Goal of Becoming a 2200 player.

I'm curious; why is that your goal and how does it fit in with other aspects of your life? For what it's worth I think it is theoretically possible, but a lot depends on the answer to the above as to whether it is practical or sensible to aim for it in your individual circumstances.

You can't possibly know that. I play online simply because I'm too old now for OTB - I just can't cope any more with a 3 or 4 hour playing session, my brain starts shutting down after about two and a half hours.

I can assure you, this does not mean that I "cannot play chess".

Considering you cant follow simple directions:

"Please, only make a comment if it is Positive or speak in a Reality way but Respectfully. Thanks"

Im not surprised, your rating is where its at.  

O.P. probably have a lot of free time, but realistically speaking if you are now ~1000 rated which is a beginner player who knows rules and have some experience with the game  i would say unless you spend really a lot of time and invest in private coaches and really show great interest and improvement in ~5 years you could get to expert level with serious work which is very unlikely to happen.

Perhaps you will be good for reaching 1600 level which is around average and you can no longer say you suck at chess badly to friends etc.

There are some members here around that age and even 40+ who started at 1300~ level and for some years have private coaches and are very active tournament player and yet they are nowhere near  2000 level.

Muhaha.

First learn to laugh baby.

I have tried that program and I think it is absolutely phenominal.

It has a heavy workload, but if you are willing to do it and apply it you should be able to get serious (positive) results (in my opinion.

I think national master (strength - if not rating) is possible, though it will probably take more than 1 year.

Hes 16-0! Hes the best!

Take my coaching for $5

I don't think that is how it works.

Yes I think you work from smaller goals to reach a big one. Personally I just achieved my goal this year to reach over 1600 USCF. My goal next year will be to reach 1700 USCF. I'm guessing from there my goals will be smaller as the workload for improvement to class A is going to take more time and as a family man, my time is rather limited, especially when it comes to OTB play. But you work with what you can manage, set small goals on a weekly/monthly/ yearly basis and then try to achieve them. That's how I approach my chess studies anyway.

Hehehe! And after all that you'd be a Master of something that is, after all, just a game! 

It will take a lot of work, but i won't say it is impossible I am 55 and Rated 1943 OTB and i can tell you 2000 is a tough one to break but i feel very confident that i will break it in the next few Tourn. but as some people have said set small goals and be happy with the gains just don't let anyone tell you it is impossible, they told me i would never bench press 300 pounds at my age but i have after some serious work in the gym. i love it when people tell me i can't.

ouch

I think most people here just want you to think about what you are trying to accomplish. Your 34 years old, and are barely a beginner at chess. You just enrolled in a chess program, and you have the desire to become a National Master. It's possible, but the road will be long and it will only come after much perseverance. If you don't have much time for chess, then it might not be an endevour that will be met in lets say 10 years. It might take 20. It can be done in 5, but that is only done with a lot of instruction from a coach, and I do not think you will get that from an online program. Maybe you can, I don't know. I'm not trying to diss an online program I know nothing about. I myself used to be in the Prodigy program on chess.com. It's more expensive, but you get live sessions with masters, along with a game with a master every month, two games of yours analyzed by a master, and homework that goes along with the live lessons for the month to further instill what you have learned. Your also told to buy some books for study at home, that go along with the course. Theory books, and an endgame book. In the homework it sometimes tells you to read certain parts of that theory book.

You learn most by analyzing your own games and taking them to a stronger player to look at. A close substitute is to take them to stock fish, but I'm sure taking them to a stronger player is far better than anything stockfish can give you, but that is my opinion.

I would say that the best way to get your games analyzed by a stronger player is to pay for a chess coach to do it. You can however, at your own risk of course, ignore that and take them to stockfish, however, I would believe you'd be making a mistake.

In a nutshell, It's possible, but, your probably going to need a coach, as I do not think they analyze your games for you in that chess program you signed up for. If they do tell me so I can sign up for it! :P

If you enjoy chess, that is the best thing. Improving at chess substantially is a slog because often as soon as your grade goes up it comes back down again because you have to keep improving in order to beat the stronger players. The need to improve becomes constant, the process repeats itself over years and years and as an adult can be frustrating, losing loads and hitting long rating plateaus. Therefore your best hope is to develop a love for the game, enjoy chess for the sake of it and then see where you end up. It doesn't matter what your grade is. There is always a ceiling to be pushed and somebody stronger.

Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions.the good news is that at least I am single and even though I have a full time job I still have a lot of free time. I will make smaller goals just work towards getting rating 1300, 1600, and ECT. Just a quick question though, about how many tournaments will I need to play?

This may seem like a non-answer but "as many as it takes".  You'll probably need to play at least 40-50 rated games per year to make any kind of progress though.

Perhaps of interest:

https://www.chess.com/article/view/can-anyone-be-an-im-or-gm

Tournament play will depend on your performance. I would start tournament play immediately if you haven't yet, and then play as often as you are able to. You don't have to go to big events necessarily, depending on your location there could be cheaper local events in your area. One way to see if to either check the listings in the monthly Chess Life magazines, check with your State Chess association, or if you have a local chess club that hosts tournaments you can check with them. Or host your own! It's not hard to do really, nor does it have to be expensive. A friend runs tournaments through out the year at a local library and the cost is just paying the USCF fee to rate the games- $10 or less at most. You'll have to register with the USCF as a club tournament director first which means you have to read the USCF tournament rule book ($20 on Amazon) first then notify them you have. Again, not hard.

Either way I encourage you to start tournament play soon and hope you reach your goals. Study hard!