Grandmasters without the title
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Chess Grandmasters without the title refers to chess players who were widely recognized to be on the Grandmaster level, but were not officially granted this title. The title of Grandmaster is the highest available in chess, short of World Champion.
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[edit] 1914: the first Grandmasters
The first Grandmasters were informally created in 1914 by the Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, following the famous 1914 St. Petersburg tournament, which featured most of the world's top players. The Tsar deemed Emanuel Lasker, Jose Raul Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Siegbert Tarrasch, and Frank Marshall as Grandmasters, as they were the top finishers in the event. Lasker, a German, was World Champion at the time, and would hold the title from 1894-1921, when he lost to the Cuban Capablanca. Alekhine was a Russian of noble birth; he would later move away from his homeland following the Russian Revolution of 1917, and become World Champion (winning from Capablanca) from 1927-1935 and from 1937-1946. Tarrasch, a German medical doctor, was regarded as the world's best chess teacher and writer of that time; his playing peak had been in the early 1890s. And Marshall would hold the title of United States Chess Champion from 1909-1936. So the Tsar's choices were entirely worthy of the honour, as well as honouring players from different parts of the world.
[edit] General confusion, lack of formal criteria
Over the next couple of decades, there were no more formal pronouncements from royalty or from anyone else on new Grandmaster titles, although there was no shortage of worthy candidates. The World Chess Federation (FIDE, for Federation International des Echecs, website fide.com) was formed in Paris in 1924, but did not get around to deciding on Grandmaster status, or on formulating criteria on who should earn the title.
Certain top players, some of whom were dead and some who were alive, were referred to by the chess public as Grandmasters, based upon their playing achievements. These included the Dutchman Max Euwe, the Hungarian Geza Maroczy, the American Harry Pillsbury, the Russian Mikhail Chigorin, the Czechs Richard Reti and Salo Flohr, the transplanted Latvian Dane Aron Nimzowitsch, the transplanted Polish Frenchman Savielly Tartakower, the transplanted Russian Frenchman Ossip Bernstein, the Americans Reuben Fine and Samuel Reshevsky, the Swede Gideon Stahlberg, the Yugoslavs Milan Vidmar and Borislav Kostic, the Russian Ukrainian Efim Bogolyubov, and several others.
But certain other top players who were not considered Grandmasters likely believed they should be. And if they had the results to prove it, why not!?
In the early 1930s, the Soviet Union brought in the title of Grandmaster of the USSR, for their own players, since at that time Soviets were not competing outside their own country.
[edit] 1950: formal rules, definitions, inaugural GM list
However, it was not until 1950 that FIDE got around to formalizing the title of Grandmaster, popularly called GM. At that time, FIDE designated an inaugural list of 29 players to receive the official title. On the original list were players such as Maroczy, Flohr, Tartakower, Fine, Reshevsky, Euwe, Stahlberg, Vidmar, Kostic, Bogolyubov, Bernstein, and several Soviet players, most of whom had not played internationally, but who had achieved outstanding results in very strong Soviet events. Among the Soviets chosen were the World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik, Paul Keres, Vassily Smyslov, David Bronstein, Isaac Boleslavsky, Igor Bondarevsky, Grigory Levenfish, and Andor Lilienthal. Another top player honoured was Miguel Najdorf, a Polish Master who had emigrated to Argentina.
FIDE also devised formal criteria which had to be satisfied in order to earn the Grandmaster title from that time on. These largely consisted of "norms", which were point totals based upon the strength of the playing field in a given tournament. A minimum of three Grandmasters had to be playing in an event, for a player to be eligible to score a norm. These criteria have been modified over time, but they are essentially the same today as in 1950. Usually it takes more than one norm to earn a GM title, sometimes two or three, although certain players have achieved it with only one norm.
A certain minimum number of nations, usually three, must be represented in the ranks of the tournament, although there have been exceptions made over time for national championships for certain very strong chess nations, such as the USSR and USA. GM norms have been awarded for excellent performances in these national championships. This criteria for minimum number of nations to be represented was good for European countries, many of which are small in area, and which are close to other nations, making for easy travel and lower expenses. It was not so easy for nations such as the United States, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil, which are large nations by area, far removed from other continents. It cost more money for players to travel there, holding back the achievement of GM titles for many years.
Chess ratings, to measure the comparative strength of chessplayers, were introduced by FIDE in 1970, some 20 years after the United States introduced them at home for national play. Ratings criteria became an important part of Grandmaster norm determination from that time on, with a performance rating of 2600+ being necessary in order to score a norm.
[edit] Grandmasters without the title
So, with the criteria established, anyone with the necessary talent should be able to earn the title of Grandmaster, or so one might think. Despite the rules, several players since 1950 who clearly had the talent slipped through the cracks, and did not get to Grandmaster status, or they only got the title many years after they should have received it. This article will now outline several of the most interesting cases of omissions.
Frank Anderson, Canada: Anderson won the gold medal on board two at the 1954 Amsterdam Olympiad, and repeated the feat at the 1958 Munich Olympiad. But he fell ill on the morning of the last round in Munich, because of an incorrect prescription, and was not able to play his game. Had he even shown up and lost, he would have received the Grandmaster title.
Lev Aronin, USSR: Aronin was clearly of Grandmaster strength, based upon his high finishes in several Soviet events, but he never got the opportunity to play outside the Soviet Union in an International tournament, to earn the norms. He was slated to play in the 1952 Stockholm Interzonal tournament, but was replaced at the last minute by a high-ranking Soviet Chess official, Alexander Kotov, who went on to win the tournament.
Rashid Nezhmetdinov, USSR: He was another player who was lost in the shuffle when it came to earning the highest title. Wins over strong players such as Mikhail Tal, a powerful performance at Bucharest 1954, good finishes in Soviet Championships, and a win in what is considered by many to be the best game ever played, against Lev Polugaevsky at Sochi 1958, were not enough. 'Super Nez', born in 1912, was older than many other rising Soviet stars, and did not get the opportunities, which were reserved for younger players. He was also a master at checkers, and won Russian titles in both chess and checkers.
C.H.O'D Alexander, England: Alexander was a strong Master who defeated Botvinnik in the famous radio match of 1946 between Great Britain and the USSR. But he was a key employee of the Foreign Office, who served in vital codebreaking roles during World War II and afterwards, when he moved into management. This could have been known to Iron Curtain nations, and Alexander would not venture into Eastern Europe to represent England in the Chess Olympics. His best results from the 1930s would have been sufficient by today's standards for the Grandmaster title.
Fedor Bohatirchuk, USSR/Canada: He was a victim of politics more than anything else. Three wins over Botvinnik in Soviet events, and a tied first place in the 1927 Soviet Championship were ignored because of his defection from the USSR following World War II. Bohatirchuk was a Ukrainian patriot who used his medical skills to aid the Nazis in Kiev following their invasion in 1941. He escaped into western Europe as the Soviet armies rolled back the Nazis, and later found a refuge in Canada. Well past his playing peak by this time, he still scored well in several Canadian championships, and played for Canada at the Amsterdam 1954 Olympiad.
Boris Verlinsky, USSR: Verlinsky had won the 1929 Soviet Championship, and was granted the title of Grandmaster of the USSR for this achievement, the first to be honoured in this way. But later on, after the rise of Botvinnik, it was thought to be more politically correct to make Botvinnik the first official Grandmaster of the USSR, so Verlinsky was stripped of his title and was never granted it again. He did receive the lesser title of International Master from FIDE in 1950, but died later that same year, aged 62.
