International Large-Master

The title of International Large-Master exists as well with the failures as with the ladies, one can thus have the title of:

  • Large-Master International (of set of failures), decreed by the FIDE and detailed in this article
but also the title of:

International Large-Master (of set of failures)

The title of International Large-Master is decreed with the Masters of failures of world class by the International federation of the failures (FIDE). Separately the title of “World champion”, Large-Master is the most title which a player of failures can obtain.

The title is decreed with life. One also finds in the literature échiquéenne abbreviation “GM” or “GMI” (“MF” means Maître FIDE and “SEMI” International Maître)

GM, SEMI, and MF are opened to the men and to the women. A title separated for the women, “GMF” (Female Large-Master), is also decreed. In 1991, Susan Polgár became the first woman to obtain the title under the same conditions as the men, and today the majority of the best world players have the title of GMI.

The conditions to be GMI are complex. The player must at least once have a Classement Elo minimum of 2500 (2400 is necessary for SEMI and 2300 for Master FIDE). Moreover, three favorable results (called “standards”) must be obtained in tournaments containing of other GMI, with 3 different nationalities in these tournaments. It is possible other to obtain the title, such as for example gaining the championship of the world junior.

Origin and statistics

The title of “Large-Master” was decreed for the first time in 1914 by the Tsar Nicolas II, which rewarded the five finalists for the tournament of Saint Pétersbourg, that it had personally financed. The member elects were: Emanuel Lasker (victorious of the tournament), Jose Raul Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Siegbert Tarrasch and Frank Marshall.

In 1950, FIDE created the title of “international Large-Master” and granted it 27 players: Ossip Bernstein, Isaac Boleslavsky, Igor Bondarevsky, Mikhail Botvinnik, David Bronstein, Oldrich Lasted, max Euwe, Reuben Fine, Salo Flohr, Ernst Grünfeld, Paul Keres, Borislav Kostic, Alexander Kotov, Grigory Levenfish, Andor Lilienthal, Geza Maroczy, Jacques Mieses, Miguel Najdorf, Viacheslav Ragozin, Samuel Reshevsky, Akiba Rubinstein, Friedrich Sämisch, Vassily Smyslov, Gideon Stahlberg, László Szabó, Xavier Tartakover, and Milan Vidmar. On the 27 holders, 11 were Soviet S and a good part of the others in end of a career.

In 1972, there were only 88 GMI including 33 Russians. In July 2005, they were 900. The increase is due on the one hand to the facility to travel, which makes it possible to take part more easily in tournaments standards, and on the other hand to the inflation of the Classement Elo. The title of GMI keeps an unquestionable prestige, because it represents very an high level of performance. The level SEMI corresponds to the 2% of the best players of the world. A GMI is among the 0,2%.

Super-Large-Master

A player whose Elo exceeds: 2700 is sometimes called “super-GMI”, although this title is not official. Since 1970, year when the FIDE adopted the Classement Elo, until January 2006, only 40 players exceeded: 2700, the first being Bobby Fischer following the championship of the world in 1972. One has observed for a few years an increase in the number of players above: 2700.

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