All the chess titles and how to acquire them
Introduction:
Hello everybody! Welcome back to my blog. On my recent post, one of my online friends has commented and given me the idea to make this article. A heartfelt thank you to them. Also check that post out! I put a lot of work into it and I think it's pretty good.
The chess titles:
There are 8 official chess titles awarded to players by FIDE. 4 are female versions of the original titles. The normal titles that can be acquired by anyone are CM, FM, IM and GM in that order. More about them later. The female versions of these are WCM, WFM, WIM and WGM in that order. For perspective, the female versions of the titles are easier to acquire than their gender neutral counterparts. They have less of a rating requirement compared to the gender neutral titles. A WGM is still, however, considered to be more prestigious than the IM title.
Requirements for the normal titles:
The norms are only required for the WGM and GM titles.
CM: The CM title which stands for Candidate Master is the lowest form of a normal title. Anyone who surpasses an official FIDE rating of 2200 will be awarded the CM title by FIDE.
FM: The FM title is the 2nd lowest form of a normal title. It stands for FIDE Master and is higher than the CM title. Other names for this title include NM standing for National Master. However NM might be of less value than an FM title as any national chess organization awarding the titles can tweak the requirements. Anyone who surpasses an official FIDE rating of 2300 will be awarded the FM title by FIDE.
IM: The IM title is the second highest normal title. Anyone who surpasses an official FIDE rating of 2400 will be awarded the IM title by FIDE.
GM: The grandmaster title is the highest title in all of chess. The title 'Grandmaster' is believed to have been coined sometime in the 1700s but FIDE only recognized it as an official title after its reorganization after WW2. Because of this, Many incredible chess players who passed away before 1950 never officially got the title. Such people include Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, and Alekhine. These incredible world-class chess players never got the grandmaster title. It's a shame as some (Of the many I couldn't list here alone) were world champions in chess at some point in their lives. Today, the grandmaster title requires an official FIDE rating of 2500 (at some point in their lives) and Two favorable results (called norms) from a total of at least 27 games in tournaments. They need not, however need to maintain their rating of 2500 to keep the grandmaster title if they had it while they were awarded the grandmaster title by FIDE.
The women only titles:
All the normal titles have female only counterparts. They are of a little less value than their normal title counterparts as these titles have slightly less of a rating requirement. Any women only title usually has a requirement of 200 less of a rating from their normal counterpart.
Conclusion:
That's it for today's post everyone! I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it! Thank you for reading this post! Let me know if you enjoyed this blog post! Read more of my articles if you did because I have a lot more. As always, any questions go to the comments and I'll be sure to reply to as many as I possibly can with all the answers you need. Bye! See you in the next post.
