I just started playing this year at the age of 30, is it too late to get good?

Yes, you can become a supergrandmaster within a couple weeks.

Young players pick up patterns and become familiar with the geometry of the chessboard without even noticing it, even if they play crap.

There's something to this, of course. Young brains do imprint new material with amazing ease.

That said, we don't fully know the learning potential of mature humans. I would submit that no small advantage of the young are the large blocks of free time they have for focused development. Adults with careers, relationships, and family -- not so much.

Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers explains that the time it takes to achieve serious mastery in any field is about 10,000 hours. That's basic mastery, not world champion level.

It's a respectable amount of time -- five years of 40-hour weeks. People who get good at chess are people who have spent thousands of hours pressing hard to get better, not just doing what they have already done.

I think getting to expert or master level is doable for quite a lot of people with the requisite effort. Grandmaster, though, I suspect requires some big talent.

I started  at 30 and now im 41 and i am uscf rated over 1800 i am a member at the San Antonio Chess Club and i am one of the best chess players in the city. I have beaten some experts and masters in real tournaments, although i started playing at 30 i am living proof that you are never too old to learn how play chess and get better at it.

Are you sure you are 1800 ?

http://main.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlMain.php?14221033

I guess it is a matter of belief. I think it is correct to state that something is impossible until proven otherwise. I don't believe it is possible for someone that start playing chess at the age of 30 to become world champion, but I would love to be proven wrong.

I started playing seriously at age 25.  At age 42 I hit 1849, I am currently 44 and hope to continue improving.

http://www.uschess.org/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,181/

Okay...I can't get the link to work, but I'm Hector Perez in Mass.

Hector's rating graph is here. Indeed we see his admirable advancement from 1091 to 1850 over a 19-year period.

I suspect there are plenty of older players who have gotten better steadily with persistent effort. I believe the secret is a serious study program addressing all one's weaknesses if one wishes to conquer 2000 or even 1800.

no

Another reason it's easier to start in childhood is that children have more time and fewer responsibilities. Josh Waitzken at 9 had a great advantage over a 30 yr. old adult with family and job responsibilites to take up time.

Strong amateur standard, say 2000-2200, of course, if you're prepared to put a bit of work in. Pro level, probably not. But then again, hardly anyone gets there anyway, regardless of how early they started. So from that point of view, it's not really a handicap.

Hector proves people can get strong as adults, what's more, as other people have pointed out Hector had a job and other adult responsibilities. Imagine if he had 5 or 6 hours to spend on chess per day instead of maybe 1. Then instead of the rating advancement taking 19 years, it would have taken 3.

The reason higher rated players who started as adults seem rare, is not because they can't, it's only because it's rare to begin with for someone as an adult to suddenly decide to take up chess for the first time. How many adults would suddenly say "Hm, I wonder what that chess game is like, maybe I should start spending hours per day studying it." That's just not something that would occur to someone as an adult who has never previously played or had anything to do with chess.

Here's the thing.  Will you ever be a prodigy like Magnus Carlsen or Garry Kasparov starting chess at 30 years of age?  Absolutely not!

However, that doesn't mean you can't be really strong and amongst the top players in your area.

I was 8 when I learned how to play, and only played during recess at school when it rained.  By the time I hit Middle School, when recess didn't exist, I didn't play at all, though I did know the rules.

I picked up my first chess book in the fall of 1995 when I was 20, played in my first tournament in June 1996 at 21, and was almost 22 (March 1997) when I started playing regularly, about 18 years later than when most prodigies begin, and I'm over 2100, and figuring I'll probably hit master somewhere around age 40 or so.  Will I ever be like Kasparov?  Absolutely NOT!  But 2300 or 2400 isn't out of the question.  You have to put in the work though.  You can't figure 15 minutes a week and 10 tournament games a year if you want to be that good.  I've played 2150 rated tournament games in the last 16 1/2 years, if that gives you some idea of what you are in for! 

I started chess even later in life than you. (You lucky b****rd, how I envy you. )

I play chess only for enjoyment. I play chess when I feel like it; I don't study nearly enough; Lately, it seems most of my chess reading is for pleasure. I don't care what my ultimate rating will be, and I don't think I'll regret the time invested if I don't reach a certain rating.

But if someone decides to make a chore out of it, I guess I could understand if he's disappointed with his results down the road.

I'm going to jump back in here: His eventual Rating will also be dependent on one other factor people keep forgetting to mention: MONEY!!! Every tournament he enters is going to have an entry fee. Depending upon his financial situation the number of tournaments he can enter each year may be impacted by his financial situation.

So here is a recap of factors that will impact any rating goal he might achieve:

Marital Status: If he is SINGLE he will not have as many family responsibilities as someone who is MARRIED.

Type of job he holds (assuming he is Employed): If he has 9-5 40 hr/wk job that has few demands, he will have less responsibilities, than a highly demanding job that while it might assume a 40 hr /wk often times is in reality is a 60 - 70 hr /wk job (I know this from first hand experience -- been there; done that).

MONEY ($$$): Money is a big factor. If he is chasing a rating the number of tournamnts in his local may be limited, and he may have to travel to play in some tournaments. Besides the Entry Fee, you can  now add travel expenses to and from the tournament, food, and lodging. He could easily blow $300 -$500 to play in a 3 - 4 day tournament if he has to travel to the tournamnet.

FREE TIME: Finally it all boils down to the amount of Free Time he can spend in STUDY, and Time needed to chase after the Golden Rating.

Thus if he is a single 30 y.o. male who comes from an affluent family, or who works at a job that pays well, with  few demands, and he might be able to hire a chess coach, his potential rating is likely to rise faster than a 30 y.o. MARRIED man with 2 -3 children, and even with his wife working, their combined incomes leave precious little money left over for something as frivilous as entering into a chess tournament, and most of his free time is spent helping children with homework, house repairs, etc. etc.

In short there are a lot of factors that will play an important decsion as to how high he eventual rating will climb. He will need -- based upon my 84 y.o. student's expereience -- to log about between 30-60 tournaments to achieve a Class "C" rating. If he plays only in local tournaments -- within driving distance of his home -- depending  on the size of his town you are talking about  maybe 3-6  tournaments  per year, thus it could well take him 5-10 years just  to achieve a solid Class "C" rating. Every Class then get progressively  more difficult to achieve. Ultimately, depending on the amount of time he can spend in concentrated study, and his finacial situation to pursue a rating, while the sky is the limit  as far a potential rating, a more realistic and achievable rating is likely going to be in the mid to upper 1500's on the low side to the mid 1600's to low 1800's (Class "B" to Class "A" ) on the upper side. In short he could turn into an excellent "Club" rated player... a goal many  chess players  NEVER achieve, but I  suspect he will. It just may take him literally a lifetime to achieve it, if he is already 30.

Ditto.

azbobcat: Quite right! In addition to talent and study, there are practical constraints -- time, money and opportunity -- to building a high USCF rating.

BTW, thanks for your comment the other day about "Playing Smart" in USCF tournaments, i.e. avoiding tournaments and sections with lots of scholastic players. Sounds like you've been around the block a few times.

I started a topic on Rating Deflation last week. No one responded. Would you mind if I quoted your "black hole" paragraph in that topic?

Never too late to improve, I am in my 60's and still improving (I hope).

One thing is for certain: if you absolutely think you can never reach top level as a player, then you never will. 

Everyone on here that says never - take it with a grain of salt.  Things are always possible. 

If you were born with no legs and asked the question, "will I ever beat Carl Lewis in the long jump??" ...then the people on here can say emphatically NO.

I know a player who started playing chess at 35 (50 now) and plays around1750 strength. He does not study aside from chess puzzles, but plays decent players. It is possible to become better than average, although the chances of getting higher than class A is slim.

At any age - you will be able to find so many opponents near your skill level, especially at this site.   The game is designed to be playable at all levels - so have fun - be as good as you can be.