Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally the title can be revoked for cheating.
The United States Chess Federation is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating system, awards national titles, sanctions over twenty national championships annually, and publishes two magazines: Chess Life and Chess Life for Kids. The USCF was founded and incorporated in Illinois in 1939, from the merger of two older chess organizations. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its membership as of 2020 as COVID hit was 97,000; as of July 2022 it is 85,000.
The English Chess Federation (ECF) is the governing chess organisation in England. It is affiliated to FIDE. The ECF was formed in 2004 as one of the more localised successors to the British Chess Federation (BCF), an organisation founded in 1904.
Artur Kogan is a Ukrainian–born Israeli chess grandmaster.
Gregory Shahade is an International Master of chess. He founded the New York Masters and the U.S. Chess League. He is a former member of the executive board of the United States Chess Federation, to which his younger sister Jennifer Shahade was hired as the executive editor-in-chief of the website. Greg had a distinguished scholastic career, highlighted by three national chess championships: tying for first in the 1993 National Junior High School Championship and the 1996 National High School Championship, and winning the 1996 United States Junior Open outright. He was the leading scorer for Julia R. Masterman School in 1996, when they won their first of four National High School Chess Championships. He won the prestigious Samford Fellowship, awarded by the U.S. Chess Trust to the top U.S. prospect under the age of 25, in 1999. The fellowship granted Shahade approximately $25,000 to train for and play in top tournaments. He was also renewed for it in 2000 and subsequently scored his first Grandmaster norm at the Bermuda Closed in January 2001. Since 2006, he has held 30 sessions of the US Chess School, where the nation's top young chess talents are invited to train under the instruction of various Grandmasters. He was the founder and Commissioner of the U.S. Chess League, which folded in 2016.
Alexander Gregory Fishbein is an American chess player with the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM).
Chess is played all over the world. The international governing body of chess is FIDE, established in 1924. Most national chess federations are now members of FIDE; several supranational chess organizations are also affiliated with FIDE.
Hichem Hamdouchi is a Moroccan-French chess grandmaster.
A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most prestigious of which is Grandmaster; many national chess federations also grant titles such as "National Master". More broadly, the term "master" can refer to any highly skilled chess player.
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and norms. Once awarded, titles are held for life except in cases of fraud or cheating. Open titles may be earned by all players, while women's titles are restricted to female players. Many strong female players hold both open and women's titles. FIDE also awards titles for arbiters, organizers and trainers. Titles for correspondence chess, chess problem composition and chess problem solving are no longer administered by FIDE.
Chess Scotland is the governing body for chess in Scotland. It was formed in 2001 with the merger of the Scottish Chess Association (SCA) and the Scottish Junior Chess Association (SJCA).
The All India Chess Federation (AICF) is the central administrative body for the game of chess in India. Founded in 1951, the federation is affiliated to Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), the world body for chess. The AICF has produced Viswanathan Anand, Nihal Sarin, Pentala Harikrishna, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi and many other grandmasters. The organisation is also in charge of managing women's chess in India. AICF's current headquarter is in New Delhi.
The Chess Federation of Armenia, also known as the Armenian Chess Federation, is the governing chess organization in Armenia and is affiliated to FIDE. The body was founded in 1927. Responsible for organizing individual and club championships for men and women and the various important international tournaments in Armenia, it also forms the Armenian national men's and women's teams. The Federation is a member of the European Chess Union.
Chess has risen in popularity in India in the last few decades primarily due to chess Grandmaster and former 5-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand.
Kenneth Terence Solomon is a South African chess Grandmaster. He is the first and currently the only Grandmaster South Africa has ever produced.
The Uganda Chess Federation (UCF) is the governing body of chess competition in Uganda and a member of FIDE, the international chess federation. It administers the official national chess rating system which awards both numeric ratings and titles of distinction. The UCF was founded in 1972, became affiliated with the National Council of Sports in 1973, and in 1978 was affiliated with FIDE, the first Federation in East Africa to achieve this.
Akshat Chandra is an American chess player. He started playing Chess during a visit to India in 2009 when he was nine years old. In 2015, he won the US National K-12 Championship and was also the US Junior Champion, the first time both titles were held by the same person in a single year. He earned the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in March 2017.
Daniel Barrish is a South African chess player who holds the title of FIDE Master.
The African Junior Chess Championship is an annual chess tournament open to players in Africa who are under 20 years of age. The tournament was first held in 1980, and since its second edition in 1989, has been held annually with the exception of 2010. Beginning in 2002, a separate championship for girls has been held concurrently with the open championship.
Banele Mhango is a South African chess player and coach who was awarded the FIDE title of FIDE Master in 2020. He was named sportsman of the year after representing the country in competitions in Kenya and Egypt.
