Too old to start chess?

Hello,

I'm 24 and I played chess for the very first time 6 months ago and I've been active in chess for only 3 months since then due to my busy condition in the last years.

Still chess have been a very joyful experience for me and I really would like to improve on it, someday.

But there are two things that I'd say that are my major problems regarding chess:

1. My 24 years old
2. My busy life

As to the busy factor it's something I can work out, I guess.

But as to the age I keep thinking to myself "is it possible for someone to start chess art 24 and still be good at it someday"? Isn't chess like piano playing in which one for be successful has to start by the age of, what you think?, 4, 7 years old?

If anyone here have started playing it in an advanced age as I did and is doing well on chess notwithstanding this late starting and would like to share your experience it would be very useful for me.

Or maybe I'm really too old?

Off course the most important thing is to have fun but getting better is part of the fun.

You can always get better--you are young still insofar as capacity to improve goes.

"Success" is a personal goal. You may become a solid tournament player with some effort.

It's not as if anything less than the NM title means failure.

I'm 31 and I play chess--started at the age of 29. I do it for the love of the game, not necessarily for a title or even that many tournament successes. In my opinion, you're never too old to enjoy The Royal Game (or even become good at it)!

If it makes you feel any better, I'm 65 and just rediscovering chess.  Yes, I played several hundred games (badly) as a kid, but I doubt if I played 20 games in the next 50 years.  And yes, time is certainly a consideration, but if I can improve, then anyone can.  As goldendog pointed out, you don't have to become a titled player to enjoy the game.

Can you ever become an IM/GM? Probably not.

Is it impossible for you to become an IM/GM? Absolutely not.

I'm 22. I started playing almost a year ago. I'm delighted with my progress. Listening to the way people talk on here I thought I was going to be stuck on 1200 for 30 years. My goal is to reach expert level (2000+) in a couple of years. I think it's attainable. If it's not....well ok...I'm still having fun

Everybody learns/improves at a different rate. It's not just a case of all kids learn at rate x, all adults learn at rate y. There are some very stupid kids out there, and some very clever adults

I started at 24 as well.  After three years of play, I've just recently reached Class A (USCF).  Discipline and hard work are the only limitations that you need concern yourself with.  Most players (I include myself here) balk at these obstacles long before the handicap of age becomes an issue.

i didn't pick up chess seriously until i was like 26 man.  NOT too old!  never too old!  "too" old is relative, anyhow.  too old to become a GM having just learned the game so late?  yes.  very likely.  too old to have FUN with it though, and make it a very enjoyable, rewarding pastime?  not a chance.  :)

Everyone who is capable of learning the rules can enjoy a game of chess. Everyone will always fall short of perfection. Everyone will always be better than someone else. Unless you want to make a living at chess, or have some other reason that a certain standard would be required, all that matters to make it worthwhile playing is that you are inclined to do so, and have the humility to accept that you are as good as you are (and ideally the wish to get better). So what age you start may have an effect on your potential achievements, but is of no real significance to the question of whether you should play. Also bear in mind that the large majority of people who learn to play chess when they are young end up as unexceptional players. As for ending up as a titled player, only a very small minority of those who learn chess when they are young do so. And an even smaller minority of those who learn chess later. Big deal, you can still aspire to it, and in both cases the odds are you won't achieve it (but you might). Oldest players to achieve the GM title have been around 60, so you have a while to get there.

Now you're just boasting, EZap.

It's a simple question: Do you enjoy playing?

Thanks for your motivational answers folks.

Please keep it coming ;)

i started playing a year an 4 months ago, i'm 25. love it, you're never too old to have fun :)

I love playing, but I love it only with the condition I can get better at it. The fun of chess for me is not actually wining a game but to have the feeling I'm getting better and advancing to higher levels, and I'm not talking about the rating system of this site. I'm talking about my improvemente, my hability to get better, learn tricks and never stop getting better. Even tho I will never be a grandmaster (I don' t even intent to) I do want to have enought skills to win stronger players.

And I think this is the point of chess: to be always improving. Otherwise it would be fun to win 800 ranked people on Live Chess, which is not if you want to beat 1100 and above players.

Oh and I'm sure as long as I reach a decent level I will find people in my city who also shares the love for chess...

Well there you go! I think these observations are shared by millions - and to some extent I believe every single game you play, every single note you read, will result in improvement.

I'm 35 BTW. I've been playing for about a year with an included hiatus of about three months. I'd agree with anyone who said I could improve my game, mind you, but between you, me and the rest of the internetsss, I believe I am.

I like the tension. Somehow it's always there.

Anyways, may the wind always be in your sails :)

Please elaborate; what IS the point of chess if not improvement?

I did,nt start till I was 23, then a chance remark to someone who learned to play in his early teens, I think, and he lent me a book called How to play chess, or some such thing, 6 months later we stopped playing because I kept beating him, he,d never heard of Ruy Lopez etc.

How about enjoyment?

 And the OP stated that he gains enjoyment by improving. Case closed 

if you play enough, i think improvement is a natural biproduct. i guess some folks just make the same exact mistakes 30 times in a row and wonder why they keep losing, but i think most of us say to ourselves, "ah. noted.  in this line, pushing that pawn is NOT good," or whatever have ya. 

even if someone hated piano, i would think it would be impossible not to improve if they play all the time.  just literally unavoidable.

I learnt to play piano after I was 30, had a handful of lessons (all before I had a piano - lol) and from then just played what I liked (without putting much time in), and heard if I liked the sound of it. I am most inclined to play pieces I have enjoyed listening to recordings of. I can confirm that this does result in quite a lot of improvement over a long time (based on occasional complements from others). But there are pieces for piano that I am pretty sure I would never be able to come close to playing regardless of how much time I invested (a bit like I would never get to be a GM by playing chess).