Answers.Body: <p>The original grandmasters were created by the Tsar at the great St Petersburg tournament of 1914. They were Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Marshall and Rubinstein, arguably the five best players of the day, and of whom three held the world championship at one time or another.</p>
  
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Answers.Text: Apparently, this story is disputed (by this chess historian, at least: https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter38.html)
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Answers.Text: It's what I learned as a youngster (I/m 84).  Why would I questioin Marshall, who was the long-time US Champion? My copy of Marshall's "My Fifty Years of Chess" (1942) states on page 21 "It was at this tournament (St. Petersburg Grand International Masters Tournament (1914) that the Tsar of Russia conferred on each of the five finalists the title "Grandmaster of Chess".  There's also a reproducton of a postcard bearing the phtograph of these "five original Grandmasters of Chess" - Lasker, Alekhine, Capablanca, Mashall and Tarrasch taken at the tournament."
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Answers.Body: <blockquote>
    <p>In order to qualify for the title of Grandmaster, a player must
    achieve three Grandmaster norms.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>That is not accurate. The regulations for the award of FIDE titles are given <a href="https://old.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=198&amp;view=article" rel="noreferrer">here</a>.</p>
  
  <p>There are two ways to become a grandmaster. Achieving norms and reaching a certain rating is one way but there are also <em>Direct Titles</em>. The FIDE handbook defines these like this:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p><strong>Direct title</strong> (automatic title) is a title gained by achieving a certain place or result in a tournament. For example, winning, or
    achieving a result ≥50 percent in a tournament. On application by the
    player’s federation and confirmation by the Qualification Commission,
    such titles are awarded automatically by FIDE.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>The tournaments and achievements which qualify the player for the various titles are given in the <a href="https://old.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=199&amp;view=article" rel="noreferrer">Table for Direct Titles effective from 1 July 2017</a>.</p>
  
  <p>For the grandmaster title the following results give the player the right to the GM title:</p>
  
  <p>Last 16 of the World Cup<br>
  Winner of the Women's World Championship<br>
  Outright winner of any of World S65, S50, U20 championships<br>
  Outright winner of Continental Individual Championship</p>
  
  <p>But in any case these regulations are made by FIDE and they change with time. </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Who were the first GMs, and how did they become GMs?</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>The original FIDE grandmasters were awarded the title via a resolution of the FIDE general assembly in 1950. These players were:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>The top players of the day: world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, and those who had qualified for (or been seeded into) the inaugural Candidates Tournament in 1950: Isaac Boleslavsky, Igor Bondarevsky, David Bronstein, Max Euwe, Reuben Fine, Salo Flohr, Paul Keres, Alexander Kotov, Andor Lilienthal, Miguel Najdorf, Samuel Reshevsky, Vasily Smyslov, Gideon Ståhlberg, and László Szabó.</li>
  <li>Players still living who, though past their best in 1950, were recognised as having been world class when at their peak: Ossip Bernstein, Oldřich Duras, Ernst Grünfeld, Boris Kostić, Grigory Levenfish, Géza Maróczy, Jacques Mieses, Viacheslav Ragozin, Akiba Rubinstein, Friedrich Sämisch, Savielly Tartakower, and Milan Vidmar.</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>In 1951 Efim Bogoljubov was added to the list via another vote.</p>
  
  <p>In 1953 something similar to the modern rules was introduced with the world champion and players who qualified for the candidates having the right to the title (if they weren't already) being joined by a variation of the current norm based qualification.</p>
  
  <p>These rules received major revisions in 1957, 1965 and 1970 and may have been tweaked on further occasions.</p>
  
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Body: <p>In order to qualify for the title of Grandmaster, a player must achieve three Grandmaster norms. This is not the place to go into detail about what those are; the pertinent point is that norms can only be gained in tournaments that fulfill certain criteria, including the requirement that <strong>the entry must include at least three Grandmasters.</strong></p>
  
  <p>Therefore, it seems to me that it's impossible to become a Grandmaster if there weren't already at least three Grandmasters in existence. How did the first Grandmasters earn the title, and who were they?</p>
  
Tags: <history><fide><grandmaster><famous-players><titles>
Title: Who were the first GMs, and how did they become GMs?
ThreadText: # Who were the first GMs, and how did they become GMs?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2020-05-29)
  
  In order to qualify for the title of Grandmaster, a player must achieve three Grandmaster norms. This is not the place to go into detail about what those are; the pertinent point is that norms can only be gained in tournaments that fulfill certain criteria, including the requirement that **the entry must include at least three Grandmasters.**
  
  Therefore, it seems to me that it's impossible to become a Grandmaster if there weren't already at least three Grandmasters in existence. How did the first Grandmasters earn the title, and who were they?
  
  **Tags:** history, fide, grandmaster, famous-players, titles
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2020-05-29. Score: 16 | Accepted answer
  
  > In order to qualify for the title of Grandmaster, a player must
  > achieve three Grandmaster norms.
  
  That is not accurate. The regulations for the award of FIDE titles are given [here](https://old.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=198&view=article).
  
  There are two ways to become a grandmaster. Achieving norms and reaching a certain rating is one way but there are also *Direct Titles*. The FIDE handbook defines these like this:
  
  > **Direct title** (automatic title) is a title gained by achieving a certain place or result in a tournament. For example, winning, or
  > achieving a result ≥50 percent in a tournament. On application by the
  > player’s federation and confirmation by the Qualification Commission,
  > such titles are awarded automatically by FIDE.
  
  The tournaments and achievements which qualify the player for the various titles are given in the [Table for Direct Titles effective from 1 July 2017](https://old.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=199&view=article).
  
  For the grandmaster title the following results give the player the right to the GM title:
  
  Last 16 of the World Cup  
  Winner of the Women's World Championship  
  Outright winner of any of World S65, S50, U20 championships  
  Outright winner of Continental Individual Championship
  
  But in any case these regulations are made by FIDE and they change with time.
  
  > Who were the first GMs, and how did they become GMs?
  
  The original FIDE grandmasters were awarded the title via a resolution of the FIDE general assembly in 1950. These players were:
  
  1. The top players of the day: world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, and those who had qualified for (or been seeded into) the inaugural Candidates Tournament in 1950: Isaac Boleslavsky, Igor Bondarevsky, David Bronstein, Max Euwe, Reuben Fine, Salo Flohr, Paul Keres, Alexander Kotov, Andor Lilienthal, Miguel Najdorf, Samuel Reshevsky, Vasily Smyslov, Gideon Ståhlberg, and László Szabó.
  2. Players still living who, though past their best in 1950, were recognised as having been world class when at their peak: Ossip Bernstein, Oldřich Duras, Ernst Grünfeld, Boris Kostić, Grigory Levenfish, Géza Maróczy, Jacques Mieses, Viacheslav Ragozin, Akiba Rubinstein, Friedrich Sämisch, Savielly Tartakower, and Milan Vidmar.
  
  In 1951 Efim Bogoljubov was added to the list via another vote.
  
  In 1953 something similar to the modern rules was introduced with the world champion and players who qualified for the candidates having the right to the title (if they weren't already) being joined by a variation of the current norm based qualification.
  
  These rules received major revisions in 1957, 1965 and 1970 and may have been tweaked on further occasions.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2021-03-04. Score: 0
  
  The original grandmasters were created by the Tsar at the great St Petersburg tournament of 1914. They were Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Marshall and Rubinstein, arguably the five best players of the day, and of whom three held the world championship at one time or another.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: Apparently, this story is disputed (by this chess historian, at least: https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter38.html)  
  > **username_1**: It's what I learned as a youngster (I/m 84).  Why would I questioin Marshall, who was the long-time US Champion? My copy of Marshall's "My Fifty Years of Chess" (1942) states on page 21 "It was at this tournament (St. Petersburg Grand International Masters Tournament (1914) that the Tsar of Russia conferred on each of the five finalists the title "Grandmaster of Chess".  There's also a reproducton of a postcard bearing the phtograph of these "five original Grandmasters of Chess" - Lasker, Alekhine, Capablanca, Mashall and Tarrasch taken at the tournament."  
  
  ---
  
  