Candidate Master

[Joey Stewart]

Looking through the 4ncl spreadsheet I see this title come up quite a few times but, as far as I am aware, it confers no real advantage in terms of tournament entry discount or the psycological impact that a higher ranking master title might have on an opponent.

Does it do anything useful, or is it just a nice way for a player to recognise that he has been over 2200 at some point and this was a good achievement?

[David Sedgwick]

Does it do anything useful, or is it just a nice way for a player to recognise that he has been over 2200 at some point and this was a good achievement?

Essentially the latter, but it can be more significant for young players or those from chess developing countries.

[Roger de Coverly]

Does it do anything useful, or is it just a nice way for a player to recognise that he has been over 2200 at some point and this was a good achievement?

It's just a vanity title really. FIDE have given it away as a performance prize at some of its events which leaves it held by some players of modest grades or ratings. As DS suggests, if you have no masters at all, even the Candidate version sounds impressive.

Not everyone has bothered to collect the higher FM title for a 2300 rating which can attract tournament discounts and even invitations because of its value in qualifying an event to offer Norms.

[Paul Dargan]

I always said it had no value and I'd never bother getting it. Then I found it gave you lifetime platinum membership of chess.com for free ... not a huge benefit, but better than paying for chess.com

Paul

[Simon Brown]

Thanks Paul, I didn't know that. Just off to upgrade!

[Joey Stewart]

Do you get anything out of icc with it? I have always wondered about playing on there, but I heard the subs are really high (like $50 a month) which put me off investigating any further.

I think, personally, I would rather push for 2300 and a fide master title if I was going for it - I am sure that if I never made it then in years to come I could get the candidate master retroactively and be proud that I achieved soemthing, but right now I think that a few good results and I could scrape over that line.

[Stewart Reuben]

If you think about it, all the titles are vanity ones. I have not used my B.Sc. since 1979.
I devised the CM title so that I could have it. It gives somebody outside chess an idea of ones status. I am here in Croatia and do not know how to get an apostrophe to work.

Accessing my emails is an absolute nightmare.

[Ian Thompson]

It gives somebody outside chess an idea of one's status.

But surely only if you first explain what all the titles mean? Wouldn't it be easier to say (in your case) - "I'm ranked about 24,000 in the world out of about 95,000 active international players" (or "out of about 160,000 international players" if you want to quote a bigger number).

I've sometimes wondered how many Grandmasters a typical non-player thinks there are. I suspect the answer is a lot less than the 1389 in the current FIDE rating list.

[Rob Thompson]

I've sometimes wonders how many Grandmasters a typical non-player thinks there are. I suspect the answer is a lot less than the 1389 in the current FIDE rating list.

I just tested this idea on my housemate. His answer - "I don't know, about 100?"

[Alex Holowczak]

I am here in Croatia and do not know how to get an apostrophe to work.

Accessing my emails is an absolute nightmare.

Which other characters are in your e-mail address password?

[Ian Thompson]

Does it do anything useful, or is it just a nice way for a player to recognise that he has been over 2200 at some point and this was a good achievement?

It's just a vanity title really. FIDE have given it away as a performance prize at some of its events which leaves it held by some players of modest grades or ratings. As DS suggests, if you have no masters at all, even the Candidate version sounds impressive.

Not everyone has bothered to collect the higher FM title for a 2300 rating which can attract tournament discounts and even invitations because of its value in qualifying an event to offer Norms.

From the current FIDE rating list, about 75% of players currently 2300 or higher and with no higher title have claimed the FM title. Only about 3% of players currently between 2200 and 2299 and with no higher title have claimed the CM title. That probably tells you a lot about the value that most players attach to the two titles.

My guess is that the percentage of players claiming the IM and GM titles when eligible to do so will be close to 100%.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

My guess is that the percentage of players claiming the IM and GM titles when eligible to do so will be close to 100%.

It would be interesting to hear of any that didn't claim the IM and GM titles when entitled to do so! About the only reason I can think of would be turning down the various flavours of 'one-off award' titles, in the sense that they are awarded through winning a single tournament and so on, rather than the now 'standard' three norms and minimum rating route. Well, that and someone qualifying for the GM title before the IM title was attained. But even if someone turned down one of those 'one-off award' titles, it would surely only be because they wanted to attain the title the normal way. Are there any IMs and GMs here who would have dreamt of turning down those titles?

There may, of course, be those that are arguably IM or GM strength who, for whatever reason, made a conscious choice to not attempt to attain the titles. That is also interesting, but slightly different from actually qualifying for a title and not going through the formal process of attaining it.

[Roger de Coverly]

It would be interesting to hear of any that didn't claim the IM and GM titles when entitled to do so!

Strictly speaking, I believe that title applications have to be made by the national chess federation. So a player in dispute with his national federation or unable to pay its fee for an application might not gain the title.

[Sean Hewitt]

It would be interesting to hear of any that didn't claim the IM and GM titles when entitled to do so!

I know of one such player. Valeanu, Eduard-Andrei (ROU) has about 11 IM norms. He told me he only cares about the GM title. He has 1 or 2 GM norms.

[Kevin Thurlow]

I only claimed the CM title as I realised that I wasn't going to get any higher. I might not have done if it had been on the way up!