Azacus: How do you become a grandmaster in chess? What Is a Chess Grandmaster?

    Opening Preparation: Become an opening expert in various openings;

understand your variations and know the theory.
    Calculation Skills: Improve your calculation methods, systemize your

calculation and solve chess puzzles to improve your pattern recognition.
    Endgame Skills: Chess Grandmasters often outplay their opponents in

the endgame; study key theoretical endgames also excel in practical

endings.
    Focus: Chess Grandmasters are professionals with a fighting attitude.
    Psychological Strength: Develop a never-give-up-attitude, get the right

mindset to win your games.

Earning a chess title, especially the grandmaster title, is not a piece of

cake. Many people work very hard on their chess, but their Elo rating

stagnates. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication in order to get a chess

title.

There are around 800 million chess players in the world and only about

1500 of them are grandmasters. Hence, only about 0.3 % of all registered

FIDE players currently hold a grandmaster title.

Still, many chess players wonder if they have the potential to become a

grandmaster. What are the official requirements to get a grandmaster title?

What does it take to become a grandmaster? What skills do you need to

play at grandmaster level?

There’s plenty of debate on what makes a chess grandmaster and what it

takes to become one. Subsequently, the following article is devoted to the

question “What is a Chess Grandmaster?”
Current Regulations To Become A Chess Grandmaster

The chess title Grandmaster is awarded to chess players by the world

chess organization, FIDE. Apart from becoming World Chess Champion,

being a Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can reach.

Other official FIDE titles are Candidates Master (CM), FIDE Master (FM)

and International Master (IM). It is interesting to note that many chess

enthusiasts often use the unofficial title “Super Grandmaster” to refer to

the world’s best chess players with a 2700+ ELO-rating.

Once a player becomes a chess grandmaster, the title is held for life.

Although there is also a Woman Grandmaster title with lower

requirements only for women, the Grandmaster title is open to men and

women.

To achieve a GM title, chess players usually need to achieve norms in

internationally rated tournaments. In order to get 1 GM-norm, a player has

to fulfill the following criteria:

    The player must play at least 9 games in the tournament (with some

exceptions you can read in the FIDE Handbook).
    The player has to play against at least two players from federations

other than his own federation (with some exceptions you can read in the

FIDE Handbook).
    At least 50% of the player’s opponents have to be titled-players. On top

of that, at least 1/3 (with a minimum of 3 opponents) of the opponents

have to be Grandmasters.
    The minimum rating of the player’s opponents is 2380.
    The Performance Rating of the player who wants to achieve the GM-

norm has to be at least 2600.

These 5 criteria are the most important ones you need to fulfill in order to

reach 1 GM-norm. Still, it has to be said that there are some more detailed

regulations in the FIDE Handbook.

In order to get the Grandmaster title, a player usually needs to get 3 GM-

norms (with some exceptions again). On top of that, your FIDE rating has

to have passed 2500 at some point in order to become a Grandmaster.

All the small details aside, it quickly becomes obvious that it is really

tough to become a grandmaster. The following example highlights this:

Achieving a performance rating of 2600 or more if the rating of your

opponents is 2380 means that you need to score at least 7 points out of 9

games.
The Youngest Chess Grandmasters Ever

The record for the youngest grandmaster is currently held by nobody else

than the former World Chess Championship Contender Sergey Karjakin,

who earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 12 years and 7 months.

The second youngest Grandmaster is Nodirbek Abdusattorov from

Uzbekistan with 13 years and 1 month and the third youngest GM is

Parimarjan Negi with 13 years and 4 months.

Actually, it is interesting to note that World Chess Champion Magnus

Carlsen was only 5 days older than Negi when he became a Grandmaster.

Therefore, he is the fourth youngest GM in the world.
How To Become A Chess Grandmaster?

Plenty of skills and attitudes are needed in order to become a

Grandmaster. Here’s a brief overview of the most important aspects

required:

    Opening Preparation:
    Grandmasters usually play various openings or at least different lines

within an opening system. What’s more, they are absolute experts in the

openings they play. They do not only know about typical plans, idea and

tactical patterns in their openings but also memorize a ton of theory. They

analyze their lines very deeply and often know their opening until the

middlegame or even endgame.
    Calculation Skills:
    Without good calculation skills, it’s nearly impossible to play a good

game. Chess is a concrete game and the better you become, the more

concrete it gets. If you want to play at a very high level, you can’t rely on

general concepts. The calculation is one area of the game in which

grandmasters usually perform a lot better than average club players.

Improving your calculation methods (e.g. look for forced moves like

checks or captures first) helps you to systemize your calculation. Thus,

you’ll be able to calculate faster and more precisely.
    Endgame Skills:
    Grandmasters often outplay weaker opponents in the endgame. Many

club players believe that with reduced material, it is a lot easier to play.

However, it is far from that. Endgames are one area of the game where

most club players struggle. Grandmasters are not only familiar with the

most important theoretical endgames, but also know plenty of essential

endgame principles such as “Don’t hurry”, “Plus-equal mode”, “Cutting

off the King” and more.
    Focus:
    If you want to become a chess Grandmaster, you need to be

professional. It is important to sit at the board the entire time and focus on

the game. Many average club players prefer to leave their board quite

often during the game and watch other games or talk to their friends. In

order to compete with other chess players on such a high level, you need

to have a fighting attitude. On top of that, you also need a lot of

dedication at home. Playing at Grandmaster level starts with investing

countless hours of chess training at home. You need to have a clear study

program and be willing to do all the hard work.
    Psychological Strength:
    On your way to becoming a Grandmaster, you will suffer many painful

defeats. You might be close to a GM-norm and lose an important game in

the last round. Losing and failing is agony. Only a few sportsmen can

handle it. In order to become a Grandmaster, you need to develop a

never-give-up attitude.
    Money:
    Last but not least, becoming a Grandmaster is expensive. You need to

buy several good chess books, chess DVD series, and chess software. You

need to pay strong chess coaches and you also need to travel to

tournaments. Usually, the right tournaments to get a GM-norm are not

next door, so you have to spend time and money to go there.

As we’ve seen in this article, a lot of different skills are required to

become a chess grandmaster. Not only FIDE’s regulations make it tough to

reach such a high level, but also different chess training aspects are

extremely challenging.