a 1400 player that put up a decent fight against a 2400 FM, it is actually a good experience, sparring against a titled player, who has likely worked their ass off to get a title and become a "so-called master" in chess, and I'm playing with them for free even. It is not that I am saying titled players are trash, or they don't take risks in simultaneous exhibitions, or that getting these titles are easy. No, obviously it is not. Masters need to study a lot of theory, learn a lot of middlegame strategies, practice their tactics to play 5 to 6 hour standard, classical games, and not like 3+2 blitz on chess.com, and it definitely does not represent their true strength. However, the fact that I am able to scrape off a few wins or draws against them really feels good but having yet to play a classical time control game against a titled player yet, I am gladly looking forward to doing that soon if I get the chance to!