Woman FIDE Master
Woman FIDE Master is the third title in the women's FIDE series, awarded to a player who has reached a standard rating of at least 2100, without needing norms.
Also called: WFM
The Woman FIDE Master title, written WFM, plays the same role in the women's series that FIDE Master plays in the open one: it is earned by a rating level, not by norms. The Title Regulations give it to a woman whose standard rating has touched 2100 at some time, and a woman who reached that level after 1 July 2017 must have played at least 30 rated games by then.
Direct awards also exist, such as results in listed girls' and women's events, and the minimum rating for an immediate direct WFM title is 1900, with a conditional award below it. The title is valid for life once the FIDE Council confirms it, and it is for over-the-board standard chess. A Woman FIDE Master counts as a title holder when she appears in a norm field.
The only titles excluded from that count are the Candidate titles. The step below it is the Woman Candidate Master title, set at a rating of 2000, and the step above is Woman International Master. Read candidate master and title requirement for the matching open-series rules.
Compare it with Woman Grandmaster. Woman Grandmaster is the highest FIDE title in the women's series, earned through WGM norms and a rating of at least 2300, or through direct results in listed women's events.
Rating and title terms like "Woman FIDE Master" matter once you know your next step, and the improvement plans by rating band set out a weekly routine for each rating range.
Related terms
Woman International Master is the second title in the women's FIDE series, earned through WIM norms and a rating of at least 2200, or through qualifying results at certain women's events.
Woman Grandmaster is the highest FIDE title in the women's series, earned through WGM norms and a rating of at least 2300, or through direct results in listed women's events.
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.
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.
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.
Guides that go further
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 1.3.3, read Oct 21, 2026.
- FIDE Handbook B.01 FIDE Title Regulations, effective 1 January 2024, Clause 0.6.2, read Oct 21, 2026.
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