Can a chess player become IM in his thirties?

I'm not a neuroscientist, I don't know exactly why.

I've known adults who have multiple titled coaches (yes, that's very expensive for them) and play in tournaments almost every week.

They work hard, and they improve a lot. Some make it to around a 1800-2000, but then they seem to stop improving. I don't know why.

I do know that 1800-2000 is very far away from an IM title.

I also know if you're a coach who can turn adult beginners into titled players you'll be able to charge quite the price... because you'll be the only one in the world who can do so

Possibly of interest:
"... the NM title is an honor that only one percent of USCF members attain. ..." - IM John Donaldson (2015)
http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Reaching-the-Top-77p3905.htm
What It Takes to Become a Chess Master by Andrew Soltis
"... 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
"Yes, you can easily become a master. All you need to do is some serious, focused work on your play.
That 'chess is 99% tactics and blah-blah' thing is crap. Chess is several things (opening, endgame, middlegame strategy, positional play, tactics, psychology, time management...) which should be treated properly as a whole. getting just one element of lay and working exclusively on it is of very doubtful value, and at worst it may well turn out being a waste of time." - IM pfren (August 21, 2017)
https://www.chess.com/article/view/can-anyone-be-an-im-or-gm

https://www.chess.com/article/view/don-t-worry-about-your-rating
https://www.chess.com/article/view/am-i-too-old-for-chess
https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-can-older-players-improve

If you are single why not? if you have kids and family, probably they gonna need all your attention.

No.

In which age did you get your title, and how much work was involved in this project?

I'm 37, a beginner and can't spot a checkmate coming at me if it has a sign hanging on it. 

But, I'm still going to try, because I love the game. 

 

It is really an interesting game. It is funny to see how pieces develop, like an organism in a small world, and how wonderful / strange / stupid / intelligent things happen on the board. I feel like a beginner, actually I am a beginner if I see the kind of blunders I do in my games. But in rapid and daily chess I am a little bit stronger than you, around 1500. I will try to give a go to reach 1600 in the next months (by analysing my games and going through Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess). But the way is the goal, I like to train, almost more than to play, as it is a good thing to do in the free time.

 

Nice!  That book is on my to-read list, once I get a little bit stronger.  I'm working my way through Chernev's Logical Chess Move by Move at the moment, and Dan Heisman's Back to Basics. 

 

It's going to be a long road.  Hahaha.  

 

I hear you though, I like playing tactics on chess.com as much as playing games.  My main issue at the moment is that I am absolutely knackered (have a newborn baby) and work big hours... I'm playing too many games at once, so I am not taking the time I should before making moves and my tired brain is missing things.  But, I will work through this (embarrassing) period and get on top of it.  The books and tactics help.

 

The way is the goal, right? Playing here and sharing ideas with other people who love the game is great. I usually prefer to talk to people directly, but most of my chess partners are not really interested in improve, so I come here (and in the real world I go on crushing them)  :-D

I am sure if I went to India and met a random person, he or she would have the potential of becoming an IM in their 30's.

Suppose Magnus Carlsen learned to play chess at 22.  I think he could become IM or GM in his 30's if he put in the time he did when he was younger. 

As always,  IM pfren very honest!

These two words are very inspiring...thanks

Nice information

No one knows. Just because you have a high rating doesn’t qualify you to know the answer. I speculate it’s only improbable for a guy in his 30’s to become an IM due to obvious time constraints. You know Magnus Carlsen quit school to become great? I don’t know very many 30 year olds that can quit their job and still pay the bills...

Your not going to get an accurate answer on the Forums with this question because people in chess.com are so dense they equate chess skill with knowledge of brain want development. Too different things entirely, yet a 1900 rated player claims here that he “knows” that it’s Impossible, saying allthat it takes a lot of skill to become good, but it it’s not skill level we are talking about here, we are talking about is it possible to gain this skill at a much older age. This said 1900 rated player said it’s impossible, but unless he has a medical degree with a neurological background along with a degree in Cognative Science, he, in reality, is full of crap. Being a good chess player doesn’t qualify you to know if the adult brain can possibly learn high level chess. This myth is based on skeptical high level chess players that aren’t even qualified to make this assertion who base their “guess” on the fact that they themselves are good at chess, and know what it takes to get good, therefore, they are right in saying that it’s impossible to become a GM at Age 30. The logic is fallacious. Knowing about chess doesn’t mean you know about brain development. Yeah the brain functions decline as you age, but if it’s true to the extent that these idiots who say “chess is impossible to master at age 30,” would be like saying it’s impossible for a 30 year old to do a career change. We all know that is not impossible. Chess is not a special skill that can only be learned at a young age. The only evidence there is to attest to it is that not very many people ever make GM at later ages, or even IM, but that’s like saying it’s raining when you only saw water on the street. It’s possible sometime spilled the water. There are other alternative theories on why nobody ever makes it to IM only beginning chess at age 30, my theory, is the obvious one that these high rated chess players who say it’s impossible because no one does it fail to see the obvious, that most people at age 30, don’t care about chess. They moved on from board games. They have a job, kids, and need money, they don’t need a board game that sucks all their money. That’s why no one past 30 becomes an IM, not because chess is a special skill that can only be learned at a young age, unlike sometime like becoming a nurse at age 40 after being a mechanic for over 20 years(I know someone who has done this). What makes chess so different? I heard the hair brained theory that when you play chess your neural network changes and if it isn’t changed like this at a young age it won’t be forever, however, I see no scientific article attesting to this research. Nope, all I see, is some lame 1900 rated guy who claims he “know...” people who say this are perpetrating a myth, and are being intellectually dishonest, using fallacious logic to prove their points. If you want to believe I’m full of crap, than so be it high and might 1900 rated player, because I don’t give a rats ass. It’s obvious to me that you are using fallacious logic to prove you’re points, and more often than not, someone who uses fallacious logic to prove their points will never see their logic as fallacious, because they believe there is an actual logical connection to their logic, when in reality there isn’t. I wasted enough time I think, time to do more productive things. I at least hope the OP gets something from this.

I think you can get any chess title at almost any age

You meant 'it is achievable'....I hope you are right.

Any title? Any age?

So we don't have any chance!!! Now this is truly called a hopeless situation

To keep on working hard day and night for ten years....and still there is no guarantee of success!