Well, I cheated a little, because it was a kid, not an adult. So yeah, he had time 
I think he was 1800 at the end of the year. I think he's an IM now? I can't remember his name. I'd have to ask some people I know.
And unless I'm mixing him up with someone else, he said that every Thursday or Friday he'd start to get excited... because that meant it was close to Saturday, and every Saturday he spent at the chess club playing in a tournament.
I wouldn't worry too much about how far you can get. Instead, I would set yourself small goals. If you set CM as your goal now, you'll find it takes many years to reach it, and you can get discouraged about how far away it is.
Your current rapid rating is about 1100. So your goal should be to reach 1200. When you get there, the next goal is 1300. You can start to worry about CM if/when you reach 2000.
BTW, at 1100 you're already a lot better than people who know the rules and play an occasional game. At the club or tournament level you're still a pretty small fish, but most of your friends from non-chess circles would already consider you a fairly strong player.
I got that line from an former-Expert who was also arguing that "your brain turns to mush after 60" - but then he turned 70, won a state championship and returned to Expert status (in that order).
The only advantages youth has in this equation are time to get their and unreasonably high expectations (that is, if you think you can get there, you're more likely to get there). As long as you keep working at it, it can be done.
Don't be naive. It's not just a matter of time, expectation, motivation or whatever. Young people, specially children. have way more brain plasticity than adults. I'm not saying this is the only factor, but it's an important factor. Nature is unfair, and we have to act accordingly, not delude ourselves.
Younger people do learn things more easily. That doesn't mean older people can't learn, but it's harder.
... Where do these people get this stuff?
By watching H. R. Pufnstuf?
As long as you spend the right amount of time studying, read a decent amount of books, learn some strategy, memorize lines, and have a good intuition for the game. Honestly, some people can start at 5 and never make it past 1200. Some people start at 20 and become masters. It depends on the person.
As long as you spend the right amount of time studying, read a decent amount of books, learn some strategy, memorize lines, and have a good intuition for the game. Honestly, some people can start at 5 and never make it past 1200. Some people start at 20 and become masters. It depends on the person.
What is the point of responding to a 5-year old post? How did you dig it up anyway? And why?
It can be clearly seen that the guy's "serious studies" were not so serious after all, he's still at 1000 after 5 years.
As long as you spend the right amount of time studying, read a decent amount of books, learn some strategy, memorize lines, and have a good intuition for the game. Honestly, some people can start at 5 and never make it past 1200. Some people start at 20 and become masters. It depends on the person.
What is the point of responding to a 5-year old post? How did you dig it up anyway? And why?
It can be clearly seen that the guy's "serious studies" were not so serious after all, he's still at 1000 after 5 years.
Going to be completely honest. I just wanted the achievement for the first word lol. Found this one and decided to do it.
Chess for all, never too old!
I am currently 19 and started seriously studying chess when I was 18. I saw a similar "is it too late for me?" Post by someone who started learning at 25. He was told that master level play is most likely not possible for him due to the brain being done developing around the mid 20s. Although 18 is a later start than many master level players do I still have a shot?
19 wasn't too late, but now that it is 5 years on from then and your rating is still around 1000, yes it is too late.
To rephrase how far do you think someone of my age could go with consistent study and work
If you're the greatest chess genius who has ever started at age 18, who knows. Probably you could be a pretty strong GM.
I'm not a sports psychologist (or any kind of psychologist lol) but the fact that you're asking this question gives me the feeling you don't have the ideal mindset.
As I said in my first post, the "secret" is you enjoy doing the right kinds of work. And if that were true for you, I don't think you'd be on a forum asking what your max potential is with a 1000 rating and 100 games played.
I knew a guy who bought about 40 chess books and read them all in 1 year. Well, that's not accurate. He read them all in 6 months, then in the next 6 months he read them all again. He went to an OTB tournament every weekend.
Are you going to remember 40 books in 6 months? Hell no. He didn't either. But he just loved to play and loved to learn. That's the sort of obsession/passion you'd need to be the absolute 100% best you can be... and no offense to people who do this, but that's not what a sane, normal, healthy person does. A normal person gives an hour or two a day or chess, at most, because they also have a family, job, other relationships, other interests, etc.
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So if you have a passion, great! I assume everyone on this forum has felt the passion for chess to one degree or another. We can relate. But if you have the sort of extreme passion necessary to be, lets say an IM or GM, you'll be out there living chess to the fullest (heh ) and not in the forum worrying about how good you'll get.
Wow. What a story. Do you know his rating at the beginning of journey and his rating at the end of one year or so? Approximate rating is fine.
And obviously he had enough time to pursue this regimen.