What does it take from a player to achieve the Grandmaster title? Is willpower enough, as President Coolidge claimed? Or does a chess player need natural talent, a high IQ and constant practice?

Three decades ago it was thought that natural talent was not too important. The key role in the success of chess players was attributed to constant practice and the early start of training. This approach worked best for the Polgar sisters: Zsuzsa and Judith became international grandmasters and Sofia became an international master.

Unfortunately for László Polgar, the father of Hungarian chess players, such an approach was considered untenable. Obviously, his daughters have considerable natural talent, which helped them in the course of their chess careers.

A future grandmaster will need not only constant practice under the guidance of an experienced mentor, but also talent. The graphs above show the correlation between the number of games and the time it takes to win the Grandmaster title. The earlier a talented player starts practicing, the faster he will achieve the desired rank.

Persistence and perseverance can help players who lack natural talent. During the preparation of the material, I discovered that one third of the players who had played more than 750 games failed to become grandmasters. Their results were below average. Yes, these chess players became international masters. Will they reach the Grandmaster rank before they reach the rating stabilization plateau? Unknown. But persistence can help achieve that goal. These players have already played more than seven hundred games and have not given up chess. So they’re trying to prove something to themselves and the people around them.

What is the measure of chess talent? A high IQ, exceeding the result of the average person by 15-20%. The German magazine Der Spiegel once conducted tests with Garry Kasparov. In two standard questionnaires, the world champion scored 120 and 135. Good, but not record results. Another trait of chess talent is an outstanding memory, which will be able to store a huge amount of information. Do not forget about the physical fitness of the players. Participation in tournaments requires endurance and the ability to recover quickly from emotional stress.

Not every chess player can become a Grandmaster. Otherwise, there would be considerably more people with the title of GM than 1751. There’s no doubt that there are enough international masters who could have received the top title from FIDE, but didn’t realise their potential. If the title were accompanied by a check for a solid sum of money, we could see a larger number of Grandmasters in the rating list of the International Chess Federation.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)