ICCF Grandmaster

ICCF Grandmaster, abbreviated GM, is the highest player title awarded by the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF). In correspondence chess, moves are transmitted remotely, usually through a server, and players have far more reflection time than in an over-the-board game. The title is not limited in time.

A norm is a minimum performance achieved in an approved title event. An overscore is a result at least half a point above the score required for a norm and may reduce the total number of games required. ICCF awards the GM title through several main routes:

• Finishing in the top three of a World Correspondence Chess Championship Final.
• Being the highest scorer on board one, the top board of the team, in a Correspondence Chess Olympiad Final after the scheduled tie-breaks, with a positive score.
• Earning at least two GM norms in international title tournaments, normally across at least 24 games. A sufficiently high overscore may reduce that total under the rules.
• Receiving a specially qualified national-federation application approved by a two-thirds majority of the ICCF Congress.

In the ICCF hierarchy, GM stands above Senior International Master and International Master. Although it shares an abbreviation and translation with the Grandmaster title of FIDE, the International Chess Federation, it is earned in a different form of chess, under a different authority, and through different results.