Knowledge nugget of the day: Gukesh and other Chess Grandmasters

3. Besides Grandmaster, the Qualification Commission of FIDE recognises and awards seven other titles: International Master (IM), FIDE Master (FM), Candidate Master (CM), Woman Grandmaster (WGM), Woman International Master (WIM), Woman FIDE Master (WFM), and Woman Candidate Master (WCM).

4. Grandmaster and other titles are valid for life unless a player is stripped of the title for a proven offence such as cheating.

5. FIDE has so far recognised fewer than 2,000 Grandmasters out of the millions who play the game around the world. A vast majority of Grandmasters have been male. Russia (and the erstwhile USSR) has produced the most Grandmasters in the world, followed by the United States and Germany.

History of Grandmasters

1. The term grandmaster is about a century old, and was initially used as a generic expression to describe a player who was better than just a master.

2. In 1950, FIDE started to formally designate the best players as Grandmasters, based on a set of laid-down criteria. Twenty-seven Grandmaster titles were awarded in the first batch in 1950, including to then world champion Mikhail Botvinnik of the erstwhile USSR, and several players who were greats of their time, but who were no longer competing then.

Qualifications for Grandmaster

1. The qualifications for Grandmaster has changed several times, including in 1957, 1965, and 1970. Currently, FIDE awards chess’s highest honour to a player who is able to achieve a FIDE Classical or Standard rating of 2,500, plus three Grandmaster norms.

2. Grandmaster norms are defined by a set of complex and rigorous rules regarding tournaments, games, and players, that are set out in the FIDE Title Regulations.

3. Each norm is very difficult to attain. Broadly, a player must have a performance rating of 2,600 or higher in a FIDE tournament that has nine rounds, playing against several opponents from federations or countries other than the one to which the player belongs, and those opponents must be titled themselve

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Indian Grandmasters

1. Chess, in its indigenous versions, has existed for a long time in India and also finds references in the country’s epics, songs and movies. Chaturanga was played in the durbar as well as on the streetside. But formalised Western chess took time to capture imaginations in this country. As a consequence, perhaps, India’s strides in chess were more incremental than exponential.

2. After Manuel Aaron became India’s first International Master in 1961, it took another 26 years for the emergence of the first Grand Master, Viswanathan Anand. And it was not until the stroke of the century that India had its first World Champion, Anand again.

3. India emerged as a chess powerhouse in the 2000s and has 85 Grandmasters. In May 2024, Shyam Nikhil from Tamil Nadu became India’s 85th grandmaster.

4. Women Grandmasters from India: Indian chess player Vaishali Rameshbabu became a Grandmaster by crossing 2,500 FIDE ranking points at the IV El Llobregat Open in December, 2o23. She is only the third Indian woman player to achieve the title, besides Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli.

(Sources: Everyday Sport: Who is a chess Grandmaster?, Remembering an older generation of Indian chess champions, The rise and fall of chess,Young masters)

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