Timzilla the Colorado Sharknado

Life Master:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_title#Life_Master

What an 'LM' ?

Just ignore Fat Lady and his link - he's wrong again.

LM is the new FIDE grading system.

L is the 12th letter of the Alphabet. M is the 13th.
So LM equates to a grade of 1213.

It is all rather simple. Some examples.

1920 = ST
1815 = RO
2210 = VJ

The highest grade you can now get is ZZ (2626). The Lowest AA (0101)

FIDE brought in the new grading system because it was discovered that due to grading
inflation, miscalculation and nepotism some players were approaching the 3000 mark
and the system was not designed to handle ratings over 2999

Ivor Glumchicks FIDE spokesman, general dogs body and man with an important looking face.
said:

“We have only space on the FIDE hard drive for grades of 2999 .
When the system was designed it was not anticipated anyone would get near 3000.”

(Good Game Chess Praxis)

Originally posted by greenpawn34
“We have only space on the FIDE hard drive for grades of 2999 .
When the system was designed it was not anticipated anyone would get near 3000.”

Exactly the same as what happened at the end of the last millennium with the Y2K bug. We only survived that because most of the world can't count and celebrated a year early. 😉

Last I heard this Tim feller got his CM title. 🙂

Originally posted by sonhouse
What is an LM?

It's better than an NM and much better than a CM, but not as good as a FM or GM. Now if I may...

Who is the man who will spend or will even lend?
Harrigan, that's me!
Who is your friend when you find that you need a friend?
Harrigan, that's me!
For I'm just as proud of my name, you see
As an emperor, czar or a king could be
Who is the man helps a man ev'ry time he can?
Harrigan, that's me!
H, A, double-R, I, G, A, N spells Harrigan
Proud of all the Irish blood that's in me
Divvil a man can say a word agin me
H, A, double-R, I, G, A, N you see
Is a name that a shame never has been connected with
Harrigan, that's me!
Who is the man never stood for a gadabout?
Harrigan, that's me!
Who is the man that the town's simply mad about?
Harrigan that's me!
The ladies and babies are fond of me
I'm fond of them, too, in return, you see
Who is the gent that's deserving a monument?
Harrigan, that's me!
H, A, double-R, I, G, A, N spells Harrigan
Proud of all the Irish blood that's in me
Divvil a man can say a word agin me
H, A, double-R, I, G, A, N you see
Is a name that a shame never has been connected with
Harrigan, that's me!

LS/MFT

Originally posted by ChessPraxis
Last I heard this Tim feller got his CM title. 🙂

Timothy Sage has been awarded the Candidate Master title, but Timothy Brennan just went over 2000 for the first time and needs 5 tournament performances of over 2000 to earn the Chess Expert title.

The Instructor

Originally posted by ChessPraxis
It's better than an NM and much better than a CM, but not as good as a FM or GM.

To avoid confusion, I should point out that the Candidate Master title has two meanings.

The United States Chess Federation (USCF) use this title for a player who reaches a USCF rating of 2000 (and possibly maintain the rating for a certain number of games?).

FIDE have a half-official Candidate Master title for a player who reaches 2200 FIDE. This is easier than it used to be, but still pretty difficult. I know very few players who have the CM title because most of them subsequently achieve the Fide Master title, which has far more prestige.

I would suggest that the FIDE Candidate Master title is approximately on par with the USCF Life Master title.

The lowest title which most British players respect is Fide Master. If you are playing an FM you know you're in for a tough game. In contrast, I have known people with a CM title whose ECF grade was lower than 150 (approximately 2000 on this site). This is possible because it is relatively easy to achieve a 2200 FIDE rating if you represent a weak chess playing country in an Olympiad. Even complete beginners will be given an estimated FIDE rating of 2000 and if you beat a few of those you're home and dry.

Originally posted by Fat Lady
The lowest title which most British players respect is Fide Master. If you are playing an FM you know you're in for a tough game. In contrast, I have known people with a CM title whose ECF grade was lower than 150 (approximately 2000 on this site). This is possible because it is relatively easy to achieve a 2200 FIDE rating if you represent a weak chess pla ...[text shortened]... be given an estimated FIDE rating of 2000 and if you beat a few of those you're home and dry.

Just had a look at some of the players from the more obscure countries and there are a lot of CMs with low ratings so they most likely got the 2200 by the way you describe.

Originally posted by Fat Lady
To avoid confusion, I should point out that the Candidate Master title has two meanings.

The United States Chess Federation (USCF) use this title for a player who reaches a USCF rating of 2000 (and possibly maintain the rating for a certain number of games?).

FIDE have a half-official Candidate Master title for a player who reaches 2200 FIDE. This is be given an estimated FIDE rating of 2000 and if you beat a few of those you're home and dry.

To receive the USCF Life Master title, players must have held a rating of 2200 or greater for at least 300 USCF-rated games.

The Instructor

Originally posted by RJHinds
Timothy Sage has been awarded the Candidate Master title, but Timothy Brennan just went over 2000 for the first time and needs 5 tournament performances of over 2000 to earn the Chess Expert title.

The Instructor

5. For the Candidate Master title, the player must have had or currently has an established
rating of at least 2000.

Not any more, this is from the 2011 revisions.

The Corrector

Originally posted by ChessPraxis

5. For the Candidate Master title, the player must have had or currently has an established
rating of at least 2000.

Not any more, this is from the 2011 revisions.

The Corrector

You are wrong. You did not notice this:

7. The current Title system has no effect on the original Life Master title, which requires 300 games above a rating of 2200.

The Instructor

That's nice RJ, I was talking about the CM title. You are right, apples are not oranges. Thanks for pointing that out. 😕

Originally posted by Fat Lady
To avoid confusion, I should point out that the Candidate Master title has two meanings.

The United States Chess Federation (USCF) use this title for a player who reaches a USCF rating of 2000 (and possibly maintain the rating for a certain number of games?).

FIDE have a half-official Candidate Master title for a player who reaches 2200 FIDE. This is be given an estimated FIDE rating of 2000 and if you beat a few of those you're home and dry.

In the US, typical Life Masters tend to peak in the USCF 2300-something range, because (in the past) they had to play 300 games while maintaining a rating over 2200.

That meant they were typically much stronger than the 2150 player who had a good year.

The new system is now norm-based. It still requires a sustained performance, but nowhere near what it used to be.

I am an 1800 player OTB in the USCF, and my experience (along with my friends) is that there is a huge gap between USCF experts (2000-2199) and USCF National Masters (2200+).

I have collected several expert scalps over the years, but I have only managed two draws against 2200+ players. In both cases I was a piece up in wide-open positions where I could not avoid the repetition. In the rest of the cases, the games ranged from me being routinely outplayed to being absolutely crushed.

Originally posted by ChessPraxis
That's nice RJ, I was talking about the CM title. You are right, apples are not oranges. Thanks for pointing that out. 😕

Okay. I had just posted about the Life Master title and thought your comment "Not any more" referred to that. However, Timothy Brennan still will not get the Candidate Master Title by his rating just going over 2000. It has to be an established rating that qualifies him by the new criteria.

The Instructor

Here's RJ OTB
YouTube

Here's Tim OTB
YouTube

Nuff said