I flubbed a couple advanced/master and half of grandmaster, eh good enough.

Be fun to start at Master and up, but is kerfuffle really grandmaster?

Gaikwar and Kowtow are English words?

Kowtow certainly is. Gaikwar is arguable.

kowtow (叩頭) is a Cantonese word borrowed into English in the early 19th century.

Exactly, it's been an english word for hundreds of years.