What’s the minimum rating I need to become a Grandmaster?
What’s the estimated length of time it will take?
I figure you are not talking about a USCF GM title, as it is nonexistent.
A number of people will be able to give a much more thorough and exact explanation than I can.
The FIDE GM title has a minimum FIDE rating and a required number of FIDE GM norms to be achieved within a certain period of time. Alternatively, you could attempt the same route that the last US winner of the FIDE Senior championship chose (win the tournament and get awarded the title). If you win the regular world championship I would guess that you would be awarded the GM title even if you didn’t have it in advance.
How long it would take is up to you and depends on the route chosen.
In the case of the world championship, I think someone who hasn’t already earned the GM title but qualifies to play a match for the world championship gets the GM title. I doubt that has ever occurred, or that it ever will.
The most authoritative place for information on how to become an International GrandMaster is the FIDE web site, fide.com.
An unusual way to become a GM is to win the World Senior Championship. IM Larry Kaufman did that last year and is now GM Kaufman.
Better would be - fide.com/fide/handbook?id=58&view=article
Otherwise if one didn’t know where to look it would be more difficult to find.
Another avenue to start from is to find out what your current playing strength is. That gives you an idea of how far you need to go, in terms of rating strength to reach the goal.
I know I’ve read statistics before on how long the “average” GM took to get to that level. Just can’t recall where I saw it at the moment.
An equivalent question from the martial arts world is, “How long does it take to reach Black Belt?” The answer depends in part on your native talent, in part in how much you devote yourself to learning what you don’t know, and in part who is part of your support team to reach that level. But it is hours upon hours of dedication to the game.
We love to believe that GMs are all self-made. I might contend none are. Tell me one GM who has not had people pulling for them directly or indirectly (coaches / instructors, book authors who write your study materials, seconds or their equivalent, clubs one is affiliated with and their members, etc. etc.)
(And, if you didn’t know it, there are intermediate title steps to pass through. In FIDE, there is FIDE Master [FM] and International Master [IM] before Grandmaster [GM.] Someone else can detail USCF’s levels of Expert and above…)
You can also find more info at Wikipedia at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_titles . (Though Wikipedia is only as accurate as it is. 
)
Good luck!
There is no requirement to pass through lower titles to achieve your GM title. While the majority of players will pass through them, there is no requirement. If you can score your 2 norms over 27 games (which is very difficult, so people more traditionally do 3 norms over 27 games by doing 3, 9 round events) and you have a rating of 2500 or higher (does not need to be published and it can happen during an event as they will calculate by round if you point it out to them), then you can put in your application for the GM title for review and approval.
I did not know that. (Obviously.) 
My brain had thought that absent a title-awarding event (like World Senior) that a player would have to first earn the lower titles. Just goes to show what happens when you assume.
Are there any ‘known’ players who have managed to make the leap from FIDE-untitled to GM in one gulp?
Not sure about untitled to GM, but I know that several players have skipped over IM by jumping from FM to GM.
That question is equivalent in form but not in magnitude. GM in chess is much much harder than entry-level Black Belt in martial arts.
Of course one of the reasons that it is difficult to get the GM norms in two events is that there aren’t very many 14 round events out there to get the requisite 27 games in less than 3 events of 9 rounds each. A double RR with 8 players would do it, but I don’t know how many of those are held any more. When was the last world-class level double RR event?
Getting a Black Belt isn’t about talent, it’s about diligent training and learning the techniques. It’s not about beating other people. It’s a journey that the martial artist makes on his own terms. Some achieve the rank sooner then others. It would have taken me 2.5 years to get my Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. I was set to take my test in June, however last week I fell and broke my left ankle so Black Belt will have to wait until November if everything goes okay with healing and rehabilitation.
In Tae Kwon Do a 4th degree Black belt receives the title Master. A 7th degree Black Belt receives the title Grand Master. In theory each degree of black belt should take that number of years. So to go from 1st to 2nd degree takes 2 more years. To go from 2nd to 3rd should take another 3 years. In reality it tends to go faster because many TKD schools push students faster in order to get the testing fees.
Comparing a GM in chess to a GM in Tae Kwon Do is comparing apples to oranges. Becoming a GM in chess for most players of that ability is going to take less time then making GM in martial arts.
About three months ago, in China. 2nd Pearl Spring, won by Carlsen.
– Hal Terrie
I hope my memory is correct…
Larry Christiansen skipped the IM title, and went directly to GM. I think that was before the creation of FMs.
Ron Henley earned the GM title in one tournament in Asia, but he was already an IM.
All the best, Joe Lux
And also it wouldn’t have to be a world-class DRR event. It could be one just for GM norms.
14 rounds is still tough though. However it could be done in bulks of 7 rounds broken into 2 parts.
While not world-class, nor an 8-player DRR, this is what I’m doing with my IM norm events, 6 players (3 IM’s and 3 norm seekers), 5 rounds one month, 5 rounds the next month. Utilize a Friday night, Saturday all day, and Sunday all day. Chess traffic is obviously observed more on the weekends than during the weeknights and no late week night marathons.
With all the limitations (eg, time controls) for GM norms, could you run a 8 player double RR with GM norm possibilities over two long weekends?
Let’s assume a player doesn’t have an IM title, or possible no FIDE rating at all. What would the rest of the field need to look like to make it possible for that person to earn a GM norm from a RR event?
I would never enter a non-rated player into this type of field.
You would need 3 1/2 days to do this with 1 round on Day 1, then 2 rounds on Days 2, 3, 4.
Then you can use an approved time control - let’s say the fastest one allowed after 6/30/2010 - 40/90 + 30 minutes + 30/sec increment from move 1.
3 of the 8 players needs to be GM’s and the other 5 can be norm seekers.
2 different federations
4 players have to be title holders (and that’s not too hard since 3 have to be GM’s)
4 players max from 1 federation
4 players max as opponents from same federation
You could put in up to 1 unrated player and their floor is raised, for norm purposes, to 2200, however if they score less than 1 point (a single win or two draws), then the event is destroyed as they are completely dropped.
Obviously the score required for the norm is based on the avg rating of opponents.
Now if I were doing this I would make my life easier in the organization of the event.
I’d get 4 GM’s that are each from different non-US federations or 2 from each of 2 non-US federations. This will meet the GM requirement, the foreign federation requirement, help raise the avg rating of opponent, and give you the title holders minimum you’d need.
Then the 4 other players can all be norm seekers.
I personally would not place anyone rated U2200 FIDE in this type of event but this could be an interesting design, say for example, for giving a norm chance to our 4 top youth players from the US and using 4 foreign GM’s. Or giving our top 4 female players a GM norm chance (of course 1 of the top 4 would also then have IM norm chances as well since our top three female players are all IM’s and #4 isn’t).
Big cities like NY, Chicago, LA, San Fran could easily host something like this with their local players, but again it’s a 14 round commitment. A lot of time invested and sacrificed.
Of course if FIDE allowed the use of the Schiller System, you can get 4 teams of 5 players each. You play everyone except your own team mates once.
Make 1 team all GM’s and all from different federations. Then the GM’s won’t play their professional draws and save their strength to beat up on the non-GM’s. They’d have to fight each round against the norm seekers else their ELO would take a pounding.
The Schiller System though is most ideal for a 9R event - 4 teams of 3. Then you are able to get 2 extra norm seekers in compared to a 9R-RR.
However FIDE doesn’t allow for this method thought it’s been asked to be used.
I agree that having an unrated player in such an event may not be a good idea, as it is extremely unlikely that such a player would be a realistic contender for a GM norm.
Not that it would ever occur, but wouldn’t the foreign player requirement be waived if this was the US Championships, since that’s a zonal championship event?
I wonder why FIDE doesn’t allow the Schiller System? Concerns over rigging the results?
And it would drag down the avg rating of opponent.
National championships are exempt from the foreign federation requirement for norms, regardless if it’s a zonal event or not. The US and Canada (and I think a couple others perhaps) are unique that we are our own zones.
The concerns are rigging as far as I remember my conversations with the committee chair. The issue is how do you place the norm seekers into each group? It has to be devised properly to deal with issues of avg rating of opponent, foreign federation needs, etc.
The system was used once in London by the creator, Eric Schiller.
FIDE is being cautious but also is being open minded as there are some upcoming plans on distance based (online) norm tournaments with specialized arbiters.