Are you a hell of a player at 39?
Grand Master age limit?
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People ask this all the time on here... Some respond by beating you down and saying "NO, NEVER!", others say you get what you put into it (time and effort to study). Others, like myself, go by the credo that you CAN do whatever you put your mind to. Still others say you can put your mind to being a GM in chess, but if you don't have the natural "gift" for the game then it is simply not possible. If anyone ever gets a definitive answer, please let the rest of us know!
At what age can they nolonger move the pieces or see the board?
Ben Finegold became a GM at age 40. He had been an IM for quite some time before that, though.
No, never.
Well, for the record John Shaw got his GM title at 37.
But he was an IM since he was 30.
An he was Champion of Scotland when he was 26.
HappyUngulate wrote:
Ben Finegold became a GM at age 40. He had been an IM for quite some time before that, though.
Benjamin Finegold became an IM when he was 20 years old.
And a USCF Master at the age of 14.
He must have been a sensation at that time, maybe even Pandolfini screamed "Bobby Fischer" when he saw him for the first time.
Jiangchuan Ye didn't even LEARN chess until he was 17, and was able to attain the National Championship (of China) by age 20. He then went on to become the 3rd Grandmaster in the country at the age of 33. He is a good example of someone who STARTED late. I have yet to find a Grandmaster than began any later. Anyone like to challenge or add to my assertion? As an adult, examples of titled players that began the game late in life are quite inspiring. I learned the game as a child, but didn't start playing regularly until I was 24 and didn't start any serious study until I was 26.
salmiakki wrote:
Jiangchuan Ye didn't even LEARN chess until he was 17, and was able to attain the National Championship (of China) by age 20. He then went on to become the 3rd Grandmaster in the country at the age of 33. He is a good example of someone who STARTED late. I have yet to find a Grandmaster than began any later. Anyone like to challenge or add to my assertion? As an adult, examples of titled players that began the game late in life are quite inspiring. I learned the game as a child, but didn't start playing regularly until I was 24 and didn't start any serious study until I was 26.
I remember reading in an interview (that I had to google translate) that Ye used to play a chinese variant of chess, and later he decided to change to chess.
Yes, he was already a veteran of Chinese chess prior the switch, but I don't consider that as counting for too much. While both versions of chess exercise the same mental faculties, the theory is quite different. He would still have to study International chess from scratch after the switch. If what you are saying is that he is gifted, then yes, I agree, but he still had to put in 15 years of work to reach Grandmaster.
Can you become a Grand Master if you are older than 40? I'm not asking if there is any rules against it; because I know there is not. But is it very realistic for a middle aged person to become a Grand Master?
Thanks