19 years old - too late to become a pro?

Hi. I'm 19 years old. I've played chess for a month and I find it an awesome game. The question is, will I ever be able to get to 2000? I've heard that if you don't start at young age, it's sort of impossible to improve your game later. Now I can checkmate some chess newbies(as well as they can mate me) only, but just they make a big blunder. The question is: how to improve my game? How to practice? Is it possible to reach 1800-2000 at my age?

Cheers.

Yes it is possible to reach 1800-2000. But that's not "pro" level.

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/what-makes-a-class-a---expert-player

http://www.chess.com/article/view/deep-thinking-and-the-differences-between-titled-players

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/improve-your-play-you-can-reach-2000

Thank you, sir.

hi,yes thats possible!

it is possible at your age but not wiht you rating. i would say that you can not reach 2000 by lack of talent. i started playing in internet 2 years ago (age 15) and my rating has imporved about 250 points.  you can do the math.

Well, I'm a fast learner :) Bought a chess book, planning to join a chess club. It would be nice to improve my game, and become a deecent player. 

As I mention, Ive played chess for about a month and online chess less for less than a month. I strongly believe that I can develop my skills even If I have to work hard and study positions. 

Do you know any professional(2000+) player who started to play chess at 19 years old or more? 

I know a player who started at 30 years old and managed to become a 2000+ level... i also met in a tournament a master level player who started late (something like 20 years old)

There are many players who have done that. I'll try to find the thread where some of them posted.

I must emphasize once again, though, that 2000+ does not mean professional. Professional is more like 2400+.

           You become a pro when you start making money doing it. It can be done, but you have a LONGgg... way to go.

Work on basic endgames.  Here are some practice positions:

                   I can't find middle c on that board

Well "pro" actually means that you make money from chess. So I know pro chess players that are officially rated 1400-1700 because they are chess teachers, but they haven't been to rated tournaments in years. Depending on where you live, private teaching can be quite lucrative.

But in the sense of becoming a professional tournament player . . . the odds of someone who learned to play chess at 3 years old accomplishing that is still incredibly low.

But why do you want to become a ''pro'' and not just a good player? Enjoy the game and have fun, really there is no need to be at the top level for that. 

The problme is that your brain will be grown out in say 5 years.

It will be very hard for you and probably/possibly not worth it trying to pursoe a carreer in chess playing. The younger players will simply debase you.

Now, I don't mean to paint a bleak picture. Try to do something meaninigful with your life. Don't bother.

1. You can eihter become conformant witho society,l get married, 9 to 5, get kids andtry to train them.

2. Yo ucan try to pursoe chess carrerr. but you will more then like lyfail badly. You may even regret it.

3. Become an alcoholic or whatever floats your boat, it will be more fun than 2. though it'll hav days when the death you're dying feels like a slow one.

4. Don#t bother with any of the above and throw in the towel.

what many people do wrong is they just play and play thousands of games but never improve. You have to show the motivation and the will to study to get better. Playing Blitz and Bullet at a low level is also just a waste of time.

19 years old and you haven't solved chess? What adjectives could be used for such a person????? Loser? Useless????? Or how about just a happy person who loves chess. Just play dude. Enjoy the mystery.

+1 Blitz and Bullet are good as a complement.

Just find some way to make money with chess and you can be a chess pro. If you mean making a living just from playing competitive chess, well, not many, no matter how high their rating is, manage to do that. Sadly there's just not the money involved in chess to sustain a whole lot of full time career players (and that picture's even more bleak over here in America).

If you love to play the game, that is what counts.  And yes you can reach 2000, but dont get caught up in that, just keep playing, and having fun.  if you do that, the progress will come.

There are a lot of factors to consider. How strong are the local players near you? If the toughest competetion you meet is at the 1800 level, it will be very difficult to move beyond 1800. If you have master level players nearby, that stops being a limiting factor. Natural talent is another thing to consider, but you obviously can't judge this until you've been playing for a while. How much time and effort you invest is going to be the most important issue. I personally believe that most people who start chess at younger than 25ish have the innate capability to reach 2000 or so, as long as they aren't limited by their time or environment(i.e. lack of strong competition.) It certainly won't be easy, but to be perfectly honest, I enjoyed chess just as much at 1600 as I do at 2100. Just focus on enjoying it, that's why we play anyway.