Body: <p>Recently I was browsing old issues of my clubzine when I tripped over &quot;IGM&quot;. Wait, aren't all Grandmasters international by default? But I'm old enough to remember that the abbreviation &quot;IGM&quot; instead of the now-familiar &quot;GM&quot; was actually in use decades ago (1970ish).</p>
  <p>Thus:</p>
  <ul>
  <li>Was there <em>ever</em> a difference between GM and IGM (obviously, let's restrict to the official FIDE period 1950+)? I assume not.</li>
  <li>If it was just a matter of standard abbreviation — when did it change? (Educated guess on the why: computer tables.)</li>
  </ul>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-12-29T11:10:07.247Z
Comments.Text: "The grandmaster title is sometimes called "International Grandmaster" (IGM), possibly to distinguish it from similar national titles, but the shortened form is far more common today." - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmaster_(chess))
Comments.UserDisplayName: double-beep
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-12-29T11:19:40.577Z
Comments.Text: @double-beep: Still, that statement was a bit nebulous for me. I never saw the use of "IGM" anywhere except decades ago, and what are "similar national titles"? I don't know any "national grandmaster" or whatever confusable titles either. Thus my question, Wiki should elaborate here :-)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Hauke Reddmann
Tags: <history><grandmaster><titles>
Title: Abbreviation: GM or IGM?
ThreadText: # Abbreviation: GM or IGM?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2021-12-29)
  
  Recently I was browsing old issues of my clubzine when I tripped over "IGM". Wait, aren't all Grandmasters international by default? But I'm old enough to remember that the abbreviation "IGM" instead of the now-familiar "GM" was actually in use decades ago (1970ish).
  
  Thus:
  
  * Was there *ever* a difference between GM and IGM (obviously, let's restrict to the official FIDE period 1950+)? I assume not.
  * If it was just a matter of standard abbreviation — when did it change? (Educated guess on the why: computer tables.)
  
  **Tags:** history, grandmaster, titles
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: "The grandmaster title is sometimes called "International Grandmaster" (IGM), possibly to distinguish it from similar national titles, but the shortened form is far more common today." - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmaster_(chess))  
  > **username_0**: @username_1: Still, that statement was a bit nebulous for me. I never saw the use of "IGM" anywhere except decades ago, and what are "similar national titles"? I don't know any "national grandmaster" or whatever confusable titles either. Thus my question, Wiki should elaborate here :-)  
  
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  ## 0 answers
  
  