Like so many things – chess included – there are no hard and fast, clear cut answers, especially for the latter question regarding qualification.

Dealing firstly with "What is a chess master?" the simplest definition that provokes least argument is a chess player of great skill. It is the latter query that sparks off controversy.

There are, arguably, at least four schools of thought on the route to the title of chess master.

Firstly, there are those who argue that obtaining 2200 national chess federation rating points confers the right to call yourself a chess master. Others, though, place a rider on this assertion, and claim only those who have played over the board and reached 2200 rating points can truly be called a chess master.

A third line of thought is that it's exclusively FIDE (World Chess Federation) ranking that counts and that chess master is attained on reaching 2300 FIDE rating points. Yet others disagree, and cite that only Grandmasters who have been recognised as such by a properly constituted committee of a chess governing body have any rights to the title of chess master.