Our Complete Guide to Being a Chess Grandmaster
Many chess players dream of greatness. The same way that a young basketball player may dream of playing in the NBA, or a young author may dream of having a bestseller, there is nothing wrong with striving to be the best. What does it take to become a grandmaster, and what can you do to help yourself, or someone you know, optimize their chances of making it to the big leagues and becoming a chess grandmaster?
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Chess Players at the Top of Their Game
In every sport, job, or vocation, there is a top of the top. A group of people who rise above the rest and excel. Sometimes highly skilled or uniquely positioned individuals have the potential to be great, but they also must work very hard to reach the top. And chess is no different from other sports. Most people understand just how difficult it is to make it into the NBA. Experts estimate that nearly 5,000 individual players have played in an NBA basketball game. There are only approximately 2000 chess grandmasters, and some people think even that is too many!
What Even is a Chess Grandmaster?
The highest ranking and title you can achieve in the chess world is grandmaster. This means you hold a FIDE title and rating of at least 2500, which indicates that you are stronger than 99% or more of all chess players. To become a Chess Grandmaster, you need a FIDE rating of at least 2500 and earn three GM norms in officially recognized international tournaments. If you or someone you care about wants to be a grandmaster someday, you need to understand the ELO system.
Chess Ratings and Elo
One of my favorite parts of chess is that it is very easy to track your progress. In other sports, especially for young children, it can be difficult to see if they are improving. With chess, elo rating gives us a simple way to track improvement both with online play and in official tournaments. Elo is not everything; there are certainly ways players can be improving that is not reflected in wins, but over time, it can give us a good picture of the improvement and learning that is occurring.
Arpad Elo
The rating system that we use in chess is named after its creator, Arpad Elo. The Hungarian-American chess master invented a system where players lose or gain rating from their opponents after games. FIDE adopted the system in 1970. If you play chess online, you likely recognize a similar system used to track your rating. When you win or lose, your rating will go up or down depending on the result and your opponent's rating. If you win games, your rating goes up!
USCF vs. FIDE
Most beginners in the US will only need to worry about their USCF rating. You can get this rating by signing up for a USCF membership and then playing in an official rated USCF tournament. Most local clubs will hold rated tournaments periodically, and they can be a good test of your improvement. FIDE is the International Chess Federation and it becomes more important as you improve and begin wanting to get a chess title beyond what your national association can hand out.
Chess Titles for Elite Players
As you improve and you gain a rating, you might set your sights on different chess titles. Of course, the grandmaster title sits at the top of that mountain, but players can achieve many other respectable chess titles along the way. Before grandmaster, one goal that a US player should set for themselves is the title of national master. Even this title is an incredibly prestigious ranking that many players play their whole life and never achieve.
National Master (NM)
You can become a National Master (NM) by reaching the US Chess Federation (USCF) 2200 rating in the United States.
Candidate Master (CM)
The CM title is given by FIDE to players who reach a FIDE classical rating of 2200.
FIDE Master (FM)
FM requires a FIDE rating of 2300 or higher. This is also an awe-inspiring achievement and represents a significant leap from a national master's level, as international ratings are more difficult to achieve. There is no guarantee that an FM will go on to become a grandmaster, as the time and dedication to get even to this point are impressive.
International Master (IM)
With a FIDE rating of 2400 or higher, you can become an IM. While this is only 100 points below the level of a GM, they must also earn IM norms, which makes becoming an IM more difficult than FM or CM. Players must earn three IM norms and meet other requirements, such as playing a certain number of games, facing opponents from different federations, and competing against other titled players.
Grandmaster (GM)
This is the very top of the chess titles. A grandmaster must be at least 2500 rated and earn three GM norms in officially recognized international tournaments.
What are Grandmaster Norms?
Grandmaster Norms in chess are a specific performance standards achieved in a tournament. In order to become a GM, players must play in tournaments that follow specific standards for a norm to be achievable by a player during that tournament. To qualify, a player must achieve a high enough performance rating, compete in a tournament with a certain number of games, usually nine or more, and face strong opponents from different chess federations. These are in place to make sure national federations are not assisting their players in reaching grandmaster level unfairly.
Essential Skills and Knowledge to Increase Your Chess Ratings
There are many hoops to be jumped through in order to become a chess grandmaster, but to even be at the level needed to reach those hoops, players first need to gain the skill. To play competitively at the top levels of chess players need to truly master every level of the game. Just like how a basketball player must learn offence, defence, and more in order in order to become one of the few players who makes it to the NBA, a chess player needs to master the opening, middlegame, and endgame if they wish to reach that level. The greatest players are the most knowledgeable, not only skilled.
Opening Theory for Chess Grandmasters
If you want to become a grandmaster, be ready to learn lots and lots of theory. Opening theory are the moves that masters play in the opening of their games. Moves that have been proven to be the best. Most grandmaster games are following other master games that came before them for five, ten, fifteen, maybe even twenty moves. That means that if you are going to become a titled player, you need to know your openings backwards and forwards, and be prepared to play many moves deep into those lines before you are truly playing moves that are new to you.
How Should You Start?
If you or someone you care about is hoping to become a grandmaster, then focusing on focusing in and learning some solid openings really well is best. Sometimes kids will learn a hundred different openings, and focus more on opening traps instead of highly regarded lines, and that is not as useful if you really want to be a grandmaster. Pick a few solid openings that are being played at the high level, maybe find a course or book teaching that opening, and dive in deep.
Middlegames
After you make it out of the opening, grandmasters need to be ready with solid middlegame strategy. Strategy in chess is more than one move tactics, it takes a full understanding of the positions and how to play them. To be a grandmaster, you also need very strong midgame tactics and awareness of tactical motifs. Consistency is key when it comes to breaking out and into the top levels of chess. An average chess player may see t a tactic 90% of the time, but a grandmaster will never miss that same tactic.
Endgames
Just like learning openings, if you want to become a grandmaster, you need to have a complete understanding of every theoretical endgame position. That means knowing how to hold draws in countless positions, knowing how to checkmate with every combination of pieces, and being ready to fight out a theoretically won position even in time trouble. Most grandmasters have been playing chess since they were young, and these endgames become second nature to them, and they are ready to face them when the time arises.