Norm
A qualifying tournament performance result that counts toward earning an official title such as International Master or Grandmaster.
A player typically needs a set number of norms, each achieved in a tournament meeting specific criteria for opponent strength and nationality mix, along with a minimum rating, to be awarded a FIDE title.
Etymology
Norm entered English in 1821, in Coleridge, meaning a standard, pattern or model, from French norme and Latin norma, whose literal sense is a carpenter's square, the instrument used to check that work is true. Chess uses the word for a qualifying performance towards a FIDE title: Wikipedia's Norm (chess) article explains that a grandmaster norm requires a tournament performance rating of at least 2600 under specified conditions, and that three norms over at least 27 games are normally needed for the title. The Glossary of chess carries norm as a headword. The chess sense follows the general modern meaning of norm as a required standard; neither Wikipedia nor Winter's Earliest Occurrences file gives an etymology or a dated first use of the chess sense, and FIDE title regulations date from the introduction of international titles in the 20th century.
First documented: n.a. — n.a. - no etymology or first use of the chess sense on the fetched pages
Translations
Translations for this term haven't been added yet.