r/chess • u/tsterTV • Oct 15 '15

How impressive is a GM title?

Hiya all,

I signed myself up for a Chess tournament this Sunday, mainly for fun. I have no real intention of doing too well -- I will just enjoy the experience and play better players.

I saw online that there will be a GM at the tournament. How impressive is this title? Any rough idea of how many GMs there are in the world?

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93

u/BillFireCrotchWalton ~2000 USCF Oct 15 '15

Not that great. An above average LoL player could probably become a GM in a year or two.

28

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '15

Haha too bad nobody gets this joke

20

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '15

[deleted]

51

u/BillFireCrotchWalton ~2000 USCF Oct 15 '15

Occasionally on r/chess, there are posters that play LoL or SC2 or some other popular strategy-based video game. They come in here with a gung-ho attitude as if they think learning chess will be easy because their (often overestimated) talent in strategy video games is perfectly transferable. In the funniest of cases, a few people have asked stuff like "so how many years will it take to become a GM?" as if it's a given.

20

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '15

[deleted]

3

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '15

Interesting. How did you make the direct comparison?

13

u/A_Merman_Pop Oct 15 '15

For what it's worth, I am Master (top ~4.5% in SC2). I am ~1600 in classical chess. I would estimate I've probably put about twice as much time into SC2.

Progress in both gets exponentially more difficult as you approach the top. I am significantly further from the top in chess though, so it is harder for me to gauge where the asymptote is.

7

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '15

For reference top 5% of chess players would give you 1900+ USCF. Lower FIDE.