Everything is based on hard work. Nuff said.

No, I don't think you understand how MTG competition and the economy works. Think about how trends change in chess for instance, Fischer, Kasparov, Carlsen etc. plays something and everybody else down to even club level follows suit.

If you had to buy your chess openings, the "best" openings would be the most expensive but as people figure out new ways to play against them and have more success the demand and thus, the price, falls and some other opening rises in popularity.

Good luck and it will take a lot of work over a life time.

I am still shotting for my 2000 uscf raiting. 

omg this is an awesome idea... chess, but you buy packs of cards that give you pieces powers (maybe you could buy pieces too -- new pieces, like the helicopter) -- so you might have a normal rook and a silver foil rook which can also move like a N and promote to a queen if it gives check. Meanwhile your opponent has played a 'royal rage' card allowing his King to castle thru check at no cost.

Some singers and songs depress me and make me want to drink myself into a coma. I am glad there is more than one radio station or I'd be screwed...

You could probably be right 99% of the time with a statement like that, but I still think it is possible to accomplish this with a late start. I will admit that studies would probably show anything you absorb as a child or teen age tends to be easier for anyone to excel at, as opposed to waiting until we are grown adults. I've seen some old men do some rather amazing things.

I am not disputing the numbers. May I ask where you got them? They seem to make sense, but I like second opinions for things that seem either arbitrary or something that otherwise I am taken aback by, due to having never really considering it before.

This is a priceless lesson and exercise. I have tried this and I find I am too biased. If you attempt this, you have to make it a point to lose your biases. You seriously always have to not only find the best move, but check to make sure you didn't err with each one. I am not sure how Fischer pulled that off. I think if engines ever get a brain to go with their awesome ability, I might try this myself.

Becoming a pro in chess for normal person is like a dream . You must train atleast 10 hours per day atleast for 10 years !

After analizing my games against people of that level, they seem to make 5 inaccuracies, 1 or 2 mistakes and or a blunder. Its crazy to me what analysis says, after I thought I played a good game.

I disagree. I had musical talent that I didn't have to develope, but there are other skills I had to learn and practice to be able utilize, alongside my natural talent. I believe chess is similar. It has everything to do with the kind of person you are. If you are naturally patient and analytical, you won't have to develope those traits, as an example. As far as lines, openings,etc, I compare those to music scores you still have to learn, despite what talent you already may or may not have.

Agree with nameno

BLR? 

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? 

If it's a bad thing, I suggest you piss off.

It's like that comment I read on a blog here claiming that Leonid Stein played "okay games."

Why would you want to be a pro?

That means sacrificing your life to chess.

Do you really want to do that? Pick something more exciting chess.

Sitting in a chair for hours thinking over a position your entire life is pathetic.

Look at Bobby Fischer and Wilhelm Steinitz.

Both were great players dedicated to the game, and both went insane.

Becoming a pro is kind of a silly goal. We live in an age where "anyone can do anything they want," but honestly, you have to be realistic sometimes. A goal like going to college and getting out and getting a descent job is a good, attainable goal. Wanting to be a pro chess player when you show no exceptional abilities? That's a little unrealistic.

Famous musicians and athletes tell us to dream the impossible dream. It's easy for them to say because they're one of the few people who did it. For every one of them there are literally thousands who didn't. 

People become masters because they have a love of the game and a work ethic that carries them to the top. If you're immediately starting out with the goal of being a pro, it will slow your progress. The distance between an average player and a pro is so staggeringly enormous that you will become discouraged quickly and easily. Start with attainable goals. Make it your goal to reach 1500 in standard games, and then after that make it your goal to win a few games in real OTB tournaments. 

Setting goals like this will be more encouraging. You will reach these milestones quickly enough so that you will be encouraged and still like the game. If your goal is to be a pro, the victories and improvements you enjoy will seem insignificant in the face of becoming a GM. Beating a 1600 player will seem trivial compared to your goal of reaching 2700+

I'm a mediocre player, and I know I'll never reach the level of a professional. I have shown no great ability with chess, nor do I play it nearly enough to reach that level. I like it because it sharpens my wits, and it's something I can see slow, but satisfying improvement with. 

 

I chalk this up to the advantages of having compounded knowledge at their disposal. Of course the ones that had to do all the work show all the wear. Bobby Fischer locked himself in a room for indefinite periods of time to figure it all out. Now a days, a guy flips on Rybka and goes and reads or spends some time with his family and goes back later and studies the results.It isn't rocket science.

If somebody is going to go insane, they will go insane chess or no chess.

Yes, but will they have the foresight to pack a lunch?

Usually, no.

I like to look at this idea from the perspective that, you can only try to get someone to understand how it is that they must think but, it is they who must teach themselves how to actually do this. Teaching one's self how to think is paramount for calculation and how to best absorb the necessary tactical, positional and strategic knowledge necessary to win.