do i really need to be spending 5 hours a day on chess in order to improve

What did you say?

What?

what did this thread become....

what hath science wrought

better than it was before at least

let me guess this is some secret military language with some super subtle hint that im supposed to decode

It's an old expression, I don't know where I first heard it. In fiction it might be said seriously when Frankenstein's monster comes to life, or in history it might be said seriously during the first successful test of a nuclear bomb. It's lamenting that science has brought something unnatural and terrible into existence. You said "what has this thread become" and by resonding with that phrase I'm jokingly agreeing that the thread is something unholy and horrible.

In practice it's rarely said seriously. If someone puts peanut butter on spaghetti you might say it comedically. Goggling the phrase now brings up cartoons, so that's where kids have heard it these days I guess.

Oh, looks like it's a parody of the phrase "what hath God wrought"

So the "original" is at least 2500 years old

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_hath_God_wrought

Funny that reddit kids are saying it's from the cartoon Gravity Falls lol.

very well said

oh ok i see i don't watch cartoon tv shows at all (except when i was 4 i watched mickey mouse and peppa pig) so i didn't know that phrase

why tf is this revived

Meeee heeee meee

GOAT the animal!

Dear Krazeechess,

I am a certified, full-time chess coach, so I hope I can help you.  No, you don't have to train 5 hours per day, you can improve with 1 hour per day as well, the point is being consistent and learn regularly. Let me tell you my thoughts about the right training method. Everybody is different, so that's why there isn't only one general way to learn. First of all, you have to discover your biggest weaknesses in the game and start working on them. The most effective way for that is analysing your own games. Of course, if you are a beginner, you can't do it efficiently because you don't know too much about the game yet. There is a built-in engine on chess.com which can show you if a move is good or bad but the only problem that it can't explain you the plans, ideas behind the moves, so you won't know why is it so good or bad

You can learn from books or Youtube channels as well, and maybe you can find a lot of useful information there but these sources are mostly general things and not personalized at all. That's why you need a good coach sooner or later if you really want to be better at chess. A good coach can help you with identifying your biggest weaknesses and explain everything, so you can leave your mistakes behind you. Of course, you won't apply everything immediately, this is a learning process (like learning languages), but if you are persistent and enthusiastic, you will achieve your goals. 

In my opinion, chess has 4 main territories (openings, strategies, tactics/combinations and endgames). If you want to improve efficiently, you should improve all of these skills almost at the same time. That's what my training program is based on. My students really like it because the lessons are not boring (because we talk about more than one areas within one lesson) and they feel the improvement on the longer run. Of course, there are always ups and downs but this is completely normal in everyone's career. 

I hope this is helpful for you.   Good luck for your games! 

“do i really need to be spending 5 hours a day on chess in order to improve”

Short answer: No, it’s the exact opposite.

long answer: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/off-topic/stop-working-hard-and-start-working-well

you don't even have to spend 1 hour to play chess just play to have fun.

Improvement is more about the quality of study than the quantity of time.