FIDE Master
FIDE Master is the third open FIDE title, below International Master, and it is usually earned by reaching a standard rating of 2300 over at least 30 rated games rather than through norms.
Also called: FM
The FIDE Master title, written FM, is the one most club-level ambitious players can aim at without chasing norms. The Title Regulations award it to anyone whose standard FIDE rating has touched 2300 at some time. The rating can be published or interim, and for ratings reached after 1 July 2017 the player must by then have played at least 30 rated games, so a few lucky results in a small event do not count.
The title is valid for life from the date the FIDE Council confirms it, like the others. Because FM comes from a rating level rather than from specific tournaments, it works well as a milestone for a long training plan: the target is a number on a list, not a performance in one event.
FMs also count as title holders when they appear among an opponent's group in a norm calculation, so a tournament with several FMs helps titled opponents reach the required share. See the entries on International Master, Candidate Master and title requirement for the neighboring steps.
How "FIDE Master" applies to your own results depends on where you stand now, and the improvement plans by rating band show what players near your rating work on.
Related terms
International Master is the second-highest FIDE open title, below Grandmaster, earned through IM norms and a rating of at least 2400 reached at some time, or through certain event results.
Candidate Master is the entry-level FIDE title for open play, awarded for reaching a standard rating of 2200, and it does not count towards the title-holder share in norm calculations.
A title requirement is a condition that FIDE sets for awarding a title, such as a rating level, a number of rated games, a performance result or an approved event.
A FIDE rating is the Elo-based number that the World Chess Federation publishes each month for players with rated games, with a published minimum of 1400, and it is the rating that FIDE titles are measured against.
A title application is the formal request, made through a player's federation, for FIDE to confirm a title on the strength of norms, a rating level or a direct result.
Guides that go further
The requirements, each with its FIDE Handbook clause, and a checker for your own numbers.
How the Candidate Master, FIDE Master, International Master and Grandmaster titles are earned, with every Handbook clause.
What a rating measures, how FIDE, Lichess, US Chess and chess.com compute theirs, and why the numbers differ.
Sources
- FIDE Handbook B.01 FIDE Title Regulations, effective 1 January 2024, Clause 1.3.1, read Oct 21, 2026.
- FIDE Handbook B.01 FIDE Title Regulations, effective 1 January 2024, Clause 0.4, read Oct 21, 2026.
Want to spot this in your own games?
A first lesson starts with your games: George reviews them and builds a study plan around what he finds.