What is the difference between a grandmaster and international master?

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mineta

For rating purposes,
   Is it true that a grandmaster has to be above USCF 2500?
   How about an international master? 
    
     Is there a difference between the Women GM/IM title to the regular title for men?  
      
   

rgp89
Ask the Titled Players.
Little-Ninja
dont need to . When they are quolifying yes they have to be 2500+ for about 23 games i think it is or maintain that anyway and have achieved 3 tournament results of 2600+ i believe thats how fide does it . But once u get this they can be master level 2200+ and still be classed as GM once u achieve GM its the only title that cant be taken from you......Cool
mineta
thanks for telling me!
silentfilmstar13
Ian_Sinclair wrote: dont need to . When they are quolifying yes they have to be 2500+ for about 23 games i think it is or maintain that anyway and have achieved 3 tournament results of 2600+ i believe thats how fide does it . But once u get this they can be master level 2200+ and still be classed as GM once u achieve GM its the only title that cant be taken from you......

In America there is another title that can't be taken back.  A Life Master is a player who has held a master rating for a total of 300 or more games.

TonightOnly
IM and FM (others?) are also permanent titles.
silentfilmstar13
TonightOnly wrote: IM and FM (others?) are also permanent titles.

I was unaware.  Thank you for the info.

mineta
One more question, 
   What makes a grandmaster a better player than a regular master (2200)?
     They both see all of the tactics on the board.  
   Maybe the grandmaster has a better plan?

fischer-inactive
lulubell83 wrote:

For rating purposes,

Is it true that a grandmaster has to be above USCF 2500? 

How about an international master?

 

Is there a difference between the Women GM/IM title to the regular title for men?


There seems to be some confusion here. The USCF does not award the GM, IM, or FM titles. Also, USCF ratings are separate from FIDE ratings (FIDE being the organization who awards the aforementioned titles).


mineta
I find it interesting that there is a seperate IM/GM title for women from the FIDE.
     Does a woman need to play less games to get the women IM/GM title, than the regular IM/GM title?
        
  Maybe getting the title is similiar to tennis.  
  For professional tennis matches, women only need to win 2 sets. Men only need to win three.  

TheOldReb
The titles of FM, IM, GM are all fide titles and all are "permanent" , also the uscf titles of senior master, life master, and national master are permanent. To be GM requires a min fide rating of 2500 plus the necessary "norms". IM title requires 2400 min and the necessary norms and FM requires 2300 min rating but no norms. The womens fide titles require 200 points less than the male titles and I dont know if they also have to make "norms" or not.
silentfilmstar13

In searching for norm requirements for the women's titles, I came across some exceptions to the minimum ratings.  Below is a list of titles conferred to players by tournament results alone.  This is far from a complete list.  The complete list can be found in the FIDE Handbook, section 1.2.

 

World Championship

1-16=GM

Qualifying over the board=IM

 

World Junior Championship

1=GM

2=IM

 

World Senior Championship

1=GM

2=IM

 

Womans' World Championship

1=GM

2=IM

3-8=WGM

Qualifying over the board=WIM

 

World Girls' Junior Cup

1=WGM

2=WIM

 

Womans' World Senior Cup

1=WGM

2=WIM

fischer-inactive
Reb wrote: ...The womens fide titles require 200 points less than the male titles and I dont know if they also have to make "norms" or not.

They can't be called "male" titles since women can also earn them.


silentfilmstar13
fischer wrote: Reb wrote: ...The womens fide titles require 200 points less than the male titles and I dont know if they also have to make "norms" or not.

They can't be called "male" titles since women can also earn them.


 Good point.  They're called unrestricted titles.


KingsMove
lulubell83 wrote: One more question,    What makes a grandmaster a better player than a regular master (2200)?     They both see all of the tactics on the board.     Maybe the grandmaster has a better plan?

Being a grandmaster isin´t just about having over 2500 rating points. What makes them a cut above the IMs is not only their stregnth but their CONSISTENCY which means they will always perform at a very high level regardless...on the other hand an IM might be as strong as a GM but doesen´t have the consistency they can blow a GM off the board one day and not hold their own against a strong club player the next it means they still lack the ever illusive ¨pacience¨ skill that the cold blooded GMs have. Also most GMs have chess as their profession while a great deal of IMs have jobs to sustain themselves and chess is just a hobby. So you could imagine that GMs have to be on their toes to survive learning new opening novelties and staying in form...while most IMs don´t have to do that necessarily.

fischer-inactive

That's not true at all. You're right that GM's, for the most part, are better than IM's, but the rest is nonsense. Any IM out there would have no trouble disposing of a club player. And there are plenty of IM's who play professionally, while there are plenty of GM's who derive income from jobs outside of chess. Also, saying that IM's don't have to stay "in form" and be "on their toes" is just plain ridiculous. IM's need to keep up with theory as well (unless they want to get blown off the board).


ATJ1968
The top 20 in the world are usually called IGM's, International Grandmasters.
mineta
thanks for letting me know.
mineta
I also heard that if you reach a master rating of USCF 2200 and 
maintain the rating above 2200 for about a couple hundred(?) games, you
 become a life master.  Then the USCF sends a certificate to congratulate you! 

GreenLaser
http://www.fide.com/official/handbook.asp?level=B0101 has the FIDE title rules. Many were not presented in this thread. For example, a student I began teaching (and was later taught by others) at the age of five, a few years later won the Pan American Championship in the Under 10 age category. This gave him the FIDE Master title, even without a 2300 FIDE rating. The USCF Life Master title, which was discussed above and which I obtained, required 300 games at 2200. I have read but not confirmed, that about 5% of those who reach 2200 become life masters. I know many who have reached 2200 did not stay there.