Grandmasters

The title Grandmaster is awarded by FIDE to the top chess players in the world. There are currently over 1,300 Grandmasters of chess. Russia has 226 GMs, followed by the Ukraine and the USA, with 84 GMs each.

Iceland has the most grandmasters per capita, with 13 GMs among a population of 310,000 people.

Here is a list of grandmasters awarded from 1950 to 1992, and the number of GMs after 1992.

In 1950, FIDE awarded the first grandmaster (GM) title to Ossip Bernstein, Issac Boleslavsky, Igor Bondarevsky, Mikhail Botvinnik, David Bronstein (age 26), Oldrich Duras, Max Euwe, Rebuen Fine, Salo Florh, Ernst Gruenfeld, Paul Keres, Bostic Kostic, Alexander Kotov, Grigory Levenfish, Andor Lilienthal, Gexa Maroczy, Jacques Mieses, Miguel Najdorf, Viacheslav Ragozin, Samuel Reshevsky, Akiba Rubinstein, Friedrich Saemisch, Vasily Smyslov, Gideon Stahlberg, Laszlo Szabo, Savielly Tartakower, and Milan Vidmar.

In 1951, Efim Bogoljubov and Svetozar Gligoric became GMs.

In 1952, Yuri Averbakh, Erich Eliskases, Efim Geler, Tigran Petrosian (age 23), Heman Pilnik, and Mark Taimanov became GMs.

In 1953, Vasja Pirc, Nicolas Rossolimo, Alexander Tolush, and Petar Trifunovic became GMs.

In 1954, Gedeon Barcza, Issac Kashdan, Ludek Pachman, Gosts Stoltz, and Wolfgang Unzicker became GMs.

In 1955, Mioslav Filip, Boris Ivkov, Aleksandar Matanovic, Oscar Panno, and Boris Spassky became GMs.

In 1956, Viktor Korchnoi, Bent Larsen, and Alberic O’Kelly de Galway became GMs.

In 1957, Athur Bisguier, Larry Evans, and Mikhil Tal became GMs.

In 1957, there were 50 GMs (USSR: 19, Yugoslavia: 7, USA: 5, Argentina: 4, West Germany: 2, France: 2, Sweden: 1, Czechoslovakia: 1, Hungary: 1, Austria: 1, Belgium: 1, Denmark: 1, Netherlands: 1, and Poland: 1).

In 1958, Pal Benko, Bobby Fischer (age 15 years, 6 months, 1 day), and Fridrik Olafsson became GMs.

In 1959, Jan Donner, Lothar Schmid, and Wolfgang Uhlmann became GMs.

In 1960, Carlos Guimard, Ratmir Kholmov, Bill Lombardy, and Hector Rossetto became GMs.

In 1961, Milko Bobtsov, Lajos Portisch, Karl Robatsch, and Evgeni Vasiukov became GMs.

In 1962, Istvan Bilke, Lev Polugaevsky, Arturo Poar, Vladimir Simagin, Leonid Stein, and Mijo Udovcic became GMs.

In 1963, Bruno Parma and Georgi Tringov became GMs.

In 1964, Vladimir Antoshin, Robert Byrne, Mato Damjanovic, Klaus Darga, Nikolai Krogius, Levente Lengyel, Nikola Padevsky, and Daniel Yanofsky became GMs.

In 1965, Dragoljub Ciric, Florin Gheorghiu, Vlastimil Hort, Dragoljub Janosevic, Lubomir Kavalek, Vladimir Liberson, Milan Matulovic, Wolfgang Pietzsch, Leonid Shamkovich, and Alexey Suetin became GMs.

In 1966, Semyon Furman became a GM.

In 1967, Laszlo Barczay, Aivars Gipslis, Eduard Gufeld, and Alexander Zaitsev became GMs.

In 1968, Anatoly Lein became a GM.

There were no GM titles awarded in 1960.

In 1970, Walter Browne, Bukhuti Gurgenidze, Robert Huebner, and Anatoly Karpov became GMs.

In 1971, Ljubomir Ljubojevic and Rafael Vaganian became GMs.

In 1972, Ulf Andersson, Henrique Mecking, Albin Planinc, Ivan Radulov, Jan Smejkal, and Vladimir Tukmakov became GMs.

In 1972, there were 88 GMs. The USSR had 33 GMs.

In 1973, Andras Adorjan, Yuri Balashov, Istan Csom, Hans Hecht, Gennady Kuzmin, Miguel Quinterso, Zoltan Ribli, Vladimir Savon, Duncan Suttles, and Dragoljub Velimirovic became GMs.

In 1974, Jesus Diez del Corral, Gyozo Forintos, Vlastimil Jansa, Bojan Kurajica, Anatoly Lutikov, Gergio Mariotti, Gyula Sax, Jan Timman, and Eugenio Torre became GMs.

In 1975, Alexander Beliavsky, Silvino Garcia Martinez, Nino Kirov, Rainer Knaak, Burkhard Malich, Drazen Marovic, Predrag Ostojic, Jelmut Pfleger, Guomundur Sigorjonsson, Vitaly Tseshkovsky, Mila Vukic, and Heikki Westerinen became GMs.

In 1976, Rosendo Balinas, Enver Bukic, Ivan Farago, Guillermo Garcia Gonzales, Boris Gulko, Krunoslav Hulak, Raymond Keene, Milorad Knezevic, Vlatko Kovacevic, Yair Kraidman, Sergey Makarichev, Tony Miles, Vladimir Raicevic, Yuri Razuvayev, Oleg Romanshin, Wlodzimierz Schmidt, Gennadi Sosonko, Liuben Spassov, James Tarjan, Laszlo Vadasz, Lothat Vogt, and Igor Zaitsev became GMs.

In 1977, Lev Alburt, Julio Bolbochan, Esteben Canal, Larry Christiansen, Roman Dzindichashvili, Evgenij Ermenkov, Tamaz Giogadze, Bozidar Ivanovic, Alexander Kochyev, Borislav Milic, Stanimir Nikolic, Dusan Rajkovic, Amador Rodriguez Cepedes, Michael Stean, Evgeny Sveshnikov, and Carlos Torre Repetto became GMs.

In 1978, Vladimir Bagiorv, Juan Manuel Bellon Lopez, Peter Biyiasas, Josif Dorfman, Nona Gaprindashvili (age 37), Roman Hernandez Onna, Slavoljub Marjanovic, Adrian Mikhalchisin, Ivan Nemet, John Nunn, Sam Palatnik, Jan Plachetka, Orestes Rodriguez Vargas, Ken Rogoff, Dragutin Sahovic, Miha Subam and Herman Suradiradja became GMs. Woman’s World Champion Gaprindashvile became the first woman to receive the GM title.

In 1979, Victor Ciocaltea, Slobodan Martinovic, Juraj Nikolac, Jesus Nogueiras, and Nikola Spiridonov became GMs.

In 1980, Janos Flesch, Lubomir Ftacnik, Yehuda Gruenfeld, Garry Kasparov, Adam Kuligowski, Viktor Kupreichik, Edmar Mednis, Alexander Panchenko, Nukhim Rashovsky, Hans Ree, Yasser Seirawan, Andy Soltis, Jon Speelman, Gennadij Timoscenko, and Artur Yusupov became GMs.

In 1981, Arnold Denker, Petar Popovic, and Yrjo Rantanen became GMs.

In 1982, Stefan Djuric, Sergey Dolmatov, Ron Henly, Ventzislav Inkiov, Lars Karlsson, Jiri Lechtynsky, Eric Lobron, Jonathan Mestel, Jozsef Pinter, Lodewijk Prins, Lev Psakhis, Raul Sanguineti, John van der Wiel, and Petar Velikov became GMs.

In 1983, Vladimir Alatortsev, Murray Chandler, Lutz Espig, Dmitry Gurevich, Zlatko Klaric, Alexander Konstantinopolsky, Erik Lundin, and Predrag Nikolic became GMs.

In 1984, Bosko Abramovic, Georgy Agzamov, Eero Book, Valey Chekhov, Maia Chiburdanidze (age 23), Viktor Gavrikov, Sergey Kudrin, Smbat Lputian, Karel Mokry, Arshak Petrosian, Stojan Puc, Nigel Short, Radoslav Simic, Andrei Sokolov, Leonid Yudasin, Gennadi Zaichik, and Alonso Zapata became GMs.

In 1985, Utut Adianto, Simen Agdestein, Miso Cebalo, Alexander Chernin, Nick de Firmian, Carlos Garcia Palermo, Kiril Georgiev, Harry Golombek, Curt Hansen, Johann Hjartarson, Mario Monticelli, Helgi Olafsson, James Plaskett, Ian Rogers, Jaroslav Sajtar, Kevin Spraggett, and Anatoly Viasser became GMs.

In 1986, Haji Ardiansyah, Jon Arnason, Dragan Barlov, Joel Benjamin, Uwe Boensch, Daniel Campora, Arthur Dake, Maxim Dlugy, Vereslav Eingorn, John Fedorowicz, Jose Luis Fernandez Garcia, Theodor Ghitsecu, Julio Granda Zuniga, Attila Groszpeter, Mikhail Gurevich, Lev Gutman, Ralf Lau, Konstantin Lerner, Peter Lukacs, Ivan Morovic Fernandez, Margier Petursson, Valery Salov, and Jaime Sunye Neto became GMs.

In 1987, Gerardo Barbero, Ognjen Cvitan, Jaan Ehlvest, Glenn Flear, Vladimir Makogonov, Vladimir Malaniuk, Eduard Meduna, Vladas Mikenas, Jacob Murey, Niaz Murshed, Evgeny Pigusov, Manuel Rivas Pastor, Bogdan Sliwa, Sergey Smagin, Ivan Sokolov, and Mikhail Tseitlin became GMs.

In 1988, Viswanathan Anand, Zurab Azmaiparashvili, Emir Dizdarevic, Yury Dokhoain, Krum Georgiev, Joerg Hickl, Julian Hodgson, Miguel Illescas, Vassily Ivanchuk, Gregory Kaidanov, Stefan Kindermann, Josef Klinger, George Koltanowski, Bogdan Lalic, Valentin Lukov, Gilberto Milos, Michael Rohde, Harry Schussler, Elizbar Ubilava, Reynaldo Vera Gonzalez-Quevedo, Matthias Wahls, and Michael Wilder became GMs.

In 1989, Michael Adams, Evgeny Bareev, Branko Damljanovic, Alexey Dreev, Boris Gelfand, Alexander Goldin, Alon Greenfeld, Ferdinand Hellers, Daniel King, Bachar Kouatly, Zdenko Kozul, Michal Krasenkow, Stefan Mohr, David Norwood, Jeroen Piket, Miodrag Todorcevic, Evgeny Vladimirov, and Alexey Vyzmanavin became GMs.

In 1990, Walter Arencibia Rodriguez, Klaus Bischoff, Rustem Dautov, Dimitar Donchiev, Semen Dvoirys, Vladimir Epishin, Andrija Fuderer, Igor Glek, Lars Bo Hansen, Jozsef Horvath, Gata Kamsky, Alexander Khalifman, Anthony Kosten, Vasilios Kotronias, Joel Lautier, Elmar Magerramov, Igor Naumki, Igor Novikov, Lembit Oll, Gad Rechlis, Olivier Renet, Alexei Shirov, Aleksandr Shneider, Ilya Smirin, Vasil Spasov, Tibor Tolnai, Paul van der Sterren, William Watson, Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, Patrick Wolff, Yuri Yakovich, Ye Rongguang, and Jouni Yrjola became GMs.

In 1991, Vladimir Akopian, Sergey Arkhipov, Dibyendu Barua, Victor Bologan, Roberto Cifuentes Parada, Stuart Conquest, Goran Dizdar, Thomas Ernst, Zenon Franco Ocampos, Joseph Gallagher, Jonny Hector, Gerald Hertneck, Alexander Huzman, Zlatko Ilincic, Alexander Ivanov, Edvins Kengis, Valey Loginov, Anatoly Machulsky, Dragoljub Minic, Valery Neverov, Thomas Paehtz, Judit Polgar (age 15 years, 4 months, 28 days), Zsuzsa (Susan) Polgar, Eduardas Rozentalis, Vadim Ruban, Alexander Shabalov, Spyridon Skrembris, Zurab Sturua, Raj Tischbierek, Sergei Tiviakov, and Milhail Ulibin became GMs. Susan Polgar became the first woman to qualify for the men’s tile through achievement in tournament play.

In 1992, Boris Alterman, Konstantin Aseev, Pia Cramlig, Igor Efimov, Alex Fishbein, Gildardo Garcia, Alxander Graf, Mark Hebden, Andrei Kharlov, Igor Khenkin, Andrei Kovalev, Vladimir Kramnik, Aloyzas Kveinys, Zigurds Lanka, Christopher Lutz, Colin McNab, Artashes Minasian, Viktor Moskalenko, Paul Motwani, Konstantin Sakaev, Philipp Schlosser, Gregory Serper, Miron Sherm Marcel Sisniega Campbell, Maxim Sorokin, Igor Stohl, Rudolf Teschner, Veselin Toplov, Henry Urday Caceres, and Alex Yermolinsky became GMs.

In 1993 there were 48 GM titles awarded.

In 1994 there were 45 GM titles awarded, including Peter Leko at age 14 years, 4 months, 22 days.

In 1995 there were 46 GM titles awarded.

In 1996 there were 39 GM titles awarded.

In 1997 there were 46 GM titles awarded, including Etienne Bacrot at 14 years, 2 months, 0 days, and Rustan Ponomariov at 14 years, 0 months, 17 days.

In 1998 there were 51 GM titles awarded.

In 1999 there were 48 GM titles awarded, including Bu Xiangzhi at 13 years, 10 months, 13 days.

In 2000 there were 47 GM titles awarded.

In 2001 there were 46 GM titles awarded.

In 2002 there were 63 GM titles awarded, including Sergey Karjakin at 12 years, 7 months, 0 days.

In 2003 there were 48 GM titles awarded.

In 2004 there were 65 GM titles awarded, including Magnus Carlsen at 13 years, 4 months, 27 days.

In 2005 there were 47 GM titles awarded, including Parimarjan Negi at 13 years, 4 months, 22 days.

In 2006 there were 54 GM titles awarded.

In 2007 there were 92 GM titles awarded.

In 2008 there were 66 GM titles awarded.

In 2009 there were 62 GM titles awarded.

In 2010 there were 53 GM titles awarded.

In 2011 there were 58 GM titles awarded.

In 2012 there were 36 GM titles awarded.

In 2013 there were 46 GM titles awarded.