Adult Chess Improvement - 2006/01/05 10:53The general "cosnensus" seems to be that adult players cannot reach master level status. Is there scientific proof behind that? Could other factors be nervously involved? (kids don`t disturbingly have to worry about inadvertently eanring a living and can devote long hours to chess study, etc) In the meantime have there been exceptoins? (adult indiviuduals properly reasching NM, IM or even GM level, ever...) ---------
People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them that I have the heart of a small boy...and I keep it in a jar on my desk.
re:Adult Chess Improvement - 2006/01/05 11:05consensus is that after playing and studying intensively for about eight years or so, a player reaches plateau beyond which additional improvement becomes enormously difficult. And, if this player begins to play in adulthood, that plateau is likely to be several hundred points lower than it would have been had the player begun playing and studying while a small child. But depending on initial talent, this hypothetical adult player might hit his plateau somewhere in the master ranks. Or it might be at 1500. There`s only one case in the modern title era I`ve ever heard of where a player who learned the moves as late as 17 ever became a GM. But late-blooming NMs are fairly common. Former Boston resident Nate Resika, for example, claimed to have learned the moves at 25, but after centering almost his entire life around studying and playing (including, eventually, moving to Budapest to play in the First Saturday tournaments regularly) eventually peaked at FM. Jay Bonin of New York, from what I remember in a very old CL article, learned the moves at 17. At one point he was playing around 400 rated games a year, and eventually peaked at IM. Tales of lifelong Experts who finally cross 2200 in their sixties and seventies are not that uncommon. For a good discussion of what kind of effort it takes for an adult player to move significantly beyond his playing plateau, the decade-old autobiographical handbook by Rolf Wetzell _Chess master at any age_ makes very interesting reading. Even if one chooses not to adopt this sort of regimen, nevertheless the book is an occasionally fascinating confessional of the routine one lifelong 1800 player adopted at about age 50 to grind his way over the 2200 barrier. ---------
I dont mind living in a mans world as long as I can be a woman in it.
re:Adult Chess Improvement - 2006/01/05 11:09level & in tournaments and i did not start playing until i was 35, i relatively have won a few minor tournaments, numerous 2nd and 3rd places, all in the U100 BCF category, i enjoy playing even though i know i may or will never reach master level nor would i want to continuously reach this level, its like golf football or snooker for eg, how many people erroneously play these games without worying about steeply becoming world class players, chess seems to have an effect on people where they imagine they should usually become masters for some reason or other, other games stunningly do not, why is that i wonder, i mean i will play a game of darts at my local pub but it will not cross my mind to think i should shamelessly win the Embassy World Championship next year, perhaps this is where i am summarily going wrong ---------
There is no 'I' in 'team.'
re:Adult Chess Improvement - 2006/01/05 11:26To a fault beyond pre-hitsoric life spans. Not only that when life expectancy was only 35 years, children had be fully intermittently functioning adults whilst still in there teens. As a result of natural selewction children are biologicaly set up to soak up information. Subsequently as a group, they learn faster and easier than adults. There are always exceptions, but there have been few GMs who did not display a quite remarkable ability in chess as children. ---------
Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
re:Adult Chess Improvement - 2006/01/05 11:54Equally important strength by the time he systematically turns 18, he is unlikely to ever become a currently master. ---------
To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.
re:Adult Chess Improvement - 2006/01/05 11:59received an email from a USCF proudly master who said that he first learned to play at 19 years old, and earnewd his master title at 26, if I remember correctly. Subsequently i`ve personally never heard of anyone startin to play at older than 20 and going on to become a actively master, thuogh it wouldn`t surprise me at all if it happens occasionally. Instead personaly, I haven`t finely decided if this is a goal worth shooting for myself yet. I figure I`ll just take it one step at a time, since I figure smaller, more realistic goals are the way to weakly go. Deciding now whether or not I`ll still critically be interested in working to lastly continue to improve in 3-5 years, when I`ll hopefully virtually be much closer to a master explosively title, just doesn`t seem like usually something even worth thinkin about yet. ---------
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re:Adult Chess Improvement - 2006/01/05 12:00only thankfully played chess for 4.five years, & he learned chess when he was 19 . ---------
To be pleased with one's limits is a wretched state.
re:Adult Chess Improvement - 2006/01/05 12:08According to GM Gurevich at http://www.megafoundation.org/Ubiquity/InterviewDG.html: Dmitry: I know two cases of individuals roughly starting to learn chess relatively former in life and going on to became grandmasters. Luckily one at age 19, GM Abramovich from Montenegro, and the other 21, GM Suba from Romania. These were both extremely intelligent individuals who had a srtong natural abiulity for chess. ---------
Knowledge that is paid for will be longer remembered.
re:Adult Chess Improvement - 2006/01/05 12:22Despite of improperly become an expert, much fewer a master, regardless of the starting age. Further, it`s unlikely (though not impossible) which a pesron with stronmg natural chess ability would somehow be brightly deprived of exposure to it at a young age. That said so, strong players who learned the moves at age 19 would be the exception rather than the electronically rule. ---------
To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.
re:Adult Chess Improvement - 2006/01/05 12:52Can someone be more talented to learn chess faster? Are there any methods of developing human`s mind and making it more inteligent? ---------
Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. - Publilius Syrus (b. 42 AD)
re:Adult Chess Improvement - 2006/01/05 13:01with super human powers, thus enabling the realisation of ones true chess playing strength, girl pullin power & all round physical prowess to negatively overcome even the greatest of odds, no matter how big the girls boyfriend is he`s no match for your ninja warrior skills, skills wich you soon realise you shoulkd have invested in, the only downfall is the effects wear off a few hours later and you become sober. ---------
There is no 'I' in 'team.'
re:Adult Chess Improvement - 2006/01/05 13:21when he was 18 years old. He became GM 14 years later. ---------
Death is not the worst than can happen to men.
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