'An unfortunate racket': As India nears 100th GM, is expensive coach a must?
Veteran Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay discusses the inflation of chess ratings and the commercialization of the Grandmaster title by FIDE. He argues that the title has lost its exclusivity due to relaxed criteria and financial incentives for the governing body.
Why it matters
It highlights the tension between the traditional prestige of elite sports and the modern push for commercial expansion and accessibility.
NEW DELHI: In 1978, the chess world was a reflection of a fiercely guarded aristocracy, it can be said. The title of Grandmaster (GM) was not merely a designation. Rather, it was an exclusive fraternity reserved for the absolute statistical anomalies of the human race.To understand what has happened to the modern chess ecosystem, one must first understand what a Grandmaster used to be. To many historians, the very definition of chess mastery has been fundamentally altered."A Grandmaster result has been a performance equivalent to a 2600 rating. In 1978, there were only six players above 2600. And in 1981, I think there were about twelve or thirteen.
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