Norm-Seeking

Recently, Eli asked me how norms worked, and instead of responding, I decided to make this post, even though technically it's a bit off-topic.

First of all, what are norms? To become IM or GM, you need to get three norms as well as the required FIDE rating. Note that a GM norm counts as both a GM norm and an IM norm.

To get a norm, you must play a FIDE-rated tournament of at least 9 rounds, with at least 3 opponents who have the title you are seeking (IM or GM), and your opponents have to be from at least 3 countries (I believe this includes the US, though I may be wrong). The time control must provide at least 2 hours of "thinking time" to each player for the tournament to be eligible for norms, although with increment, this rule is irrelevant, as increment technically provides infinite "thinking time". To get an IM norm, you must achieve a performance rating of 2450+ in such an event, and to get a GM norm, you must achieve a performance rating of 2600+ (FIDE has an official perf rating calculator you can use). There are some other minor rules, but they aren't important, as pretty much every high-level tournament will let you know on their front page whether there are norm chances.

Thanks to Abhimanyu Mishra crushing the record for youngest GM, one of your three norms is required to be in a superswiss tournament. Essentially, a tournament with a ton of different federations (20+ I believe) playing.

Now, what are some ways to approach getting norms? Let's assume you are already around 2100 or higher FIDE, because you won't have the opportunity to get norms if you aren't.

1. The "spray and pray" strat

If you have the time, you can strategize around simply playing a lot. If you play enough norm tournaments, you will eventually succeed. I'm not going to name any names in this article, but I know quite a few kids who became IM by just playing a lot of norm tournaments, especially during the COVID years.

2. The hunter strat

Look for IM norm invitationals like the one in Charlotte, NC; the one in Seattle, WA; or the one in NYC. Try to get 6.5/9 or 7/9 (they will let you know beforehand how much you need), and try to focus on being able to beat weaker players. You can draw with the IMs and the occasional GM, and beat all the untitled players, and you will get IM norms. Note that you probably can't do this for your superswiss norm, and also that you will need to be able to beat strong players to get GM norms.

3. The underdog strat

If you are seeking IM norms, you will only need 5 or 5.5 out of 9 in a GM norm invitational. Shore up your defense game, and if you can avoid losing, you will get IM norms easily. Note, however, that this is literally not possible to get GM norms.

Summary: As you can see, it's a lot harder to get GM norms than IM norms, and getting a GM superswiss norm basically requires you to win a tournament like National Open or World Open. Luck is definitely required, but if you try enough times, you should get some results. The main takeaway is that you should not focus on getting norms, you should focus on getting better. The norms will eventually come.

I mean, if this guy can achieve an IM title, then anyone can.

Thank you for this informational article, this will definitely help me in the future

I thought you were linking GothamChess, but that is so much better!

Sidenote, why am I reading this? I am literally 1400.

Dang............