Anyone else have zero to little talent at the game?

Yes.  Increase your ratio of study to play, and that should help considerably.

There is no gas tank on a Tesla. The nature of fuel determines the method for storing it.

Spongey asks question.

Ziryab literally answers: "yes"

Spongey, realizing he's been outclassed: "I err, umm, I didn't ask about that!"

lol

This is why I wouldn't bother trying to talk with him.

I know Spongey in real life. He’s a good guy. We don’t always agree, but I really enjoy his banter on this site.

@ziryab I've seen you on the forums for over 10 years. You're one of my favorite people.

But Spongey is among my least favorite. You enjoy his banter? I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Those are my honest feelings.

He has a style that is not easy to love. But it has merits. He and I have played OTB and they have been interesting games.

IRL, he has been credited for helping the likes of Edward Winter. I’m not young, but I’m younger than him and he has done a lot of things that I value highly.

I don’t always like his posts here, especially long lists of quotes, but I understand and respect where they come from. 

That's not fun for me to hear. I'll be more respectful in the future.

I guess I should have said that I was talking about a gas car. Or how about this, which is more vital to you? Your blood or your brain?

Now we are getting somewhere. Obviously, both are equally essential.

As for talent, I recall at one point I was spending 20 hours a week studying only endgames.

I learned a lot that month.

Or spending 3-4 hours a day, every day, working through a selection of tactic puzzles.

I don't think I have talent. I've met 1500s who could play a blindfold game no problem, and in comparison to pros I've done a laughably small amount of work in my lifetime, but the amount I've done makes me better than a lot of people I meet

So, if the car didn't run, would it make sense to conclude that the problem was with the engine?

GM Evgeny Sveshnikov:  … Mark Dvoretsky identified four factors, which determine the strength and potential of every chess player:

1) natural talent;

2) health and reserves of energy;

3) determination, willpower and sporting qualities;

4) special chess preparation.

... I told him that he had left the fifth and most important factor out of his list:

5) a love of chess! ...

Those all strike me as good guesses. It's easy for an unskilled player to get an impression of great talent (in others) from seeing the way some people play so quickly and with so much success. An unskilled player does not necessarily understand how much work can go into the process of reaching a certain level of proficiency. I see little reason to doubt that some people really do have difficulty learning various sorts of chess thinking. If a person is skeptical about the possible benefits of work on chess, it seems reasonable to suggest that it might produce surprisingly positive results, but, at the same time, it seems appropriate to keep in mind the uncertainty involved in any undertaking.

I claim that I have no talent as a way of bragging about my work ethic.

My friend Spongey sees through the ruse and asks probing questions designed to get me to admit that another person who did the same work could fall short of my achievements, or possibly exceed my skills by a large margin. Although not easy to define, there are probably some innate skills that are not equally distributed among all individuals that go a long way towards determining the effectiveness of hard work.

My most frustrating third grade student, for example (more than ten years ago), was presented to me by his teacher as a gifted student with test scores near the top. His reading and math skills were exceptional. But, he struggled so much with something spatial that even ten hours in half hour blocks stretched over three months were insufficient for him to master the elementary checkmate of rook and king against a lone king.

It is also possible that my teaching ability has improved since then, however. Given another chance, I might be able to teach him this skill in a few hours. Most students get it in twenty minutes of one-on-one instruction.

"But, he struggled so much with something spatial that even ten hours in half hour blocks stretched over three months were insufficient for him to master the elementary checkmate of rook and king against a lone king."

At least you got paid for the time invested.

me

Oh sure baby, I suck at chess. I just took it up to meet beautiful laydeez.

...and now you are 13, and still awful at trolling.