For everyone who asks whether or not they can get to a certain rating:

Yes, yes you can. Up to a certain limit - according to an NM acquaintance of mine, it's about 2300 strength - a person of average intelligence and talent can get to any level they wish. Past that limit, it requires an increasing amount of natural talent to improve. A good proportion of players could probably crack IM if they wanted, but it takes quite a bit of talent to become a GM and a truly exceptional mind to be in the 2700-club.

The problem with people on sites such as chess.com is that they are not familiar with the amount of work these people actually put in. They play some online fast games, skim over them, maybe skim a book or two. Always asking if they can be a GM, usually in poor English.

If I cared enough to study chess for several hours a day - four to seven days a week - while reading books in-depth, analyzing my own games in detail (both by myself and with a computer), playing practice games at both slow and fast time controls against humans and computers, and possibly doing all of this under the guidance and direction of a strong coach - I am sure that I would have cracked Expert by now. Maybe even Master. And, if we worked as hard as Fischer for as long as he did, we'd all be masters.

As you may notice, I do not have either of these distinctions. This is because that, regardless of whatever level of talent I may possess, I will never reach that level as long as I play internet blitz as a distraction from the YouTube comedy videos I was watching and show up at the chess club once in a blue moon.

So, there you have it. If you want to get good, put in the work. Treat it like a job, or at least a serious hobby! You lazy people will never get anywhere with this! And, the next time someone posts a thread to the effect of, "can/how do I become a GM," please direct them here. :)

note: since I know absolutely nothing about chess, some of the details might be wrong, but the general conclusion is completely sound.

True.

I too believe that anyone can reach a good level if the effort is there, backed by an average chess mind. I don't know if 2300, that seems a bit high though.

If I can be rated more than 1000, there's hope for everybody!

Nice post. That sounds about right to me. What's also interesting is that the observation generalizes to all of life, with respect to percentile achievable: world's strongest weight lifters, world's richest people, world's highest singers, or whatever.

You can't go further than 2300 lol? Who drew that arbitrary line? Also your appeal to authority is flawed.

No offense though.

An NM I knew somewhat well a while back told me so when I asked him. Yes, you are correct to note that my appeal to authority here is flawed. The "requirements" to reach the other levels are based off of various information from different sources that I have found around the web. I am unaware of any contradicting opinions with more evidence to back them, so I am simply referencing them.

Also note that the line was for a person of average intelligence... a person of slightly above-average or below-average intelligence might have a cap of Expert or IM, respectively. These are just guidelines, as I mentioned in the endnote; my apologies if the statements looked like absolute rules instead.