There is also a Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title, but the requirements for achieving it are much lower. Still, chess has not regained its former social status among women. As of 2011, no woman has ever been the world champion, and only a handful have made it to the top 500 players. Even so, the strength of women players continues to climb, and by 2005 most of the top 10 women held the Grandmaster title. In September 2005, Susan Polgar's younger sister GM Judit Polgár of Hungary, then rated #8 in the world by the international chess organization FIDE, became the first woman to play for the World Championship title.
International masters

As of 2009^[update], 81 women hold the International Master title:^[8]

Ekaterina Atalik Irina Berezina Anastasia Bodnaruk Natasa Bojkovic Angela Borsuk Dagne Ciuksyte Viktorija Čmilytė Silvia Collas Elina Danielian Yelena Dembo Joanna Dworakowska Martha L. Fierro Baquero Cristina Adela Foisor Alisa Galliamova Inna Gaponenko Anita Gara Rusudan Goletiani Nino Gurieli Sopio Gvetadze Dronavalli Harika Jovanka Houska Harriet V. Hunt Nana Ioseliani Jana Jacková Lela Javakhishvili Ketino Kachiani-Gersinska

Bela Khotenashvili Sopiko Khukhashvili Nino Khurtsidze Masha Klinova Tatiana Kononenko Ekaterina Korbut Nadezhda Kosintseva Liubov Kostiukova Ekaterina Kovalevskaya Irina Krush Susan K. Lalic Tea Lanchava Li Ruofan Maia Lomineishvili Carolina Lujan Ildikó Mádl Alisa Marić Iulia Mashinskaya Ana Matnadze Svetlana Matveeva Nora Dr. Medvegy Salome Melia Sophie Milliet Lilit Mkrtchian Eva Moser Batkhuyag Munguntuul Anna Muzychuk

Mariya Muzychuk Evgenija Ovod Elisabeth Paehtz Corina Peptan Svetlana Petrenko Sofia Polgar Maka Purtseladze Iweta Rajlich Olita Rause Eva Repkova Marina Romanko Elena Sedina Almira Skripchenko Zuzana Stockova Elena Tairova Sachdev Tania Irina Turova Anna Ushenina Szidonia Vajda Irina Vasilevich Tatjana Vasilevich Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi Wang Yu Elena Zaiatz Anna Zatonskih Olga Zimina Anna Zozulia