Becoming a chess master

So what you’re saying is folks should post up their study plans, training itinerary, book study progressions, syllabus etc etc and give us updates on where they are all at on the road to GM etc?

That way we can develop a level of study through statistical analysis that is guaranteed to answer the question of “how to become a chess ***master” through certain hours of study. 

I’m excited for one. Everyone should tag you correct?

i think @ghost_of_pushwood was making sarcasm there

it seems to me that 1-2 hours a day for the next two years would be sufficient for me to become a chess master. actually even that amount is not a small thing for me because i am also pursuing a legal career in the bar.

NM is a US only title, you`re british? So you could move to USA or get the comperable FIDE title CM. 

And these titles are only for slow offline chess. So you should start with that. And then you`ll see where your rating goes. Some players are much stronger at short time controls online than on slow time controls offline and vice versa. With much work on chess and many games some could do and some will still hit a unpassable wall one or two hundred points below that required elo.

Thank you @Die_Schanze!

I think English Chess Federation does provide a master title similar to NM.

"National Master – a player must achieve a standard play A grade of at least 200 in two successive seasons on ECF official grading lists (note – grades must be 12 months apart e.g. July 2018, July 2019)"

It is what their website says. 200 ECF is something like 2200 FIDE rating. Seems doable.

Morover, if you go lucky and beat a few masters in a tournament, even if your FIDE rating is below these numbers, FIDE can and does declare you as FM. I know such people, who are master yet their FIDE is below 2000.

You should ask @ghost_of_pushwood how much he likes post about training plans

Hold them guns.

We now have the new South Beach plan.

You get to eat whatever you want

You get to watch whatever you want

You get to do whatever you want.

The testimonials just keep on rolling in....

"Since the wonderful South Beach plan, Ive gained 500 ratings pts, as well as lost 20 lbs. I dont know why I was a sucker for so long!" JoeJoe from Tahiti.

Please help me to become NM.

I think Clifton/ghost/Caspiar and I have seen way too many of these threads over the years to have anything new to say. I also don't remember ever seeing a thread like this where the guy came back and showed us that he actually achieved the goal, FWIW

"... going from good at tactics to great at tactics ... doesn't translate into much greater strength. ... You need a relatively good memory to reach average strength. But a much better memory isn't going to make you a master. ... there's a powerful law of diminishing returns in chess calculation, ... Your rating may have been steadily rising when suddenly it stops. ... One explanation for the wall is that most players got to where they are by learning how to not lose. ... Mastering chess ... requires a new set of skills and traits. ... Many of these attributes are kinds of know-how, such as understanding when to change the pawn structure or what a positionally won game looks like and how to deal with it. Some are habits, like always looking for targets. Others are refined senses, like recognizing a critical middlegame moment or feeling when time is on your side and when it isn't. ..." - GM Andrew Soltis (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093409/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review857.pdf
100 Chess Master Trade Secrets by Andrew Soltis
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094523/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review916.pdf
Reaching the Top?! by Peter Kurzdorfer
"... On the one hand, your play needs to be purposeful much of the time; the ability to navigate through many different types of positions needs to be yours; your ability to calculate variations and find candidate moves needs to be present in at least an embryonic stage. On the other hand, it will be heart-warming and perhaps inspiring to realize that you do not need to give up blunders or misconceptions or a poor memory or sloppy calculating habits; that you do not need to know all the latest opening variations, or even know what they are called. You do not have to memorize hundreds of endgame positions or instantly recognize the proper procedure in a variety of pawn structures.
[To play at a master level consistently] is not an easy task, to be sure ..., but it is a possible one. ..." - NM Peter Kurzdorfer (2015)
http://www.thechessmind.net/blog/2015/11/16/book-notice-kurzdorfers-reaching-the-top.html
http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Reaching-the-Top-77p3905.htm

I assure you brother, with the help of God, I will become a chess master and share it here.

Exactly.

You are the prime example that titles are not necessarily indicative of a particular skill level, nor should they be considered the pinnacle of competitive chess. 

Back in day titles would demand respect and had prestige, but nowadays any USCF member must simply have at one point achieved a certain post tournament rating in order to be awarded one of the various titles which won't be revoked even if their rating significantly drops after the fact.

The result is people like you running around constantly flaunting their title, yet lacking the skill to even enter a qualifying match before the rule amendment occurred.

The truth is titles only serve as tool of legitimizing oneself in the business world, as most regular people don't understand how obsolete they have become.

A single mom would rather send her two boys to a GM for lessons than Big Joe from central park.

“Lolwut?” 

ghost_of_pushwood, you have to work on your Blitz rating or you will lose all our respect!

@OP Honestly, I don't think that setting an absolute goal like this really makes sense. Obviously, everyone has a limit. This limit depends on many variables and nobody here will be able to estimate it accurately. Why not try to improve and see where it gets you?

Why do you engage little lord flauntleroy?

I can tell you what not to do...

You should have voluntarily relinquished that title the second you decided to stop playing FIDE rated because you recognized your inability to compete and didn't want to further damage your standing.

I know a hundred idle masters like yourself who aren't playing at a fraction of what that thing represents, yet will simply continue to rest on it for eternity. 

This year's Australian Open at the Box Hill we will show the world who dominates mid Blitz.

Three Germans already confirmed + Smirnov the FM hunter is playing.

I am actually itching to whip you right now.

 I'll send you a Blitz challenge momentarily.

You wold think they would have learned from WWI, and WWII

Nowadays we are pretty harmless.