Susan Polgar
In January 1991, Polgar became the third woman to earn the Grandmaster title. Much is made, by her supporters, of the fact that Polgar had got the three GM norms and a rating over 2500. Nona Gaprindashvili was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1978 mainly as a result of winning Lone Pine International 1977, but she did not quite make the usual 24 games required at that time. Maia Chiburdanidze was awarded the GM title in 1984 for winning at New Delhi (1984), and for beating Nona Gaprindashvili and two others in matches for the Women's World Chess Championship. However, before Polgar reached the title, Chiburdanidze had more than achieved the traditional GM qualifications by her performances at Banja Luka and Bilbao.