Women Chess Titles

I received an email today from a tournament organizer in England who asked me to create a table with all the women players who are GM title holders (Grandmaster), IM (International Master) and WGM (Woman Grandmaster).

The title "Grandmaster" is awarded to the strongest chess masters 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.

GM, IM, and FM (Fide Master) are open to both men and women.

Table of FIDE titles:

Grandmaster (appr. rated 2500 and above)
International Master (appr. rated 2400 and above)
Woman Grandmaster (appr. rated 2300 and above)
Fide Master (appr. rated 2300 and above)
Woman International Master (appr. rated 2200 and above)
Candidate Master (appr. rated 2200 or above)
Woman FIDE Master (appr. rated 2100 and above)
Woman Candidate Master (appr. rated 2000 or above)

Women can get both women and men titles. International Master (IM) is more difficult to achieve than Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title. All the women who have been able to get the IM title are automatically awarded the WGM title.

In 1978 Nona Gaprindashvili became the first ever woman to be awarded the GM (men) title.

There are currently 20 female players to hold the GM title comparing to 1201 male GM holders.

Women GM title holders:

Nona Gaprindashvili
Maia Chiburdanidze
Susan Polgar
Judit Polgár
Xie Jun
Pia Cramling
Zhu Chen
Koneru Humpy
Antoaneta Stefanova
Alexandra Kosteniuk
Peng Zhaoqin
Hoang Thanh Trang
Kateryna Lahno
Xu Yuhua
Marie Sebag
Zhao Xue
Hou Yifan
Nana Dzagnidze
Monika Soćko
Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant

As of May 11, 2009 there are 77 women who hold the International Master title:

* Olga Alexandrova
* Ekaterina Atalik
* Irina Berezina
* Natasa Bojkovic
* Dagne Ciuksyte
* Viktorija Cmilyte
* Silvia Collas
* Elina Danielian
* Yelena Dembo
* Joanna Dworakowska
* Martha L. Fierro Baquero
* Cristina Adela Foisor
* Alisa Galliamova
* Inna Gaponenko
* Anita Gara
* Nino Gurieli
* Sopio Gvetadze
* Zuzana Hagarova
* Dronavalli Harika
* Jovanka Houska
* Harriet V. Hunt
* Nana Ioseliani
* Jana Jackova
* Lela Javakhishvili
* Ketino Kachiani-Gersinska
* Sopiko Khukhashvili
* Nino Khurtsidze
* Masha Klinova
* Tatiana Kononenko
* Ekaterina Korbut
* Nadezhda Kosintseva
* Tatiana Kosintseva
* Liubov Kostiukova
* Ekaterina Kovalevskaya
* Irina Krush
* Susan K. Lalic
* Tea Lanchava
* Maia Lomineishvili
* Carolina Lujan
* Ildiko Madl
* Alisa Maric
* Iulia Mashinskaya
* Ana Matnadze
* Svetlana Matveeva
* Nora Dr. Medvegy
* Salome Melia
* Sophie Milliet
* Lilit Mkrtchian
* Eva Moser
* Anna Muzychuk
* Mariya Muzychuk
* Evgenija Ovod
* Elisabeth Paehtz
* Corina Peptan
* Svetlana Petrenko
* Sulennis Pina Vega
* Sofia Polgar
* Maka Purtseladze
* Iweta Rajlich
* Olita Rause
* Eva Repkova
* Marina Romanko
* Elena Sedina
* Almira Skripchenko
* Elena Tairova
* Sachdev Tania
* Irina Turova
* Anna Ushenina
* Szidonia Vajda
* Irina Vasilevich
* Tatjana Vasilevich
* Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi
* Wang Yu
* Elena Zaiatz
* Anna Zatonskih
* Olga Zimina
* Anna Zozulia


There are 239 WGM holders, you can find the whole list with names on the FIDE web-site.

There are 563 WIM (woman international masters).

There are 971 WFM (woman fide masters).

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion
www.chessblog.com