Elisabeth Paehtz Becomes 40th Female GM In History

IM Elisabeth Paehtz is now GM Elisabeth Paehtz. Germany's number-one female player scored her third GM norm at the 2021 FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss in Riga, but then an earlier norm was declared invalid. At a recent FIDE Council meeting she was awarded the GM title after all, which makes her the 40th female GM in history.

Paehtz's excellent performance of 7.5/11 in Riga last year was good for her third GM norm. Well, that's what she thought, as she had two earlier norm certifications, for her performance in the 2010-2011 Bundesliga as well as the 2016 European Women's Individual Championship in Mamaia, Romania.

However, soon after Riga, she learned that her 2016 norm had been declared invalid. Why? Because she had faced just two grandmasters in Mamaia, instead of the required three.

The chief arbiter at that tournament is the highly experienced referee Ashot Vardapetyan of Armenia. He had declared her GM norm valid anyway because of his interpretation of the FIDE Handbook, which mentions possible exceptions to the minimum of three GM opponents, such as Olympiads and continental championships. For the latter category, however, it was unclear whether this was about only team events or also individual events such as the European Championship Paehtz played in.

At the time she was not sure about the situation, so Paehtz asked international arbiter and lawyer Klaus Deventer whether her norm is indeed valid. Deventer expressed his doubts and decided to ask Werner Stubenvoll, also an international arbiter and at the time the chairman of the FIDE Qualification Commission, which is responsible for verifying norms. Stubenvoll confirmed the validity of the norm with a lengthy explanation, after which the case about the second norm was closed for Paehtz. However, after Riga, her 2016 norm was still declared invalid.

Luckily for her, this wasn't the end of the story as other officials and arbiters within FIDE had different opinions about the matter. "The Handbook was very confusing, and also, it keeps on being updated," said Paehtz. "Multiple arbiters declared my 2016 norm valid, so that shows how confusing things were."

In March 2022, FIDE postponed their decision to a meeting in Chennai, in the summer, alongside the Olympiad. While the decision about Paehtz' title was postponed once again in Chennai, stricter regulations regarding norm certificates were introduced. For instance, from now on, a certificate will stand as valid if it hasn't been contested for a period of three years.

"A sportsman shouldn't be punished for a mistake made by an official," said Paehtz, and FIDE ended up agreeing with her. At the November 25 FIDE Council meeting in Jerusalem, it was decided that she deserved the GM title after all.

"It is not unfair," said Paehtz, "considering the reasoning behind the Olympiad exception. There are only 40 female grandmasters in the world, so for a player it is actually quite hard to meet three of them in a women's tournament, no matter how high her score is."

The overwhelming emotion for Paehtz right now is relief. "I'm mostly glad that it's over," she said. "Part of the German community called me a liar and a hypocrite, and some German journalists seemed to relish the saga, happy that it was dragging on. I had a very bad year."

Paehtz is known in Germany as outspoken and opinionated. In 2019, she left the German national team, demanding equal conditions for the male and female teams regarding training opportunities and budget. A year later she returned after the German Chess Federation had indeed created equal conditions for the teams.

It is one of the episodes she writes about in her recently published book in German: Wer den vorletzten Fehler macht, gewinnt ("The winner is the one who makes the next-to-last mistake," a quote by GM Savielly Tartakower.)

"What happened to me regarding my GM title is a good example that showed we need to avoid making certain mistakes in the future," she said. "I am mostly happy that now, there is no discussion anymore."

Below is the list of all 40 female grandmasters who are all still living: