International Master (IM) is FIDE's second highest over-the-board title, one step below grandmaster. It requires a FIDE rating of 2400 plus three IM norms, and it is held for life.
The International Master title sits directly below grandmaster in the FIDE hierarchy. Like the GM title it dates from 1950 and is held for life, and earning it puts a player comfortably inside the strongest few thousand people who have ever played the game.
The recipe mirrors the GM title at a lower bar: three IM norms, each a performance around 2450 level in a qualifying international event, plus a FIDE rating that reaches 2400. The step from IM to GM, a hundred rating points and a hundred and fifty performance points, is widely considered the hardest single step in chess.
In practice an IM is a professional-strength player: they give simuls, coach, write, and routinely win weekend opens. Some of the most influential chess minds stayed IMs; Mark Dvoretsky, arguably the greatest trainer in history, was one. Beating an IM in a rated game is a genuine scalp for any club player.
Usually not: GM is the higher title, requiring a 2500 rating against the IM's 2400. But the two groups overlap in practice, and an active, improving IM can certainly outplay a long-retired GM.
Three IM norms, meaning performances around the 2450 level in qualifying international events, plus a FIDE rating of at least 2400 at some point. Like all FIDE titles it is held for life.
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