How old can you be, and still be able to improve in chess?

Thanks to all of you! I will continue to play chess which I love to do. If I live tomorrow or not, I have had a wonderful time. I am a woman. Should I spend my last years washing the house? I prefer to play chess, and now I have started to teach my youngest grandchildren this wonderful game. One is interested, the other one does not care...

Teach the one who is interested.  I am sure they will appreciate it later on.

You are young at 55 !  GOOD FOR YOU!!  I am almost 50,  no grandchildren yet but I am teaching my son...he has days he loves chess, other not so much hahahahaha

It was difficult to place a picture at chess.com with a comment - but these ones are learning to play chess

adorable!!!!!

You must be old yourself and bitter about it, huh???

It's a bit like the question 'can you teach an old dog new tricks'? Well. in my opinion, it all depends on the 'old dog'. Cognitive abilities will inevitably decrease with age but a positive mental attitude will always facilitate the ability to learn. As we say in England, 'the show ain't over until the fat lady sings'. Keep going and most importantly, enjoy your chess. 

By the way, I'm a 60 y.o. man and I find doing the daily puzzle and my daily tactics trainer keeps me sharp. 

Thanks, @briansladovich. We have an old dog (labrador) - and she learn all the time, even when she now is nearly 8 years of age. And I have now realised that I have the same ability to learn and improve - even if my goals are not very high. But I love it!

Why does anyone bother responding to Bishod, when it's obvious he's just pulling your chain?

Define "improve."


Almost any one at any age who hasn't seriously studied chess can raise their level of play by a class or maybe two through coaching and hard effort. This is because if one hasn't studied chess seriously, then one is going to be a lower class player and lower class players can improve a statistically significant amount through the elimination of bad habits and the accumulation of good habits. As well as through gaining an understanding of general advice around common chess positional questions. 

But for players who have studied chess seriously, all available evidence strongly suggests that statistically significant improvement is more or less impossible past the mid-20s. 

This observation also aligns to the biological fact that the brain's prefrontal cortex reaches mature development in that age range. 

People who claim otherwise are either selling snake-oil or are unfamiliar with cognitive psychology and neuro-cognition research.

106

Ridiculous. As long as you can learn you can get better at chess. The older you get the less material you can absorb at once, but great gains can still be made anyways. Enjoy the game and keep playing. 

So your telling me on the job training past the mid 20's is impossible because cognitive psychology says so? I am skeptical at this statistic. The information I learned is that peak creativity and learning speed is in the late 20's and learning past then takes more time and people cannot be as creative as their "peak" which still doesn't mean people can't come close to it. They just have less to work with. 

I agree with Kingpatzer above, but one better: you don't even need coaching to improve a class or two if you start from a low level. Read a few good books, play over GM games, but mainly PLAY. The slower the time control, the better. The stronger the opponent, the better - but with the caveat that playing much over one class (200 points) will show diminishing returns because you won't understand quite why you lost in some games.

Experience is the best teacher, add some "review of the tapes" by going over your games later to find mistakes  ways to improve.. Resolve to avoid making the same mistakes over & over.

Can you start at 70 & become a master or a Grandmaster? The first may be possible, but I don't know of anyone who did. The second is a pipe dream. But the great thing about chess is you can get great enjoyment from it no matter what level you are.

And remember the main rule always: it's a game; it's supposed to be fun! Don't ruin your enjoyment by working too hard or worrying about rating.

All depends on how good you were when you were younger. if you were already peaked then no, you won't get any better.

If you just barely knew how the pieces moved then yes, you can still improve. 

The chess landscape changes over time.  I played in the early 2000s then didn't play much for 15 years.  The landscape is very different today.  Now you can know the theory of any opening just by Stockfish analysis.  Even weak players know all the tricks in the opening.  Online play is trending towards blitz and bullet.  Of course you will never as an older player be the best in blitz and bullet categories however I am ever surprised at how "aging" GMS still put in good performances at Blitz, even wining but they were already world class at younger age. Still I think that the blitz and bullet trend is the one that will most prevent aspiring players from ever becoming good because at most levels those games are just comedies of errors.  yes even at the IM or GM level.

Yes as it will be for you too.

You go around spouting off stuff like that, she might very well have more time on this earth than you!