English Chess Forum

FIDE, today, has approved Matthew Wadsworth's GM title:
https://www.fide.com/fide-council-meeti ... i-georgia/

Well deserved, all the best to him.

Great work by Wadsworth, he really seemed to have to go the extra mile to achieve this title without preferential invites to norm tournaments or sponsorships - did the whole thing on pure hard graft and determination having to wade though the mire of horribly underrated opponents in open tournaments

Well, he played a fair few of the norm all-play-alls as well. People chasing the title tend to play a lot of events of different types in pursuit of it.

IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:04 pm

Well, he played a fair few of the norm all-play-alls as well. People chasing the title tend to play a lot of events of different types in pursuit of it.

How many GM norms do you have Jack?

Joey Stewart wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 21, 2025 9:47 pm

he really seemed to have to go the extra mile to achieve this title without preferential invites to norm tournaments or sponsorships

I believe he did get financial support from the government funding for promising players. I've no idea how much, though.

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:07 pm

IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:04 pm

Well, he played a fair few of the norm all-play-alls as well. People chasing the title tend to play a lot of events of different types in pursuit of it.

How many GM norms do you have Jack?

0. Never been particularly close.

Congratulations to Matthew J! My claim to fame is finding his scoresheet on a pavement in Hastings and passing it on the next day.

Paul McKeown wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 21, 2025 4:27 pm

FIDE, today, has approved Matthew Wadsworth's GM title:
https://www.fide.com/fide-council-meeti ... i-georgia/

His FIDE profile has been updated today confirming him as a Grandmaster. Alex Golding & Sohum Lohia are now showing as International Masters.

I hadn't appreciated until recently how few English GMs there are. Tony Mlles was the first in 1976. He claimed Jim Slater's prize of £5000, currently worth around £42000 today. Over the last 49 years there have been fewer that one new English GM per year. Congratulations to the latest recipient. He joins an exclusive club.

Cannot find the thread that followed ENG GM prospects, so putting here for now.

In his latest Guardian column, Leonard Barden said this about Marcus Harvey's recent first GM norm:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/ ... -challenge

[Harvey] currently ranks No 23 in England, but only three of those ranked ahead of him are not yet GMs, while two of these, IM Harry Grieve and IM Jonah Willow, already have two GM norms.

Without looking it up, can you work out the other player (i.e. not Grieve or Willow) ranked ahead of Harvey who is not yet a GM?

Brandon Clarke.

Brandon is another of that mid 20s generation who was pretty overdue a GM title, good to see he's finally made it (and vindicating the fact I lost to him when he was 13.. at least there was no chance I could have ever beaten a grand master)

The point is he (Brandon Clarke) has NOT made it to GM but is a strong and high-rated player regardless. Not sure how many GM norms he has?

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 10, 2026 5:29 pm

Not sure how many GM norms he has?

The FIDE site suggests just one.

https://ratings.fide.com/titles_page.phtml

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