Can a person below 1000 become a top grandmaster?

That's great! If you really have a strong desire to become a gm, then go for it! I would suggest start studying chess seriously (chess books, classes, etc) as soon as possible, and get a feel for what it's like, and whether or not you like it. Good luck!

the title of this thread should be named "can ur average joe shoot for the stars?"

Too late.

I saw you before on another one of my threads, Macer75, about the Scandinavian Defense

DrCheckevertim wrote:

Anybody who isn't already a master by the age of 10 or whatever.

Didnt radjabov Start with 14 or did i confuse something?

Bobby Fischer was just and average player until he turned twelve and he started when he was six.

Source: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess

only if you are very very young

O I remember! If u stick around for some time on the chess.com forums you'll see that I like to post a lot. Most of the time I'm just trolling, but occasionally I'm in a serious mood and I make serious posts (like in this thread).

And btw, from the Scandanavian defense thread I can see that you've already started studying chess, at least semi-seriously. That's a good sign, so keep up the good work!

I've also seen you before, haven't I? Ur flag seems familiar.

The older you get, the harder it usually becomes. Just because of life and responsiblities involved in growing up. I believe there have been a few ( and I do mean a few). That learned chess late, and became GM's. I can't remember them though, I am sure someone else on here knows however, it was even mentioned in the candidate's games, by the commentators, he was a math genuis.

Its incredibly difficult, but not impossible. Just trying to become a master is hard enough. Shoot for that goal first. Good luck, because you will need it.

Whether or not you meant it this way, this response implies the wrong type of attitude to me... of course an absurd amount of work with no guarantee for success applies to everyone.  These types of threads tend to treat GM (this topic in particular top GM) as something someone can just decide to do.  It shows a complete lack of understanding for how competitive and difficult this game is.

You might as well ask if you can win a medal at the Olympics if you work really hard.  The answer is probably not because there are thousands of people who are extremely passionate, talented, and hard working who want it also.  If you're one of these people then more power to you, give it all you've got, but you're guaranteed nothing.  Not even a top 100 finish, not even qualifying to go much less a medal. 

Yes everyone, not just you.

Yes you can.

No you can't.

Yes you can.

We could go on and on and on here, but would get nowhere. So here are some questions no one has asked, and they seek information you haven't provided. The answers will suggest whether or not you can meet the goal.

1) How old are you? If you are 15+ with the rating you currently sport, I'm sorry, but the bus has left the terminal. You may get very strong, even Master level, but GM will permanently be out of reach.

2) What is your rating in "real life," as you put it? More importantly, how long has it been there? Potential GMs see a gigantic leap in ratings pretty early in their experience. Yes, they "theoretically" start out like all the rest of us, but practically they are class A right out of the box. I think Fischer's FIRST published rating was 1800+. If you've been hovering around 1000 or so for a couple of years, GM just ain't gonna happen.

3) How many games have you memorized, and how quickly did you do it? Believe it or not, all GMs have a gigantic database of games in their heads that they just KNOW. Carlsen, for instance, has memorized well over 1000, and Fischer is said to have remembered every game he ever played--even many years later. This isn't something they sat down and tried to do; it just came to them.

4) How good are you at blindfold chess? Can you get through the first 10 or 15 moves error-free? Have you a great sight of the board in your head? No, it isn't necessary to be able to play blindfold, but that's what the best GMs are doing when they calculate a combination out to 10 or more moves. If you have trouble following the printed variations in a magazine without moving the pieces, you won't become a GM.

The above questions are just to find out whether you have the raw natural talent to do it. But there are other gigantic considerations such as whether you have the money to travel all over the world to compete in top-level chess, whether one of your parents is willing to quit his/her job and become your full time manager, whether you can afford lessons with a top-flight GM, whether you can focus for six or more hours a day EVERY DAY FOR YEARS on this game.

Please, reply with some honest responses here; I'm truly interested, and I'm not trying to be a downer or a smart-aleck. I know that, based upon MY answers to the above, there's a good reason I've been a patzer for nearly 50 years.

1) Almost fifteen.

2) I haven't played any competitive game before, so I don't know what it actually is. I am just estimating here.

3)I haven't memorize any games at all.

4)I usually can only see 3 moves ahead at the most, but former U.S. Champion Patrick Wolff says that even grandmasters have a hard time doing that.

I honestly think that the memorizing stuff is something that can be improved with practice. I'm not a very good natural player like Morphy.

Some positions it's true... you can't hardly analyze 1-2 moves ahead.

But if we're just talking visualization without regard to great quality of the moves, then anyone who can play a whole blindfold game can visualize tens of moves ahead.  This includes many sub-master players.

How much of this is talent based for future/current GM players I don't know.  It's perfectly natural to not be able to visualize even a few moves ahead in the beginning.

There are literally thousands of kids younger than you, with more tallent, and with a lot of experience and a great rating that you will have to pass to make it to the top.  The truth is you most likely have no shot, but to know for sure you have to invest of lot of time, effort, and money to figure out what kind of results you will get.  You need to be a strong expert shooting for master by 18.  Why don't you start with that goal first.  Go to mom and dad and ask them to shell out 75-150 dollars a week so you can take lessons from a GM.  Dump your girlfriend and throw away your TV.  If you make it over 2200 by the time you graduate high school, forget college.  You probably still won't make it, but if you do, this is what your life will look like.

he was joking but you can obviously see in shemes deeper than with calculation.

i think becoming an FM sounds realistic,Becoming A GM would be a miracle

Considering your answers to the above questions, your odds of reaching GM level are extremely low. However, if you still want to give it a try, here are two things that you must do very fast :

1. Get a pro titled coach to design a study program for you and schedule lessons at least once a week
2. Plan at least 100 OTB competition games by September 2014 to start catching up with your current lack of experience

Then follow your coach's advice for the rest. It will be extremely difficult anyway. Prepare to let go of all your other activities.

If you don't manage 1&2, then I think your chances are nil.

Good luck.

I'm 16, I play at 1600-1800 level and I don't dream of becoming a GM. I'd be very happy with a FM title and I think that is very reasonable and I know I can do it. If you don't start at a very young age, your chances of becoming a GM are not very high unless you're very talented. If Carlsen had started playing at 16, he would still have achieved GM title, because he is raw talent, but I don't think he would have reached World Champion material level (or super GM). I think you should aim lower. Let's say 1 year from now you want to reach class B level. Once you reach it you can set another goal.

Most grandmasters and other relatively weaker top masters believe players don't need to be very talented to reach 2200+ all the way up to IM if they work hard enough and fully concentrate. However, they also think in order to become a GM, extreme talent is needed, in addition to extreme hard work. That means, no matter how hard a player works, if he doesn't have enough talent for the game, they will reach no further than IM (in most cases no further than NM or FM). Go search any GM, all of them at least achieve NM title before 18 or no later than 20.