HELP ME MAKE A LIFE DECISION

whats do you do in research anyway?? what is a research job??

well if you serious about making money and have serious job you always have little time for chess i would think unless you are your own boss and even then time might still be short.

Research, I graduated in Physics, I get money to research, still few money as I newbie, in fact is a grant but after doctorated your salary duplicates

sounds interesting, what do you have to do so they hire you??

summarizing, have good marks.

Commonly, They will also make you an interview but that's not very important

tetsuo, that is a good point. it is something i myself have been thinking about.

if i go into the corporate world at the age of 34, and want to work, then they will want to know what i have been doing. so here's the point. for the last three years i have been unemployed. now i am looking to join grad school again, get a PhD and probably get a post-doc position. don't know if this is realistic.

the other option is to get a software job. there are hundreds of companies who will hire me. mostly startups.

in an interview, bobby fischer was asked " is chess a gift? could a guy who doesnt have a gift for it learn to be a great chess player? "

his answer was " great? no...he could be good though-"

I'm not trolling, this is a serious answer.

And just so I understand it correctly: You are deciding between different career paths so you will be able to become a great chess player.  By great, you mean 1700-1900.  You are 30 and need to clear this with your parents?  You are asking random and mostly anonymous people on the internet their advice on this?

I'm answering this as seriously as I can.  (but I am a bit confused by all this)

If your only goal is to get to class A (1800-1999) rating, you don't need to worry about school or work or anything.  Just study in your free time.  Study tactics, get a good book, etc.  Make serious time for study and you will get there fine.  That's not a great player by chess standards though, a good class player, but thats a long way off from even being titled as a master, nevermind internationally titled.

If your goal is to be a really great player, (IMO a titled player) then Voldemort is right on the mark.  Most players that reach levels that high devote the majority of their life to chess, or started at a really young age and have a natural talent they were able to foster.  It's a huge time investment.  If you are doing serious research or anything that will tax your mind during the day, trying to also study chess after that will be all the more difficult.  As another person put, it's possible though I'd say improbable that you will become a great chess player if you are trying to do both.

In either case, good luck, but ultimately this should answer your dilemma.  There is NO MONEY in chess unless you are one of the top 1% in the world.  That's a tall order.

In my opinion and limited experience a 9-5 job is a lot easier to plan other things in your life around like chess. You usually have less stress and not bring work home with you, even in your mind. You'd have evenings and weekends free, a stable income (maybe hire a coach to meet with you once a week/every other week/month), and still have the ability to take time off work when you have a tournament to go to. I have a 9-5 job and a few years ago I had plenty of time to do things I wanted to do in the evenings and weekends and low stress. Now I have family, kids, and work a little more, and have started evening classes but like this summer with no evening classes I still have an hour or more to study chess in the evenings and at times several hours or more on the weekends. If you are single, you'll have plenty of time to study and improve your chess game. 9-5 job hands down to me, you can always go back to graduate school in a year or two if you don't like it or change interests and personal goals.

kdl88, no i am not looking for a title. i just want to get to the point where i see all the great nuances of chess and am able to play against almost any opening. this is enough for me.

but why is that more important that the kind of work, the country you will live in, and your entire life style, the money and all that things... you can study chess in your free time... JUST DO NOT TAKE THE DECISION BECAUSE OF THE CHESS FACTOR... it's a hobbie, you will enjoy it anyway

I would say then you can do this without concern for your job/career.  You just have to make time for serious study.

pdela ok, that makes a lot of sense. i guess if i am motivated enough then i will find time anyway.

And this is no to be meant an impediment, but if you want to develop a scientific career (I don't know what you mean with research) something like physics, chemistry, etc... I started my graduate studies at 18 and graduated at 23, consider you could graduate at 35. Then while doing the PhD you are going to be paid low, that's ok if you are in your twenties but I wouldn't say the same for someone in his late thirties, and then it's a kind of lifestyle (no schedules, days doing nothing other weeks tough you have to work till late in the night in a non stop...) that is also thought for young people

* If you want to return to doing research expecting that you will get prizes for your discoveries or get famous and get hired by an Ivy League school, forget about that, it´s not going to happen

* 1900 is not great, so, it should not be a really big deal to get there.

* If you can get a job now... why are you not working? why are you waiting?

I do not know one researcher, and I have met looots... that has chosen to be researcher in order to get famous, who won last Nobel prize in physics?

Who knows, the last one I knew was Feynman

Is just that Mr. OP looks really really confused, I don´t know why he doesn´t get a job If he can do it, even more when he said that he has been 3 years unemployed.

Maybe he dislikes Algeria... To tell you the thruth I don't feel like I'm talking with a 30 years man :S. No offence pretended.

i wish i were young again. this sounds so interesting, no kidding. Man this sounds like a really really interesting lifestyle..

well i also wish i had started chess with 5

6 hours ago · Quote · #2

TortoiseMaximus