FIDE titles: how they are earned

There are two parallel tracks - open titles and women's titles - and the women's thresholds sit roughly 200 rating points below the corresponding open ones.

The two lower titles need only the rating threshold to have been reached. The two upper ones need norms as well - which is the part that takes years.

Women may hold open titles too, and many do: the women's track does not replace the open one, it runs alongside it - why the separate track exists.

A norm is a single tournament performance at the level of the title, achieved under conditions strict enough that it cannot be arranged conveniently.

• A performance rating at the required level. Roughly 2600 for a grandmaster norm and 2450 for an international master norm - noticeably above the title thresholds themselves.
• Usually nine games. Shorter events can produce norms under specific conditions, but nine is the standard.
• Several norms are required. Typically three, and they must total a set number of games across events.
• Plus the rating threshold. Norms alone are not enough: the rating has to have reached the required figure at some point.

So the title needs two different achievements: results good enough for norms, and a rating high enough for the threshold. People frequently have one without the other for years - how ratings move.

A norm counts only if the event itself qualifies - which is why an ordinary strong open may produce none at all.

The precise figures and deadlines are set out in the FIDE handbook and are revised from time to time - check the current edition rather than any article, this one included.

The commonest source of confusion: a grandmaster rated 2380 and an untitled player rated 2450 in the same tournament. Both situations are normal.

• A title is for life. It records what somebody achieved at a particular moment. Ratings fall with age, with breaks from play and with form; titles do not.
• The rating threshold need only be touched once. Reaching 2500 for a single rating period is enough for that condition, even if the rating never returns there.
• Norms are harder to arrange than to play. A strong player without access to qualifying events can spend years above the threshold with no title at all.
• Titles are never revoked for form. Only for cheating or comparable offences.

Practical consequence for an organizer: a title tells you what somebody once did, and a current rating tells you how they are playing now. For seeding a tournament, use the rating.

Alongside the international titles most federations run their own ladder of ranks or categories, and the two systems are frequently mixed up.

• National ranks are awarded by federations, under their own rules, and they generally sit below the international titles in strength.
• They do not convert automatically. A national master title is not a FIDE Master title, and no arithmetic turns one into the other.
• They matter locally. For entry to domestic events, for coaching qualifications and for junior selection, the national ladder is often what counts.
• The rules differ by country. Requirements, names and even the number of levels vary - check your own federation rather than assuming.

For an amateur playing club events, neither system applies until the events themselves are rated and reported - which is a separate decision for the organizer.

Playing titles are not the only ones. Two other families exist and are earned quite differently.

• Arbiter titles. International Arbiter and FIDE Arbiter, earned through seminars, examinations and practice at qualifying events - not by playing strength - what arbiters actually decide.
• Trainer titles. A separate ladder for coaches, likewise based on qualification rather than results at the board.
• Composition titles. Grandmaster and master titles exist for composing and for solving problems, and they are unrelated to playing titles - about composition.

A practical note for organizers: if you want your events to be rated or to count towards anything, the requirement you meet first is usually the arbiter, not the players.