GM: Impossible?

So first, let’s start with a short introduction. My name is Aryan, I’m from Pakistan, and I’m on the journey to become a GM. I think that’s enough for now, so let’s talk about the real issue. I live in Pakistan, as I mentioned before, and here I’ve mostly heard one thing repeated: that becoming a GM is impossible…
This really doesn’t feel good to me. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because I want to achieve it, and deep inside, hearing this demotivates me. But it shouldn’t be like that. If people are saying it’s impossible, then all the more reason to go and prove them wrong. But why do people even develop this kind of thinking? That’s the real problem. Think about it if Bobby Fischer had thought that way, he wouldn’t have even played chess, and would anyone know him today? I don’t think so.
Now, there are also some people who don’t say it’s impossible but call it hard. I agree with them, because just because something is difficult doesn’t mean it’s impossible, right?
And those who say it’s impossible also have their own theories about why it is so everyone has their own issues but the point is that every problem has some solution, if you truly try to solve it with heart.
What do you think?
Is becoming a GM really impossible?

Surely not. There are thousands of GMs in the world, how did they do it?

What’s your age? For how long do you play chess?

It’s obviously not impossible. Maybe a better word is infeasible, at least for most. The amount of work and training required to achieve that level of mastery is tremendous.

It’s the reason many GMs are on the younger side and have played for decades (likely since childhood). Most people don’t have the privilege of playing that much chess. We have other hobbies, passions, and have to maintain our livelihoods.

I have been playing chess since 2018. I’ve been playing on and off since and 2500 blitz is the furthest I’ve gone. I have no titles because I don’t have time to play OTB. In the past 7-8 years, I’ve graduated from HS, college, and worked. Maybe I could be better, but it’s not a priority in my life.

I can only speak from my own experiences but becoming a GM isn’t something you check off your bucket list. It’s a lifetime achievement.

GM isn’t impossible, but it’s extremely unlikely. There are more billionaires in the world than there are chess grandmasters. What’s your reason for desiring to become a GM?

The global average rating is in the 600s, so being that rating makes you better than half the chess players in the world. If you get to 1500, then that’s roughly better than 90% of all chess players. On chess.com, high 2000s or low 2100s is the 99.9 percentile. This level is still very far from titled player level when it comes to chess ability. I encourage ambitious chess goals, but it needs to be a goal which is worth it for you and there’s many factors with this. For any serious chess goal, this is a must-read blog post:

https://www.chess.com/blog/KeSetoKaiba/chess-motivation-through-purpose

https://www.chess.com/play/arena/31011323

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Comparing Billionaires to GMs is nonsense, the whole world are playing the money game and it is highly imbalanced. There are alive about 2800 Billionaires worldwide and the U.N record around 8.1 billion People worldwide. There are approximately 1850 alive FIDE GMs and 1640,000 FIDE Players. The ratios are roughly 1:886 (GM:Non-GM) and 1:2890,000 (Billionaire:Non-Billionaire). Whether you give or take on my quick data check, it is still clear that it is vastly different, 0.11% of FIDE players are GMs and about 0.000035% of People are Billionaires. Billionaire status is 3000+ times rarer than becoming a GM (2890,000/886).

I am 17 years old and I have been playing chess for 6 months.

Your point may be right, but as one brother commented before, comparing billionaires to GMs is not really fair, and he also explained why. Anyway, that is not our topic right now. You asked: why do you want to become a GM?

There is not just one simple answer, but I will try to explain.

The first reason is that I truly love chess. When I first started playing, I liked it immediately. It felt like I had found something that matched my personality. I do not know how to play cricket, and I do not enjoy online games like PUBG at all. But when I played chess, it felt different. As I said before, it felt like I had finally found something that was my type. I still do not know exactly why.

At that time, I did not even know about GMs, IMs, and other titles. I did a little research and then found out about them. After researching more, I discovered that in my country, Pakistan, there has never been a Grandmaster, and even now there is none. I did not like that. It is not that there are no strong chess players here. There are many very good players. The issue is that no one really tries from the heart to become a GM. At least that is how it seems to me. And when you ask them, everyone has their own excuses.

From there I thought that if there is no GM in our country, then I will become one. After that, I slowly started connecting with Pakistani chess groups and players. From most of the people I talked to, I kept hearing the same thing: becoming a GM from Pakistan is impossible. I really did not like that mentality. Why are we setting our own limits? Who said it is impossible? And who can guarantee that?

From that point, my determination became even stronger. I decided that now I will become a GM and prove them wrong. Also, before this, I did not really have a clear purpose in life. Now I feel like I have found one. For now, my purpose is to prove them wrong. Calling something impossible just because it is difficult is nothing but ignorance.

And yes, I also read your post that you linked in the comments. You were completely right there as well. Playing for social status and attention is truly not right. If I talk about myself, social status does not matter to me at all, and I do not need anyone’s attention. I love chess, and I am working hard for my goal. That is enough for me. I am fully happy with this. I am testing my limits and pushing them. I am working on myself and trying to help others as well. That is enough for me. I play chess for my own happiness. I feel more alive when I play. I enjoy it deeply. So now you understand. ❤️♟️

Woohoo. Thanks for keeping the community informed

I don’t know if there are any GM who started playing chess in 17, but maybe there are some. What is for sure is that to reach ANY chess title you just have to play classical OTB tournaments. A LOT of tournaments.

You can start your journey to GM, no problem.

The first step is asking "how to become 1600 OTB"?

Next step is raising the 1600 step two hundred points up, and so on.

Becoming the top rated in Pakistan isn't that hard- so far there are just two IM's from there, and few tournaments are played. But for reaching that target, there are certain requirements- the three main ones being:

1. Work

2. Hard Work

3. More Hard Work.

I’m ready for the work, hard work, and more hard work. I’ll put in the effort to reach GM level.Thanks for the guidance, really appreciate it!❤️

I was just quoting IM Eric Rosen. Okay fine, then you have a better chance of being a panda. As if billionaires was nonsensical enough :D

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_4EGBp9J99o

I'd say quote a GM, but GMs typically think: "Well I was a kid and got good so you need to do what I did and be a smart kid." Its like bad parents saying: "Well I was beat as a kid and I turned out strong, so that must be the best way to raise a kid". GMs are not aware of the large amounts of micro-knowledge they have unconciously absorbed through superior amounts of experience, they don't know why they are good, they just grinded for 20 years.

Think about the training that the Polgars provided to their three daughters. From 6 to 8 hours of training per day, with three different GMs teaching the opening, middlegame, and endgame. With this training, along with playing in OTB tournaments, two of the sisters reached the GM level. How long did it take? You can check their bios for the exact number, but I seem to recall that it was at least 7 or 8 years.

Such focused training is much more effective and efficient than what most players try to do on their own.

So, can the OP achieve the GM title? Perhaps, but not likely.

Not every GM were raised like the Polgars, if we look at other GMs such as Yuri Shabanov, Larry Kaufman, and Nikolai Shalnev, they reached GM in their 60s and 50s. So we know the OP has time, we also have many Engines, AI and GM books / courses available these days to make self-learning much easier, so cost shouldn't be too much of an issue until getting closer and needing certain tools. Finally if we use the Polgar example, 8 hrs/day = 8 years, we can optionally scale 4 hours/day = 16 years, 12hrs/day = 5.3 years, 16hrs/day = 4 years. This seems very realistic, but also shows speed increases when throwing in heavier days of study, but consistency is key. 8hrs*7days in a week=56, 56hrs*52wks=2912hrs, 2912*8yrs=23,296hrs. Considering Kasparov as World Champion is often cited on Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule research for mastering a skill, Grit requirement of 10-20k hours sounds exactly as expected.

edited moderator AndrewSmith 

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Almost any adult player can reach master level and some title, with enough time and dedication. But titles like GM are only ever achieved by people who started playing chess when they were very very young. It’s not an impossibility, just statistically astronomically unlikely