International Grandmasters for chess compositions
Note: deceased Grandmasters are indicated with (†) – Nationality is that of the year when the title was awarded.
This article lists:
Such awards were formerly managed by FIDE through its section for chess composition, the Permanent Commission for Chess Composition, and now awarded by the World Federation for Chess Composition, an independent body that co-operates with FIDE. [4]
Note: deceased Grandmasters are indicated with (†) – Nationality is that of the year when the title was awarded.
| Year | Name | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Antonio Arguelles (†) |  Spain |
| 1986 | John Niemann (†) |  West Germany |
| 1986 | Antonio Piatesi (†) |  Italy |
| 1987 | Hans Klüver (†) | West Germany |
| 1987 | Grzegorz Grzeban (†) |  Poland |
| 1988 | Alexander Pituk (†) |  Czechoslovakia |
| 1988 | Janos Kiss (†) |  Hungary |
| 1988 | Ferenc Fleck (†) | Hungary |
| 1989 | Gino Mentasti (†) | Italy |
| 1991 | Albert Koldijk (†) |  Netherlands |
| 1991 | Jean Zeller (†) |  France |
| 1992 | Colin Vaughan (†) |  United Kingdom |
| 1994 | Kurt Smulders (†) |  Belgium |
| 1998 | Eliahu Fasher (†) |  Israel |
| 1999 | Giorgio Mirri (†) | Italy |
| 1999 | Savo Zlatić (†) |  Croatia |
| 2000 | Rui Nascimento (†) |  Portugal |
| 2006 | Jeremy Morse (†) | United Kingdom |
| 2007 | Sonomun Chimedtseren (†) |  Mongolia |
| 2007 | Odette Vollenweider |  Switzerland |
| 2012 | Hermann Weissauer (†) | Germany |
| 2015 | Hannu Harkola |  Finland |
| Year | Name | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Pauli Perkonoja | Finland |
| 1984 | Kari Valtonen | Finland |
| 1984 | Milan Velimirović (†) |  Yugoslavia |
| 1985 | Ofer Comay | Israel |
| 1988 | Roland Baier | Switzerland |
| 1988 | Marjan Kovačević | Yugoslavia |
| 1988 | Arno Zude | West Germany |
| 1991 | Georgy Evseev |  Soviet Union |
| 1993 | Michael Pfannkuche | Germany |
| 1997 | Jonathan Mestel | United Kingdom |
| 1997 | Sergej Rumyantsev |  Russia |
| 1998 | Ram Soffer | Israel |
| 1999 | Jorma Paavilainen | Finland |
| 2000 | Boris Tummes | Germany |
| 2001 | Noam Elkies |  United States |
| 2002 | Michel Caillaud | France |
| 2002 | Graham Lee | United Kingdom |
| 2002 | Piotr Murdzia | Poland |
| 2004 | John Nunn | United Kingdom |
| 2004 | Dolf Wissmann | Netherlands |
| 2007 | Alexandr Azhusin | Russia |
| 2008 | Miodrag Mladenović |  Serbia |
| 2008 | Andrey Selivanov | Russia |
| 2008 | Bojan Vučković | Serbia |
| 2009 | Eddy van Beers | Belgium |
| 2009 | Vladimir Podinić | Serbia |
| 2010 | Michal Dragoun | Czech Republic |
| 2011 | Kacper Piorun | Poland |
| 2011 | Ladislav Salai Jr. |  Slovakia |
| 2014 | Martynas Limontas |  Lithuania |
| 2014 | Anatoly Mukoseev | Russia |
| 2015 | Oleksy Solovchuk |  Ukraine |
| 2017 | Marko Filipović | Croatia |
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.
Colin Anderson McNab is a Scottish chess player. He is Scotland's second player to be awarded the title of Grandmaster (GM), fulfilling its requirements in 1992 just after Paul Motwani. After achieving his three norms, he strained to get his rating up to the required 2500 level, and is possibly unique among Grandmasters in only achieving a published rating of 2500 some six years after being awarded the title. The FIDE regulations in force at the time stated that an 'intermediate' rating at any stage during an event would suffice, and that ratings between 2498.5 and 2500 would be rounded up, which is indeed what happened in 1992. He is also an International Master of correspondence chess since 1993 and International Master of chess problem solving since 2007.
International Judge of Chess Compositions is a title award by FIDE via the World Federation for Chess Composition to individuals who have judged several chess problem or study tournaments and who are considered capable of judging such awards at the highest level.
The FIDE Albums are publications of the world chess governing body, FIDE, via the Permanent Commission of the FIDE for Chess Compositions (PCCC), containing the best chess problems and studies of a certain period.
A chess composer is a person who creates endgame studies or chess problems. Chess composers usually specialize in a particular genre, e.g. endgame studies, twomovers, threemovers, moremovers, helpmates, selfmates, fairy problems, or retrograde analysis. Moreover, composers have their own preferred style of composing, allowing their sorting according to composition schools.
The World Federation for Chess Composition (WFCC) is the highest body governing the official activities in the chess composition. It was known as the Permanent Commission of the FIDE for Chess Compositions (PCCC) from its inception in 1956 until October 2010. It is now independent from FIDE, but both organisations are cooperating. Currently 41 countries are represented in the WFCC.
Piotr Murdzia is a Polish chess International Master, International Solving Grandmaster, and eight-time world champion in chess problem solving. He is known as one of the best chess problem solvers in the world.
Franz Pachl is a German chess grandmaster of the FIDE. He was also German champion of minigolf.
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.
Marjan Kovačević is a Serbian chess problemist.
Milan Velimirović, was a Serbian chess problemist and publisher.
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.
Yochanan Afek is an Israeli chess player, composer, trainer and arbiter. He is the only person to possess international titles at five different facets of chess, being an International Master, International Grandmaster of chess composition, International Arbiter, FIDE master in problem solving (2005), and International Judge for chess compositions. In 2002, he won Paris City Chess Championship . Afek won the prestigious Art chess tournament in Amsterdam organized by the foundation for aristocratic art and culture where various grandmasters participated.
Peter Gvozdják is a Slovak chess composer.
Bedrich Formánek is a Slovak chess composer.
Ladislav Salai Jr. is a Slovak chess composer and chess player.
Roland Baier is a Swiss chess problemist. In 1983 Baier won the first individual World Chess Solving Championship. In 1988 he gained the title of the International Solving Grandmaster. In 1989 he was awarded the FIDE title - International Arbiter of Chess Composition, but in 1992 he became FIDE Master of Chess Composition.
Kari Valtonen is a Finnish chess problemist.
Pauli Perkonoja is a Finnish chess problemist.
