FIDE titles

The World Chess Federation, FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs), awards several performance-based titles to chess players, up to and including the highly prized Grandmaster title. Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and norms (performance benchmarks in competitions including other titled players). Once awarded, FIDE titles are held for life, though a title may be revoked in exceptional circumstances. Open titles may be earned by all players, whilst the women's titles are restricted to female players. A strong female player may have a title in both systems.

A chess title, usually in an abbreviated form, may be used as an honorific. For example Viswanathan Anand may be styled as "GM Viswanathan Anand".

History

FIDE's first titles were awarded in 1950 and consisted of 27 Grandmasters (GMs), 94 International Masters, and 17 International Women Masters.

FIDE's first GMs were:

The standards for FIDE titles were not formally defined, and were decided by a committee. In 1957, FIDE introduced norms (qualifying standards) for FIDE titles.