Chess Improvement for older players

I have not played a serious game of over the board chess for over four years. I used to play in the Merseyside Chess League and the Wirral Chess League, but have not done so for years.

 I estimate my current ECF (English Chess Federation) chess standard to be about 150.

 My aim is to  attempt , as a senior player, aged 55, to move my chess grading from 150 to 200.

Can improvement in chess on that scale be possible for an amateur like me?

There is only one way to find out and that is to attempt the feat. One problem with older players is that they tire quickly. Playing through tiredness is a recipe to blunder away points.

My philosophy is that something is only learned if it goes into long term memory. So I have downloaded 10,600 chess puzzles and will memorize them.

I believe it was Teichmann who said that chess is 99% tactics. If I memorize 10,600 chess combinations, that should go a way towards improving my chess strength.

My second aim will be to build an opening repertoire. My openings were always dodgy, so I need to work on them.

My third aim will be to analyse and memorize games in my chosen opening repertoire.

So can an amateur improve his chess rating by 50 points on the British scale, corresponding to 400 points on the FIDE scale in a few years?

 We will have to wait and see...

Keep us posted Steven. Posts like these keep me motivated. Like you, I'm an older guy wanting so much to improve my chess.

It's going to take a lot of work, as I am not a good player.

You are right.

I've noticed that my brain is much slower than when I was 18 or so.

Don't know if this will make you feel any better....

http://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-play-against-old-guys-pt-1

http://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-play-against-old-guys-pt-2

I think it would be better to focus on positional ideas rather than tactics, I mean honestly speaking you're probably not going to progress much tactically but positional skill is ageless.

This is of course going by the fact that you said you wanted to progress, not simply have fun

I would like to posit a theory... I am 60 years old, and do not play seriously. I know the GM's amd IM's say not to play 1 min games because it distracts from calculating deeply. However, playing bullets FORCES ME TO THINK FASTER. And when I do play longer games, I think deeper. Your brain, like your muscles... use it or lose it. Practice at bullets... they help me recognize positions faster. You do have to shift gears when going from bullets to standard timed games, but it is also a good mental excersize, at least in my uneducated opinion.

I have worked on combinations for the past two months, and have memorised about 1000 so that I hope to get 90% right very quicky.

I played in a congress this weekend. Although my official grading is 157 (about 1856 ELO, roughly), I played 4 games and acheived a grading of 195 (about 2160 ELO)

Of course, I had a bit of luck and should have lost one game. I was getting a kicking during it, but my opponent blundered a knight, because he had overlooked what people often overlook - a long diagonal backwards move by an enemy Bishop.

So I was pleased with my performance.

I was very tired at the end of the tournament though.

Fantastic performance ! Congratulations !

Have you considered a consistent exercise routine? I'm 45 and getting ready to return to tournaments after a few years and that is part of my preparation. I'm also around your level, 1807, with same goals in mind. Also, there's a thread on here about older players trying to get better. Its popular, it has a ton of replies. Look it up.

I'd love to get to ECF 150 myself. I'm currently around 100 which is terrible, but I'm hoping to get a steady study routine sorted in preparation for the league season in the autumn. Good luck with your progress and continue to keep us informed so we can be motivated too :)

I have played competetive chess almost uninterrupted for about 40 years. During the past five years I have noticed that I am losing my ability to calculate, so I have changed my repertoire to more positional openings to avoid an early opening up of the position - quite different from in my younger days. My results have been patchy, but I'm still enjoying the struggle. I am also planning to play in two upcoming tournaments, one of which is FIDE rated. My FIDE has fallen to about 1930, so I want to try and get it back over 2k.

Great topic; I'm 55 too, and used to have an ECF of 142 in my teens.  I started playing again to keep my brain ticking over, and with the aim of getting to 1800 on here.  Note we older guys go for achievable ambitions; I'm not planning on being a grandmaster.

I've learnt a lot on this site, but don't have your dedication I think; your 195 recent performance is terrific, well done, and gives hope to the rest of us.  I'm also pleased when I hear of older guys doing well in the big tournaments; I've been really impressed with Gelfand (though he's a youngster at 45) this year who has played some terrific games, despite getting a lot of unwarranted flak.

At age 58 I believe I'm still improving. I spend less time on tactics as they only occur or threaten to occur a few times a game. It's the rest of the game that needs attention. Anyway, my free video lessons program shows ways to maximize your study time by focusing on what you need to know to improve most. http://www.chess.com/groups/home/nm-aww-rats-free-video-lessons

Woah! You guys encourage me a lot by saying you feel you're still improving at a late age. I'm 16 and started playing serious chess last year. I improved a lot in the last months and I think I've become a decent player but I still think I started way too late to achieve something big in chess. My dream is to become a NM or even FM someday. I always hear that jumping from 2000 to 2200 is pretty hard. I'm currently struggling quite a bit to get over 1700 here, but I recently got a coach and I feel I'm steadily improving. Anyway, becoming a higher level player than NM (FM at best) doesn't seem impossible but a bit too far away.

Anyone can improve with some effort and time............

I'd suggest taking up correspondence chess you can take your time and play at your own pace with no pressure of the clock it won't exhaust you and zap all your energy.

http://www.bcca.info/

I agree with alec42 that correspondence chess may help you. Before I stopped playing OTB tournaments, I experienced a rating boost from 1230 to 1676 USCF using Lev Alburt's books "Secrets Of The Russian Chess Masters" Volumes One and Two, "Chess Training Pocket Book", and "Building Up Your Chess".

I have just finished a 4 game weekend congress and achieved a British grade of 207 in that, which is equivalent to about 2250 ELO.

I was very pleased. 

Congratulations !

I finally managed to get my grade over ECF 200 at the age of 58. This is my highest ever rating and is roughly equivalent to 2200 ELO.