ask a professional chess player anything

I can see many moves ahead but I rarely ever need to or should be doing it! I can't give a figure as it depends on the position. But definitely twenty moves isn't out of reach

I go to the gym 5-6 days a week for cardio and weight-lifting. I have a serious background in sports.

I did everything. I tried to consume as much information as possible as long as I could understand it not just memorize it. Studying and playing games was the most beneficial though.

I recommend using engines very rarely. As a third choice behind your brain and even a chess friend. A really common problem I notice is the the over-reliance on computers. 

As for engines, I currently prefer Houdini.

Next week I will travel to Uruguay to try to qualify for the World Cup. It is the Pan-American championships. My immediate goal is to be firmly over 2600 

Interesting question. I can do mathematic calculations in my head really well. Arithmetic with numbers-not complex math. I think it helps my chess calculation.

I really enjoy video games. I played competitively in Counter-Strike and was ranked quite high. 

 The next step is to look for chess books for him and a local chess club. 

25 isn't too old to be come decent. It was normal in earlier chess periods! I would focus on calculation/tactics and playing quite a bit. Try to play a normal opening too. All I mean by that is something that you understand and something that is straight-forward and develops your pieces towards the center. Analyze your games too! And try to look for patterns..

Depends what you play normally. Sicilian is a top notch opening. French/Caro kann are both very solid choices that are good to know. One sharp opening one solid opening is good.

I've been a boxing fan for around ten years. I wanted Pacquiao but I picked Mayweather to win at this point in their careers. The fight did not impress me because Manny did not throw enough punches or try anything new to counter Mayweather's style.

Sorry I missed your question. My schedule changes a lot because I am not the most consistent person! Exercise,blitz games, and some opening and game analysis for a few hours everyday. Right now as a GM most of my time is on openings because we try to make any little advantage we can get.

It took me about five years to become an expert. Half a year is pretty optimistic! Chess is a long process that you have to respect. Keep doing what you're doing but remember to always question yourself and learn to be a harsh critic of the games you play. Don't get too discouraged by rating.

to eric, has chess.com help you in any ways in your games while you were here ?

What would be the right strategy to improve Endgame and positional chess(right books etc)?

I'm stuck in 1100 rating. Its been more than a year and i'm still unable to improve my rating . What should i do to increase my rating ? I do solve daily puzzle and tactics still i'm not able to progress. 

Wish you good luck, I will look for a way of watching your games, is chess24 or some site where we can follow the tournament?

They are so perfectly smooth that they make mirrors and perhaps even sophisticated telescope lenses look like bumpy monstrosities.  Too much radiation to even think about going to one even if FTL travel were somehow mastered, which is impossible even theoretically and even then lots of tons of fuel would be needed to reach near its speed, in fact perhaps a Jupiter sized thing of fuel would be needed to go near light speed!  Oh, and a teaspoon of neutron star matter is so dense it would trivially fall down the world if you were to spill it.  They are very tiny, yet super dense.

Has anyone asked this question?

"Couldn't you make tons more money doing virtually anything else?"

Yep- that's the truth unless I get 2700+. I don't plan on doing chess forever as my main occupancy but I do have some personal chess goals to get past. On the side, I do a bit with real estate and stocks.

OK, I will ask a question. 

Eric, how should someone try to improve if their positional understanding is very high, let's say that they play positional moves to a strength of 2200ish, but their calculation is much, much weaker, say to a strength of even below 1600? [I am not pointing to anyone here lol  ]