PardonMyBlunders wrote:
well the OP is certainly FAR from being good. In fact, he is close to mediocre.
The OP was clearly asking in order to see how long the road ahead of him is.
How long did it take you to get "good"
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I don't know what my actual rating is. On Lichess my rating is some where between 1600-1700, but on here it's a lot lower. I think the reason why it's so much lower on here is because when you play people that are rated "1100 -1300,"(on chess.com) most of the time you're playing people that really represent a higher rating than what it "shows." I guarantee you that most of the people that I've lost to that are shown as "1200's" are in fact at least 200-300 points higher than that. So, with that being said, I've played chess "casually" for maybe 2 years total (if you even want to call it that) and like I said I'm pretty much stuck at 1600 even though I have beaten people over 1900 rated before. So, honestly, I don't know what my true rating is. Also, you can make dumb mistakes or not catch things that other people catch sometimes and blunder a minor piece easily. Sure, chess seems fun when you first start out and get a little experience, but after that it's more of a pain in the ass to learn as a whole in general honestly. If I would have known that it soaks up this much time to actually get "good" at this game, I would have never even touched the game in the first place. If your definition of good is becoming an IM or eventually GM, then you're definitely NOT going to get there being just a casual player. You can just forget it. Most of these people, just like other things in life, have been playing since they were below the age of 10 and they have kept up with it their entire life too. To get good at chess, you need to evaluate certain things in your life. The first thing you need to evaluate is to truly understand what it's going to take to get to a certain level. Then, after that I'd say once you realize what it takes, ask yourself if chess really means that much to you. Then once you do these 2 things, I'd say either you're still young enough to do it to where you have hardly any obligations besides just wanting to study chess, or you're literally doing nothing but working and playing chess...... either way is not an easy road. I'm probably going to quit chess honestly because I don't have the "go all in" mentality to devote every second of my life to this game. Honestly, "good" to me would be to become a GM at least, but to get there saying that it takes a "life's dedication" is possibly even an understatement in and of itself. You need to be at your tip top health too to become good at chess. Just like with anything in life you need to be in good health, but chess definitely is NOT an exception to this. I would say your health is definitely more important with chess than it is with a lot of other things. If you can't even focus properly or have a lot of distractions then even that can hinder your progress astronomically. I'm definitely not the person to answer what it takes to get good at chess, but I can attest to at least being the one to show beginner chess players that it's definitely not a walk in the park. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, because I honestly love the game of chess as a whole. Seriously though, trust me when I say that if you don't have an absolute love, and when I say love I'm not messing around at all, I mean absolute LOVE for the game to devote your life to it, at the age of 18-26 just getting into chess, trying to go some where with it, you might as well just forget it.....Now with that being said, if someone had nothing BUT absolute love and passion for the game and wanted to dedicate their life to the game then I'd say by all means go for it. I'm basically just trying to speak for all of the people that think they can casually get to a "good" level in a matter of a few years because it's not happening. I mostly typed out this message for beginner chess players to let them know what they're getting into or to "sort of" put it into perspective. So far after roughly 2 years of play, I've adequately learned for white the : Ponziani opening/ Scotch Gambit, and Ruy Lopez as white. With black against e4 my favorite is the Sicilian but there are different variations to the Sicilian. For black against d4 I have tried the Slav defense, Queens Indian defense, and the Nimzo Indian defense. I'm still not good at end play but I consider myself an aggressive player that has tunnel vision and loses a lot. Definitely lose a lot more than I win. I have about 2500-3000 games under my belt and it was fun at first but now it's honestly just a pain in the ass. It's a rabbit hole that I really don't have the time to go down nor do I want to honestly. I'm 28, I probably started "playing" chess if you even want to call it that at 25ish-26 years old. Chess is brutal, let me just tell you that. Kasparov didn't say that chess is mental torture for no reason. You also might be wondering how all of these young players can get so good at chess, it's because they live and breathe chess along with doing hours and hours of studying with an instructor or coach at their side. They're level of involvement is HUGE..... and being just a casual player playing online a few times a week isn't going to cut it..... I'm sorry, but nope. Not even close. To get "good" you have to get serious and you have to either have a passion or just simply an arrogant bloodlust to want to study the game just for the sake of wanting to be "good." I also just wanted to state that a lot of the time people are way too hard on themselves especially when they get into chess at an older age as far as not being "good" enough. I don't think these people truly understand just how much energy it's going to take for them. Stop beating yourself up so much, chess isn't the hardest board game to ever exist for no reason. It's also completely understandable to not have the drive to grind out the serious amount of hours needed to go somewhere with this game and also at the same time expect to live a "normal" day to day routine based life. The level of energy and focus required to do that while also expecting to progress at an exceptional level is bordering insanity in the very least if you didn't start playing chess below the age of 18. Honestly, I don't understand how someone wouldn't go insane while trying to study chess and also living a normal life, working a normal job, etc.......I'd rather devote my time to playing the piano honestly but that's just me though. At least with playing the piano, it's actually healthy if you have a family to raise for them at least. With chess, you're probably going to be locked up in a room by yourself for hours and hours while also trying to salvage the most information out of whatever coach you have that you also have to pay as well. All of that to maybe say that you're 2100 rated in 6 - 7 years............or however long it takes to get to that level. I don't know though, for me, I'm a put all of my eggs in a basket type of person. If I was going to try to achieve anything in chess, I would devote my life to becoming a GM. That's just me though, and I know how ridiculously hard it is too or at least a low level knowledge of how ridiculously hard it would be for especially for starting chess at the age of 25 years old.
Wow. Have you ever heard of paragraphs?
no, i dont thunk he has
☝️ what’s with calling everyone names?
PardonMyBlunders wrote:
What names? I said his rating was sorry and lame. Momma dropped you on your head as a child, reading is difficult for you?
Lol PardonMyBlunders more like pardon your manners!
Ten years later I still suck
SmyslovFan wrote:
Wow. Have you ever heard of paragraphs?
Nope. Never. Just wanted to end this once and for all. It's pretty simple mathematics really. Chess is hard and unless you have the means to do nothing but study chess all of your life then you're going no where with it. I think that should pretty much sum everything up.
Either you put time into chess and get good or you put average time into chess and suck your entire life. I'm just being honest..... There is no point in playing casually for me any longer. I'm just going to get destroyed unless I give my life to this game. Hopefully this puts it into perspective for future readers.
Even Fischer wasn't the greatest when he first started out. He had to give his LIFE to the game to achieve what he did. Now, I'm not saying that he didn't possess more than an average intelligence or knowledge of the game because honestly it was way above average. Even then though, someone at his level of capability should showcase just how truly grueling chess really is. Fischer ended up hating chess. He said it best when he stated that the only thing that matters in chess are good moves. Just because a person has logic and creativity though doesn't mean that he/she is automatically going to be able to apply it to create a great piece of music, art, etc........ it doesn't work like that. You have to absorb yourself and bathe in whatever subject you want to excel at. If you're even thinking of trying to get good by playing casually then that proves to me that you don't possess the necessary passion for the game that a person would need to possess. If you don't love chess then you're just going to be mediocre at it, being able to beat pretty much everyone in your city, but in reality, you're absolute trash compared to everyone else. That's just the God honest truth. Also, when I say trash, I mean that in the most non-offensive way possible. This isn't some kind of joke. Either you love chess or you don't. It's as simple as that. Obviously if you absolutely love the game and want to do nothing but play chess then chances are, that you're probably going to rise in skill a lot more than most players because you have the desire to sacrifice everything to become good.
With that being said. I don't think that anything a person truly wants to get good at should feel like a chore to them. I hate to say it though but most of the people reading this right now it probably comes to a point to where it ends up feeling more like a chore than an actual passion. If you don't have that passion and truly love the game devoting your life to it then you're going no where. I love the game of chess, but I don't love it enough to where I can devote my entire being into it. That's just the God honest truth. Now, I think that people can change though. I think that people can start out hating chess but truly also simultaneously loving it enough to where it becomes their life mission to achieve a goal. I think that a love/hate relationship is possible but it's going to have to be more love than hate is what I'm saying........
I've been playing for nearly five years now, I just cracked 1800.
PardonMyBlunders wrote:
What names? I said his rating was sorry and lame. Momma dropped you on your head as a child, reading is difficult for you?
Do you have nothing better to do than to bash other people over the internet? Why don't you become a GM if you're THAT passionate about chess to where you do nothing but call people names. You're honestly pathetic. You can quote me on that too. Get off of your ass and do something about it. All you're doing is showcasing your frustration with how much you can't stand being at the level that you're at. So, you feel it is necessary to compensate for this by bashing other people over the internet. You will never become anything in chess!!!! Deal with it! Prove us wrong then!!! Don't showcase your weakness though by bashing other people!!! You're pathetic!!!! YOU ARE PATHETIC!!! DEAL WITH IT! What are YOU going to do about that??? Let me guess? You're going to whine and cry like the pathetic weasel that you really are???? Get out of our faces with that ridiculous nonsense. People like you make me sick. No wonder you are going no where in Chess. At least I can admit that I will go no where with this game. You're just bashing other people out of pure arrogance. It shows so much to everyone too. I feel sorry for you honestly. If that doesn't offend you then maybe you don't care about chess as much as you thought you did.
I've come to the conclusion that I'll never get good at chess.
I'll settle for being half-assed at it.
blueemu wrote:
+1 but there's always someone who want to be as good as you... or vice versa... if you become better than him , doesn't that mean you're getting good @ this game?
I've come to the conclusion that I'll never get good at chess.
I'll settle for being half-assed at it.
if I do become a good player, I’ll let you know
I won my high school chess championship but we didn't play games, etc. I was in my mid-20's when I began playing OTB rated tournaments and it took me two years to begin winning more in 5-round Swiss tournaments than I lost. In my 30's I didn't have time for chess, first as an industrial research chemist then a teacher.
In my 40's I, a teacher, founded and coached a high school chess club and team and began to look more seriously at how to improve: tactics, tactics, tactics, plus a basic understanding of opening principles, strategy, and endgame principles. Our team won three consecutive County Championship and took home the State Scholastic Tournament's 3rd, 4th, and 5th place team trophies in those years, so the learning strategy worked! It also helped me become a 1600 OTB player.
I drifted away from chess after I retired from teaching then, in 2016 at age 66, came back to it as a way of keeping my mind sharp in retirement.
Discovering today's online Tactics Trainers, Videos at chess.com and YouTube, ability to play or discuss chess with others, training programs, etc. was like being transported into the future onto the Starship Enterprise. I took advantage of it and in the past two years have become a better player than ever.
I'm at about 35 years. Since I seem to be getting worse... I'm not sure I'm on a trajectory to ever get "good"