Alright. A new year's resolution is about to bore itself out. I am committed to become 2000+, I don't care about time or any of those factors. In fact time will actually be to my advantage I will have plenty.

Can anyone offer me a decent study program to go from okay class player to good class player to expert? Or is this even possible?

All day in these forums I've seen people saying "You need a gift" or "He's a genius". I'm a kind of self made man myself (went to the Army after hs got my degrees, served my country, all that jazz) and believe in the concept that if you put in the effort you'll get the results.

I've been told to look at de La Maza...again! Already I completed his book and regardless of all the criticism he has endured it help me enormously so I do sing his praises.

I have based a lot of my renewed Chess study on de La Maza's work and have used his seven circles very effectively. But now as I am furthering into the chess world and hoping to go to my first "real" tournament I want to be at my best...and improve that even more!

Again time is no factor...any legit opinions welcomed. As i said seven circles is effective and works but I do agree with many that it is tedious but if its what's suggested I'll do it.

(I'm even thinking about blogging the experience!!!)

Thanks for your help!!!

If it were a simple case of put in the work and get the results loads of players on this site would be grandmasters.

Time is not a factor, but is money a big factor?  I'd suggest using the tools on this site like chess mentor and tactics trainer, as well as Silman's books.  But you have to pay for these.  I wish time was not a factor for me because I'd like to focus mostly on chess as well.

I completely agree. Genius and natural talent are not what counts. It is the hard work you put into something that truly gets you good. If you want to achieve that high of a level of chess skill I would suggest you spend atleast 1 hour each day studying chess, more if possible.

As for what to study, first get two or three tactical puzzle books, none of which should cost too much money, filled with around 300 problems preferably. Work your way through all two-three of them and then do it again. Keeping going through them until you can easily go through all of the books with 0 problems and then begin timing yourself to see how fast you can get through the books. Continue to do this until you have cut your first time in half. Congratulations, you should now see tactics as well as an expert-master level player. (This is what a grandmaster suggested for those wishing to become truly great at tactics, I dont have the name atm.)

For strategy make sure you read through Silman's "The Amateurs Mind" and "How to Reassess Your Chess". There are other books out there as well but Silmans books are very good and definitely worth reading. For endgame play if you make your way through "Practical Endgame Play- mastering the basics" by Grivas, you will be much stronger than most players ever become at endgames. Although you might want to go through Silmans complete endgame course before you try to go through Grivas book, to prepare yourself.

For the opening I would suggest going to chesspublishing.com and looking through the forums for books they reccommend for whatever opening you like to play as white and black. chesspublishing.com is home to very very strong players and you would be wise to buy whatever books they suggest on learning a particular opening. Make sure you study the opening last as you will understand it far better after having studied the middle and endgame.

This study plan is only for dedicated players and is the plan I myself am going to begin using to try to achieve a 2000+ rating. I have only had a little bit of time so far and have only just begun the tactical training but already my rating on tactics trainer is 2136 and climbing. I only impart this to you because I think you may have the time and dedication to do this like I do, and I think it is the best plan to help you in your goal.

 I heard somewhere to achieve a true level of mastery in a subject (for chess that would be grandmaster level play) you need to spend 10,000 hours studying it and putting into practice what you learned. That is roughly 3 hours a day for 10 years. (3hours/day * 365days/year * 10 years ~ approximately 10,000 hours). So no I dont think most members on this site would be grandmasters :P

Of course that number is much lower for simply getting over 2000 and of course there are exceptions to that rule.

Well, good luck one and all; It looks like the Grandmaster's Ball is going to be a very crowded affair.

As a happy adult beginner I am following the various topics for improvement closely.

I agree with Phelans plan and I would add a book on "Pawn Structures". If I have understood it correctly there are only about 20 basic pawnstructures and understanding them will help tremendously in coming up with the correct plan.

Tracking this topic and good luck.

Capablance acheived world champion status after roughly 0 hours of chess study, big exceptions to that rule.

Aptitude sets the bar; effort reaches it. Because of the law of diminishing returns, I don't imagine anyone has ever reached his or her bar. Probably very few even come close. But you can take a guess as to where your bar is if you put in enough effort in study. Where you ultimately plateau is probably fairly close to your limit.

I hope your effort is rewarding. I'm sure your rating will improve, but that's not what I mean. I hope you want this because you love the game and appreciate the beauty of good chess, not for the ego boost that comes with a higher rating.

Good luck.

 but he played and watched a large number of games, master games, did he not? But yes he is definitely an exception.

I disagree : the study needs to be suited to your needs, and you need to play a lot to improve your chess playing abilities.

A 1000 USCF player needs to play and get feedback from stronger players much more than study at home I think.

study and play,by playing you can learn a lot,and experience is very important because you will make less and less mistakes and you will be able to see more combinations and guess your opponents responses to your moves

I don't believe study alone can make you a GM.

I know it's a bit different, but it doesn't matter how much I know about football, I need some natural talent to play at the highest levels.

 Wrong. If you worked and trained hard enough and in the right way no you dont. You just need average talent and the right body size.

I believe that averything here is very interesting and that you can come a long way with practicing (perhaps not all the way) but the thing that really caught me was Mm40's comment about the avarage tournament player. Around 1000 that is definetily not the case at the tournaments I have been to. Avarage there has been around 1600-1700 and you really feel weak. Might chess be such a large sport elsewhere that playeres bellow this rating cares to play chess?

Moderation.  You say that time is not a problem, so take your time.  Five hours a day is probably too much unless you are able to do more some days, and less on others.  Five hours a day is asking for burnout.  You can only absorb so much per day or week.  But work at it an hour a day, and maybe a good tournament time control game every other day.  Build a base.  Do not flame out.  Time is to your advantage.  You get a little better month after month.  If there is a club in your area use it to play your games.  Establish relationships with the regulars and they will be happy to analyze, mentor, or otherwise give you little nuggets of knowledge that would take many months to learn on your own.

Study and serious games are what count.  Forums don't really add much to your game.  Light time killer mostly, not much for your game.  And don't be seduced by the speedsters that play tons of games but learn little from any of them.

If money is not an issue, I would highly recommend getting a chess coach.