WHEN the world chess federation, FIDE, holds its first presidential board meeting of 2009, it will approve more than three dozen new international titles and make the star of Scotland’s national team one of the few women – and fewer mothers – to earn the grandmaster title.

Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant clinched the title when she beat Greek GM Stelios Halkias in the last round of the Dresden Olympiad in November. Although there was a separate women’s Olympiad, she played in the “men’s” division – and her 6 1/2-2 1/2 score was by far the best on her Scottish team.

There are currently 231 holders of the title of “women’s international grandmaster,” which has lower requirements than for “international grandmaster.” With a few notable exceptions, like Judith and Zsuzsa Polgar and now Arakhamia-Grant, virtually all of the nearly 1,200 holders of the higher title are men.

At 40, “Keti” is one of the oldest players – and she is also one of the few mothers – to earn the title. Born in Soviet Georgia, she emigrated to Edinburgh and married a Scottish master, Jonathan Grant, in 1996. That’s the year she earned the first of her three needed “GM norms.”