Road to Grandmaster

Hello Chess.com,

My name's Will Taylor, and I'm a 21 year old UK student who is aiming to progress from a class A chess player to a Grandmaster.  I have set up a website - http://roadtograndmaster.com - to document my progress.  I'd be interested to hear anyone's thoughts on the project or the website, and to learn about any precedents you may know of (i.e. people who are as relatively old and weak as I am, who have gone on to become GMs).

Will

good luck!

Good luck, becoming a grandmaster is a big deal, i hope you make it.

How long have you been playing? Doesn't BCF 152 translate to something like 1816 FIDE?

Interesting.

@RoadtoGM: Challenge question: How are you seriously planning to earn your GM norms while keeping your current concerns intact (college, girlfriend, hobbies)?

You are aware that it will take a lot of effort to become a GM, probably more than what you will exert to graduate with your joint majors in Physics and Chemistry, right? At least you do not have to compete with PhD holders!

I personally think a grandmaster is equivalent to a phd. Good luck for your endeavour, what's your current ELO?

I think (ECF*8) + 650 is the usual formula, giving 1866.  I've been playing seriously for quite a while, around 9 years, but I have never tried a regular and systematic study plan - much of my chess time has just been playing online bullet or casually following GM games.

@kinderchocolate - I don't have a FIDE rating, but see calculation above for what my ECF grade equates to.

@chessroboto - Earning GM norms is not the current concern.  At the moment the aim is simply to increase my strength, and we will see about the norms later (I can't imagine I'll still be at university then).  I am aiming to get to quite a few weekend tournaments this year, as well as playing local league games, so I should be able to get in plenty of competitive games - we will see how taking off at weekends affects the studies.  Yes, I fully expect it to take more effort than my degree, but equally I am giving myself longer to do it in - I've got two more years at university, but do not expect to get the GM title for at least ten.

@everyoneelse Thanks for the good luck wishes.

for what its worth, I'm in a similiar boat: 170ecf, 23, studying philosophy.

I however, have long given up the idea of becoming a gm, Being only 150 at 21 puts you at a huge disadvantage .... FIDE master (my aim) is most certainly possible, IM might be...but gm?

In anycase, its a nice blog, and good luck.

It has been done - I don't know how old he was, but Tony Kosten was nothing special when he joined the tournament circuit, and did in fact become a grandmaster.  But Tony had a great capacity for work, and talent, which cannot be learned.  If you've got the talent, I hope you make it.  If you haven't, you won't.

Here we go again about "talent." There were a couple of recent threads here that discussed just that.

I believe most people can become GM, if they really want to. I think every you guys talk to much about unleranable talent, and forget the ability to work hard, and to want it. A classic exeampel on this, is the Polgar sisters.
I think that all that 'you have to learn chess when your 3 years old, and you have to be 1900 elo at the age of 12' is nonsens. Maby you need much talent to become world champion, but i dont think that much talent is needed to become a 2500 elo GM. Remember, his goal is to become GM, not to achieve 2700 elo.

Nice blog, but i one thing i dont like about it, is that Chess Flash boards you use to show games. Its very small, and i dont like the design and the way the pieces move.

Anyways, good luck! :)

You are funny Simon. If this guy becomes a GM, it will be a remarkable result deserved to be mentioned in media, books, newspapers and everywhere else. Most people play and study chess their whole lives and NEVER come close to becoming a GM. You need to have time to study and financial resources to work with a coach on regular bases, play in tournaments etc etc. So unless it's your full time committment I don't believe one can become a GM or even an IM

I liked the charts on your blog. I do think however, that it is a tad ambitious of a goal. I would suggest following the career of FM Erik Kislik. I played him once when he was 1900, he was a typicaly talented, scholastic player. He moved to Budapest in his dedication to pursue the GM title, as of yet he has not suceeded. I think he might if he keeps at it, but that should give you an idea of what you are really up against, not to mention the distractions that working world will put on you soon enough.

Exactly. Unless the OP is the greatest genius the chess world has ever seen, and/or has the time to study for 12+ hours a day it's a completely unrealistic goal. 

Compare the millions of PhDs with just over 1000 grandmasters in the world to see how terribly wrong you are.

@IMCheap: Would you please enlighten us with the Economies of Scale of being a chess Grandmaster versus holding an academic PhD degree?

 Agreed. Starting from 1866, I think that (with almost full time study) aiming for CM level (2200) might be realistic but even that will be tough. GM and PhD are not comparable goals: one does not have to compete head to head with other PhD candidates to obtain one. If you and your equally talented colleague fulfill the course requirements and pass the viva voce, you will both be awarded your doctorates. Swiss-style chess tournamets, where GM and IM norms are gained, are a zero-sum game.

Thanks.  As is perhaps obvious from the existence of my blog, I incline more towards this view than to some of the others expressed.  I agree with you about the Chess Flash boards, and am looking into alternatives.

@IMCheap I don't think that's a valid point, when you take into consideration the number of people who have studied for PhDs, and the number of people who have seriously tried to become GMs.

I disagree.

The thesis and dissertation process involves presenting it to a panel of PhD holders for deliberation. That is the equivalent of facing GMs over the board for the norms.

Seriously, that aiming for GM is completely unrealistic isn't a view that's just been plucked out of thin air, it's just reality. You may as well have said you want to play football for Barcelona or something.