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When the International Chess Federation created the inaugural list of grandmasters, the games highest title, in 1950, there were 27. Today, there are more than 1,850.

There are too many grandmasters, said Nigel Short, the director for chess development at the federation, the games governing body, who himself is a grandmaster. Mr. Short, who is English, said that when he is in Germany, which has almost 100 grandmasters, To call me grandmaster adds nothing. They are two a penny.

Mr. Short, 59, pointed out that the high number of grandmasters is a relatively recent phenomenon. When he was a rising junior player in the late 1970s, there were only about 100 of them in the world.

To become one is technically not easy. A player must at least once achieve an Elo rating, the system used to rank players, of more than 2,500 less than one percent of players ever do that. A player must also achieve a norm, a performance equivalent to playing at the level of a player rated 2,600, in at least three tournaments.

But not all grandmasters are created equal. Magnus Carlsen, the former world champion, who has been ranked No. 1 in the world almost continuously since 2009, is one. So is Jacob Aagaard, a coach and trainer. The difference between them is their ratings: Mr. Carlsens is 2,830, while Mr. Aagaards is 2,426.

Mr. Aagaard, 50, explained that he stopped playing professionally 15 years ago, shortly after he became a grandmaster. Though he still competes occasionally, he plays more for enjoyment and does not worry as much as he once did about whether he wins or loses, he said.

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Are There Too Many Chess Grandmasters? - The New York Times