Eventual IM?

Hey there. I'm a 17 year old, living in Britain. I've only been playing chess for about 3 months, and have discovered a hidden passion for the game! I study and play the game whenever i can.(Can't when at school, and extra classes etc...) I have recently made it a goal of mine to eventually become an International Master. I would just love your guys opinion on how realistic this goal is, and what would the best way be to go about it. Thanks :)

What led you to decide you want to be an International Master?

Do you think that they are all earning a lot of money and enjoying prestige and privilege?

It's not realistic.

Just play for fun and improve at your own pace. If you want IM so people will think you're cool and call you a chess master, that's a bad reason to hand over your whole life to chess (in which case you still probably wont make it). Most people who make IM+ start playing chess at the age of 5 and spend tens of thousands of hours on the game.

no, not for money, or fame or anything like that. purely for a sense of personal accomplishment, as I love the game. but thanks for your inputs.

Cool. Well, you could always train and get better and win some good games, and win a tournament here and there. Don't need to become an international master to feel some sense of accomplishment

I think you should set shorter term goals. Try to beat a 1200 rated player first in your choice of blitz, bullet, standard or online chess.

You didn't answer the question of what you are doing to improve. Just playing here won't do it. You have to study. You have done a fair number (213) of the Chess Mentor courses and Tactics Trainer problems (153). Those lessons don't appear to have filtered through to your playing yet. Do you turn off all other distractions and concentrate when you are doing them or just read through them quickly and guess?

If you have honestly worked hard at those lessons, it may just take some time to sort everything out.  Perhaps you need to play slower time games to give yourself enough time to think about the many things you have learned. 

I hope you will keep trying.

thanks guys! and sorry, I have been playing at my local chess club, and have already beaten players of over 1300 rating! and yes, the tactics trainer and lessons on here are great, and I do try to put them into my game as much as I can, but concentrating and remembering everything I've learned can be tricky at times. Also, I hope to enter my first tournament within the next month!

why everyone's comment so pessimistic,,
he's still young dude, c'mon..
i think you should chase your dreams, nothing impossible in this world..
set your goal, how long you want to be IM, and work hard after it..

good luck.. 

Hmmmm......Keep in mind that as you become more advanced, you will be required to work harder and display increased determination and persistence. If you really want the title but don't care for the game, it will be difficult to achieve your goal. If you love the game and keep the goal of becoming IM as secondary, you will be more likely to succeed. It is possible.

Very few players ever becomes IM or GM, based on the huge amount of players training seriously online or in local clubs.

A more realistic goal would be to achieved the title of National Master (NM) of the English Chess Federation (ECF). That would be quite an accomplishment in itself, there are indeed a lot of good club and tournament players in Great Britain and only 12 players in the ECF can claim to have this title. You would have to prove yourself in your own Chess Federation, and that won't come without hard works, talents and lots of tournaments.

''(f) National Master: A player must achieve a standard play A grade of at least 200 in two successive seasons on ECF official grading lists (note – grades must be 12 months apart e.g. July 2012, July 2013).''

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/membership/master-points-system/

Thank you very much! Definitely got me thinking :)

I am 20 and have a rating around 2000, I don't deem IM to be realistic for me but I'd be more than satisfied with the FM title (2300). Just like you I study and play the game every day, however I started playing at the age of 8. The thing is, between my 12th and 17th I didn't study the game much (mostly due to having to spend my time for school) and only since 3 years I study seriously again.

I've always known how to play but only had a few games with my dad and my grandfather throughout my whole life. I started playing on this site last year, at 19. Now I'm 20 and am somewhere around 1,400-1,500. As soon as it feels like a chore to play, just stop. When you're enjoying it you'll soak up information. Also, try not to focus on the numbers but rather learning why something is happening on the board, play chess for chess and nothing else.

Hello JackHogg, It IS possiblle for u to become an International Master in the near future, u just need to find a chess coach and some guys to play who are better than u in chess and play against them. U will lose first 15 or 20 times, but after that u will get the idea of how they play. Pick up some games of some IMs and analyze them, analyze the every move! After ur game improves, just play, play, play. I am 15 years old and in real life i play in my local chess club and have a coach who is an IM (ex champion).

He is a little bit expensive, but I dont just preactice with him, I play online and with other people. I dont like playing online( u can see my rating only 1200) but in the real life i managed to play a draw with a 2100 player ( i dont know how i did it) :P 

GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN :D

As with many things in life, you never know until you go for it.

Time, passion, dedication, and exposure to stronger players can go a long way.

I also started chess quite late, when I was almost 16. I knew the rules since I was 8 or something but I was a total patzer until 16. Now I'm 17, almost 18 and it sometimes feel a bit demoralizing to start so late when some players are already GMs. But I made fast improvements, getting to a 1700-1800 level in less than 2 years. I've also competed in 4 events. Now I have the horribly low rating of 1430. I've got to say I lack concentration during otb games and I'm very underrated for sure. I say that because I got very good positions, some of them winning against strong players and messed them up because of oversights and time trouble. Once I get over this psychological issue I'm sure my rating will jump considerably. I do feel like I have potential to become a strong chess player. Stuff like gm is still far out of reach but I think am FM title is quite achievable. I know that most people think this is impossible to attain for a 17 year old with a 1400ish rating but I feel underrated, with great potential and motivated to work hard and focus otb more. If you think you're well motivated and you're a hardworker, don't give up on your dream. There's a player, Ye Jiangchuan, who is more or less from a newer generation (born in 1960) that learnt the game at 17 and went on to reach 2650! It's not impossible!

Wow Ye Jiangchuan reached GM level in 6 years!. I'd be am GM at 20 if I improved as fast.

Yeah, the guy was in top 25 at his peak, 2684 elo! It's just amazing for a player who started at 17. Of course he had some innate talent too.