Can Anyone Become Grandmaster?

Its hardwork. You can have a talent but check this out EVERYBODY... here's a theory. It might take a genuis 5 minutes to learn that 4+4=8 compared to a regular joe who would take 5 days to learn it...but after the regular joe learns it...doesnt that put the regular joe on the Genuis level? So everybody, don't give up. the only reason why GMs are GMs is because they understand chess on a deeper level than ordinary people, its all about learning, it doesnt matter how long it takes you, if you know 2+2=4 and a genuis knows 2+2=4 faster than you learned it the fact of the matter is, both of you know the answer so you both are on the same level you just got their at different paths. And most of it is due to genetics, if your parents are smart more than likely you will be too, but the fact is you can make yourself smart. So stop with the Talent vs. Hardwork...ITS BOTH and its irrelevant. If you don't have the "genius" gene then its obvious you have to do the HARDWORK... so WORK HARD! #CASECLOSED.

Well, when you scale it up, the average Joe will learn in 500 years what the GM will understand in 5 months.

Until we discover the secret of immortality, not everyone is going to be a GM.

Well, yeah thats a good point so in that case the average joe will need a lot of time to understand a lot of the different parts of the game then. 

No.

He will need a lot of time, and he won´t get enough time before dying. 

So the answer is easy: No.

Even assuming one is willing to do most anything to become a grandmaster does not mean this is possible.  If you have have a low IQ [for example] then no matter how much you try--you will never become a grandmaster.

If you are very ill with one month to live you do not have time to become a grandmaster

So, it is obvious that there are many people who cannot become a grandmaster.

Lets stick to young healthy people like ages 5-25 in that range i think yes the possibilities of becoming a grandmaster is likely but it will be very challenging, but yes it is very possible, now...to be THE BEST..NUMBER ONE LIKE MAGNUS CARLSEN...then no, not everybody because everybody would be number one but there are chances of becoming a regular grandmaster it just takes a lot of TIME and PLAYING/EXPERIENCE. Because remember this, a RATING will not save a person from a strong attack.... Like i said before, if you don't have the genius "gene" in you, then you have to get your hands dirty and work hard, but if you do then you have the chances of being one of the best in the 2600+ range and with hardwork with that genius gene shooting for 2700+. Because at the end of the day like i said before, if i know 2+2=4 and you know 2+2=4 but it took me a 5 days to understand the concept but took you 5 minutes then the quesition is irrelevant because we both understand the concept we just got their at different paces, and thats how this grandmaster thing works i know it to be true, some are just natural and others (like me) have to work really hard because we dont carry this "genius" gene so our hardwork has to make up for it. And no it will not take 500 years to be a grandmaster thats ubsurd. And the actual average time to be a grandmaster statistically is 8-10 years of study. thats the average. And if you look at bobby fischer the best in the world, he is no excetion, because it took him 10 years but he started playing very young so the real question is... instead of worrying about is it possible for YOU (us) to become a grandmaster the question is... do you REALLY want to be one at the bottom of your heart? and will you SACRIFICE? and will you put that amount of time into it??? thats the question, its not impossible its just very time consuming so the million dollar question is...in your everyday life... do you have the time?....

Lets not forget a kid with Down syndrome shoot 6 3's in high school basketball game and won the game for his team, yes different sport but the fact is, if you really want something you wont give a f*ck about the odds, you will beat the odds becuase deep down you know this is what you want. So you wouldnt let questions like these get to you and make you think your missing something or your brain is wired differently, we all learn at different paces but if we all get there then we are all the same so realistically some try and stop cause they think they never will and some keep going and eventually get there, not at the time that they wanted but they eventually get there and thats all that matters. 

When will we stop telling this lie to our children?

Judit Polgar/Susan Polgar/Sofia Polgar are not 3 geniuses and all three of them are grandmasters... so ask yourself people, EVERYBODY, what are the chances of you have 3 daughters that end up as grandmasters??? Exactly, its not luck yes judit is the strongest one but hey they all got there and if i remember correctly susan said JUDIT HAD IT THE HARDEST AND WAS THE LAST ONE TO GET IT BUT SHE WAS "DETERMINED!!!!" KEY WORD!!! DETERMINED!!! The 3 of them worked very hard and got there even tho they are at different levels as grandmasters, so this is my last post to all of you... are you gonna wine and cry about OH I DONT HAVE THE SMARTS! or..or.. are you gonna say, you know what...F*CK THE STATICS, IM GOING TO DEDICATE MYSELF EVERYDAY TO BEING A GRANDMASTER IDGAD WHAT POEPLE THINK I WILL WORK HARD EVERY SINGLE DAY AT IT....because talent is just not enough you still need the study time anyway...and im done i hope i inspired alot of you to wake up out of this talent vs. hardwork question. much love... peace. 

As if you need an high iq to play chess well. No way.

I don't know for Susan and Sofia, but Judith is definitely a chess genius in my book. Look at this :

Well i mean yea you can say that but the point i was making is, even tho Judit is the strongest of all three the key thing is what susan said during commentating the magnus-anand match when she said JUDIT HAD IT THE HARDEST, AKA SHE STRUGGLED TO BECOME A GRANDMASTER BUT EVENTUALLY GOT THERE. (not yelling at you by the way) so basically if she struggled then we are all gonna struggle to get their but the real question is...do YOU really want to be a grandmaster? can you put the WORK ETHIC in it? at the end of the day it all revolves around YOU! Its not impossible. Michael Jordan is from wilmington, NC where im from and theres this story that goes around all of this place about him that he could never beat his brother in basketball and it drove him crazy but he knew when he could beat his older brother he knew he would be the best and after that he did beat his brother then he got on the high school team and sucked ass and went home and cried about it got up after that and practiced every single day and then came back in college BECAUSE HE WAS DETERMINED and he became MICHAEL JORDAN, so like i said before, we can wine and cry all day about it or we can open our chess books and puzzles and tactics trainer and work hard like he did, because there is no champion who did not struggle...NONE, or else he would be a weak champ with no stories behind scars. (man im passionate about what im saying lol) 

I want to fly with no mechanical assistance really badly.

I already started taking lessons at Crook&co. and I'm devoting a lot of time to it.

I should probably manage to do it by ten years.

In what way is that supposed to show genius? It took me about 30 seconds to see how to get going and the rest followed easily. I sit around 1400-1500 on this site, so there are 100-200 000 better players than me here.

That's called hang gliding or paragliding. Takes a couple thousand dollars for lessons/equipment hire and a few spare days to do, depending on weather. Come to think of it, I'm tempted to give it a go myself

@astronomer : first Judith had calculated the whole combination right from the stat rather than guessed the first move from a diagram, and second she was 8

I solved it without errors, but I moved pieces instead of calculating it all from the beginning.

It's also more impressive to do this in a game because look at white's position... knight and rook for queen and pawn, king in the middle, rooks on starting squares.  White had to realize (or have intuition) that this was somehow good.

Oh, and also I'm not 8 lol.

Sofia Polgar is not a Grandmaster, she is a Woman Grand Master and an International Master. So, she couldn´t do it.

http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=700231

Susan Polgar is not a Women's Grandmaster. She is a Grandmaster.