haha, i just understood that 

it's not a fact. it probably could be done. it's just that it's not really feasible or practical. you'd have to be independently wealthy, no social/family obligations, hire someone to work with and spend the next 7-10 years of life immersed in chess. 

150 or above probably is a little high in my opinion. at least 130 or so is a much more realistic estimation.

I don't really think so. there's no money in chess. if there were, you probably would see a doubling or tripling of the number of IMs and GMs.

in terms of this "effort" factor or time spent studying/training, I don't think it matters if someone has an iq of 200, they would still have to spend a considerable amount of time studying/training, years. 

take this quote for example from GM John Nunn. "it is not possible to understand the essentials of rook endgames without months of study". coming from that guy, graduated from oxford in his teens or something crazy like this, I'd say that no matter how high your iq, you're still looking at years of studying/training i.e. lots of "effort".

it would be interesting to see the exact relationship between iq/intelligence and amount of study/training required. if I had to guess I bet if you have an iq of 150-200 (exceedingly rare, almost no one), then it would maybe take 5-7 years of serious/quality studying/training. maybe if you have an iq of 130-150 it requires 7-10 years serious/quality studying/training (assuming all other relevant conditions/circumstances to be ideal of course). something like this probably.

just seems likely to me that even if a person has 150-200 iq, you're still talking about a minimum of around 5 years of "effort" as the best case scenario (no adverse conditions/circumstances, person being as efficient as possible).

Love that quote - gritty! 

Was just going to mention him, Steve. LOL

Yes, Finegold's 3rd GM norm came hard for him. He finally got it at age 40.

But a GM he was not.  Tough to get the GM norms in prison tournaments.

I had the displeasure of speaking to him once. About 25 years ago. Arrogant SOB. He lucky I didn't smack him.

but Bogoljubov also won some games against Alekhine. I guess Alekhine was just sharing some russian humor.

Interesting! Could you tell us about it, please?

nah not in the soviet union i guess. You definetly need to check out Solchenyzins books. 

What a very odd statement.

1.  Bloodgood was an American.

2.  I assume you're referring to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.  I don't recall any mention of chess in either "The Gulag Archipelago" nor "One Day in the Life..."

Hi every one, I wanna ask a question about chess improvent to those who had experience of life full of chess(question to the titled players if young, or old experienced regular chess players irrespective of their strenghts) and the questions are here if you can help please :

  1. I am 15 year old(out of this topic question), and I think I am around 1600 FIDE rating strength(my assumption)_ how many years to come can it take me to become a 2600+ player, and I don't want to concentrate only on chess but also school as of more attention.

  2. I have an older brother who took me through chess to make me play the way I play today, every day taught me about my mistakes, he didn't taught me opening or specific thing, but through out the games I played against him. currently I am stronger then him, his age is 25 years old now.

He concentrated chess more than I did, provided that, how he too can make his sacrificed time to change him to grandmaster or something.

I tell he was consumed by chess.

NB: I personally, don't care whether I can become world no. 1 or so, but just a strong player in future.

please if you can help or seen or heard such likely stories or similar stuff, please comment or answer me. 

thanks :)

Was brand new to tournament chess. prolly my second or third tournament ever. Was a 1200 player. Still hanging rooks. Had just beaten a player 300 points higher rated than me. Was going over the game with my coach. Meanwhile Finegold is sitting there (prolly 17 years old at the time) heckling my play, laughing. Saying junk like "Oh, he couldn't have played Bc4! That woulda won too fast!"

Maybe he has matured sinse then, idk.

You tend to remember that sorta thing. Ya know?

Aaaaaah so wrong.

Give my Grandfather whom is 40+ years older than me a smell of a challenge and he jumps on till he has it mastered. Even when i was on my teens he find something and conquer the hell out it. Do it to the point where people that have been doing it for years and almost everyday wonder how he got so good. He find every resource he can find day and night. Find the best people available to him that are good. I think the key to the people was he knwe how to approach them and get them to help.

Now when i got older i thought he would slow down with conquering things. Yeah he lost a half a step maybe even a step but still better or as good than people half his age. Every time i vistit him he has something that amazes me. I have so say if he was introduced to chess say at 40 he would become a GM. Maybe not a great GM but an ok....respectable GM.

I am not say this because he is my grandfather. He had a tought life when he grew up and learned to overcome all types of obstacles. So having a problem is his comfort zone. It has made him mentally stronger. If it was not for him i would not being playing chess. He taught me how to play and whipped me up and down the board just like he did everybody else. Hey i did the same to my friends and they did not want to play with me any more. Or started creating different versions of it. Then i saw chess and board game but way more advanced than chess.

Ok sorry for getting away. I think also if a person has a love for something at any age sooner or later they are going to find a way to become very good at it. The trick is that there will be people that will tell them they can not get it done. If they can then ignore those voices and focus on the task at hand they can do it. And again i can not say how good a GM a person would be but yet they can be a GM.

Thanks for sharing :)

"Chess is a sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe." – Indian proverb

"I might add that if a gnat studies in the right way, he may eventually become an elephant." – Nigel Davies

Well they said the world was flat.

They said no way can man fly.

They said no way can we make it to outer space.

They said no way man can walk on the moon.

They say  a certain team is can not be beaten in the playoffs.

They say a person without legs could not be in the Olympics.

They say you can not be rich.

They say you can not say.

They say it has never been do before and never will.

What do they say when you do it?

I can't believe he fell for it?

Keyword "may".