lidraughts.org

How to become titled

@Dhruv2110 So far, I don't know any National Master who had not dedicated 4 years of active play and coaching sessions before earning a title. There are many countries where a player can't earn National Master title because he or she would need to get at least 3rd prize in national championship. Sometimes it is easier to earn a title of Federation Master, because respective norms are less demanding. Same goes for International Masters: this title is earned in international tournaments, and in many cases respective norms can be less demanding than in national championship. There are Grandmaster norms, too! Yet, nowadays the International Grandmaster title is more frequently assigned to a winner of 1st prize in continental championship. Thus, one of the easiest ways to achieve International Grandmaster is to become one of Aussies :)
In many Eastern and Northern Europe countries there is a national system of qualifications, however, FMJD is likely to restrict usage of titles: FMJD recognizes national masters, but not (national) candidate masters. It is a reason why I didn't apply for my CM title in lidraughts.
I started to train in draughts since September of 1988 when I was 9 years old. (Nowadays many players are starting their careers much earlier, even from kindergarten, btw.) In a month I was assigned 3rd junior category (which means that I was able to get 65% of points in games against pure novices), after three months I was assigned 2nd junior category (which means that I was able to get 80% of points in games against pure novices), after 3 months I was assigned 1st Junior category (which means that I was able to get 95% of points in games against pure novices) which allowed me to take part in tournaments against adult players. Then after 6 months of training and tournaments (virtually, every Sunday morning and Thursday evening) I was assigned 2nd Adult category: at this level I was able to win against any novice and, for comparison, to make a draw in one of five games against National Masters. (And, indeed, I remember one rapid tournament where I was the only one player who managed to draw against National Master which was a leader of a tournament.) After next 6th months I was assigned 1st Adult category: at this level, I was able to draw in every third game against a master. Yet it took me very much time: a year, I guess, for getting Candidate Master title which means that I can score 30% in games against National Masters, and at that level I can expect some wins against National Masters, too. However, it was a moment when I realize that I would need to sacrifice too much for getting next titles, and at this level I ceased to be active participant of tournaments. Just for illustration purposes I would like to mention that any Candidate Master in draughts is able to learn independently (so he or she needs not a coach for learning theory: professional players at this level get coaching but with very concrete goal, like for preparation in a match against some serious opponent for defending a title or getting high price).
That system of qualifications is still applied in some correspondence servers, too. Unfortunately, majority of them are accustomed for Russian speaking players. Yet, if you have an interest of earning a title in correspondence draughts, you can try Russian Academy of Arts in Checkers and Chess http://playashshi.ru/ which assigns qualification in respective tournaments. However, you must take into account that it is not an easy activity, it demands much efforts, dedication and serious studies.

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