Is there any hope left for me?

About two years ago, back when I was only rated around 1000 (but underrated), I set a goal for myself to achieve a USCF rating of 2200 and National Master title during my life. I was almost fifteen years old then, and now I'm two months away from being seventeen years old.

I made progress pretty quickly. Although it took me from August to December to go from 1000 to 1100, I then proceeded to gain almost 700 points from December 2013 to December 2014, and by January 2015 I was rated 1800.

It was at this point that I reached my skill level, which is somewhere between 1700 and 1850, and hit a concrete wall, and despite playing 81 games so far in the 2015 calendar year (should have well over 100 by the year's end), I have LOST large numbers of rating points since January. My peak rating was 1840 in March, and since then I have experienced a terrible nosedive, losing close to seventy points at the Philadelphia Open and, for the most point, failing to recover. My rating entering the Potomac Open this past weekend was a measly 1761- and I even lost points from that event too, in spite of spending an average of almost three hours a day on chess primarily trying to prepare for this tournament.

It's becoming evident that the clock is ticking on my improvement. I know that theoretically anyone of any age can improve. But in practice, I find that many or most of the adults I encounter in tournaments are getting worse at chess with age. I hate to be so blunt, but seeing many examples around me of adult chessplayers who can't stay above their rating floors doesn't do much for my confidence that I will improve as an adult. I'm still young, yes, but not young enough that I can reasonably expect to gain five hundred points without something amazing happening. I'm past the "rapid improvement" phase of my chess career (I'm too old for that, and my 700 point gain in 2014 should probably be mainly attributed to being underrated before) and I'll never be there again. And now that I'm not only not improving but even regressing heavily, in spite of working very hard on the game, I don't know if I can achieve my goal.

I am playing in chess tournaments a majority of weekends. I spend ten to fifteen hours a week on chess (and that does not include my tournaments). There's nothing I put more energy into, frankly. It's absolutely disgusting to see myself effectively wasting dozens of hours on my life studying a board game when it doesn't seem that I'm improving at all! And, perhaps worst of all, I'm young. I almost never see players of my age plateau (or, in my case, fall off a cliff) as I've been doing, and I know that I'll never be in as good a shape to improve at chess again as I am now.

Given the amount of time I put into this game, and the number of tournaments I play in, and the love I have for the game, I have no idea what must be so wrong with me for me to be so awful at it in spite of all that I put into my chess play.

In the immediate future, I planned to play at the Atlantic Open in a few weeks in the U2100 section. But given my current results, I'm likely to lose all my games. I guess at least then I'll be able to say I was playing good players, because in the Potomac Open U1900 this past weekend I also had a very poor tournament and I didn't even have the excuse that I was playing up (I scored 2.5/5 against people who were, on average, a good deal lower than my rating, and it should have been 2/5 but my last opponent inexplicably offered a draw when he was completely winning, sparing me from even greater failure). So I'm not sure what to do about this situation in the short-term.

In the more general, long-term future, is there any hope for me whatsoever to reach 2200? It seems many kids who play chess have some sort of magic that makes them improve. Whatever magic I had seems to have worn off after my initial jump in 2014, and otherwise I don't know how I'll ever gain 450-500 rating points in the rest of my life to achieve this goal. In fact, even though I'm only sixteen, I seem to have all the problems that older players are said to have- I am horrible at visualization (and I have heard this is a skill that must be acquired early), I can't calculate very clearly, and I overlook obvious variations due to having terrible board vision for someone of my age.

I hope no one is offended by this post- I am just highly frustrated with my poor play recently and I don't understand how it's possible that I am going backward in spite of working harder than anyone else I know to improve. Should I give up on my 2200 goal and set my sights on something more realistic? Should I stop playing? Should I take a break? Should I try checkers instead? I hope strong players (and maybe people on my friends list who know me personally) can try to help me- please excuse my frustration at myself but I hope it's understandable.

I didnt read your entire post, but I think at this point you really need a good coach to reveal your weak points, your young enough to reach your goal, but not experianced enough to see the weaknesses of your game.

I also didn't read the entire post... Bro you're young!! I'm 24 and just began , I wish I had your time. I just had a baby. She will motivate me not stop me. You may be in high school or college or just working like me but go hard. Don't limit yourself to the high thought of the time. There was a time when old men dominated chess and now it's the young man.. who know if it's the 30 year old guys next? Whatever... Don't struggle but keep perseverance as a tool in your chess box.. I Wish the favor of God of your games ... dominate

Plateaus are a normal part of improvement. You made dramatic gains in a few years. Your current leveling may be temporary.

Listen friend: Not everyone can be a Chess champion. Not everyone that works hard can become great. This applies to any endevour. Its the law of unfairness..... You are better than many of us can ever be right at the point you are at now. Take some comfort in this! I put countless hours in the game as well and i can't crack 1100(blitz play)....Do you even know how bad that eats at my sanity ??? To play 10+ games a day every day of the year to be stuck at what many consider beginner ratings..... Count your F'n blessings dude. In my opinion you are playing the game without confidence and probably gaining some sort of sick fk-it-all-rage-gratification out of actually losing. You are expecting to lose before the game even begins...... You are feeling sorry for youself And guess what.....?  You are losing. You need a few days off, a women and some good quality, confidence building wins. Once you restore your confidence your game will sharpen and follow. This still doesn't mean you are cut out for elite chess. Its not just hard work and practice, its often TALENT. You have it or you do not. Most of us do not have the talent for consistent high level chess play. 

I'm not good enough at chess to give you advice from that perspective, however you seem very very bright for your age and write and explain things well.  What the other reply said about getting a good coach sounds like great advice, and from playing music I know that how you practice is the big determinant on how effective it can be, so you need the best approach.  You put a lot of time in, but real talents at some point become virtually obsessed.

What I'm hearing is that you're conflicted about your goals in chess and question whether it is the best use of your time. Perhaps you have other goals or aspirations you feel you are neglecting for chess and need to sort out your priorities, and getting counseling could help you get clear about what you want to do and thus eliminate some of the vacillation, self-doubt, and stifled feelings, and your game could improve dramatically from the psychological clarity alone, if you continue to pursue chess.

Also, people go through periods of self-doubt and plateaus. Many times in my life (I'm decades older than you) I've thought I was over the hill, past my peak in various ways, but it's never been true yet.  A lot of times I was just exhausted, stressed, depressed, or distracted or just burdened with other things in my life. These periods of self-doubt and discouragement often become the catalyst for some pretty amazing resurgences in the future. Take the time to figure out what you really want to do and for what reason, and get behind your real goals wholeheartedly, whatever they are.  I would think that great chess players really love chess for chess and can't help but play it.

You were looking for help, you said, from "stong players." That, I am not. Still, let me offer this: you said you have a love for the game -- just enjoy it then. I could devote my life to chess and never be able to beat you, yet I enjoy the game. There will always be someone better at the game than we are, so what?

You're not worse than I was at your age, and I reached FIDE 2300+. It seems to me that it isn't really helpful to set yourself goals in the form of numbers and titles. That can potentially lead to a lot of frustration. I have been stagnating at 1900-2000 for years, until I managed to implement on the board what I had learned about chess, and quickly jumped to 2200+.

If you enjoy chess, just work on it and improve, and progress will come.

Too many words. Well written, I guess. :)

Dennis we are completely in the same boat. Time to throw in the towel! I think I'm going to start playing poker instead. 

One piece of advice (actually two) if you seriously want to improve: Make no draw offers. Accept no draw offers.

dpnorman...first , breathe, take a deep breathe and think about all the things in your life that you are grateful for.

believe it or not, love of chess (fanatical albeit) is just one facet of the person that you are.

"all the ups and downs of life are indeed nourishing experiences for our future growth."

it's pefectly all right to dream high. one day you WILL succeed !

(close your eyes and breathe deeply...)

You got some really good comments that you should pay attention to, especially bb_gum234 and Rumo75, but also verylate and Knightly_News. I'll add a few random pieces of advice, some of which may repeat what others have said.

1. Almost everyone hits plateaus in their chess (and other) learning and development. When I play against a kid who seems amazing for their age, I usually check their rating progression, and I've noticed that most of these prodigies have hit plateaus, some of them at half your age.

2. Are you maybe playing too many tournaments? You are beginning to describe chess playing like a chore. You should never play a tournament if you feel you'd rather be doing something else. And if you spend every weekend playing tournaments, you start missing other fun things and you'd rather be doing those. If you are not having fun playing, you are probably not focusing fully on the game. What's worse, a lack of fun and satisfaction from your hobby can negatively affect your performance in other areas, like school.

3. Fixation on a particular rating goal is counterproductive. If you peak at 2190, you'll be bitter for life because you failed to achieve your goal. And if you have the potential to become a titled player, you may never realize it because you'll get complacent when you reach the goal you set at 15. Neither outcome makes sense. Goals are good for motivation, but try to set more short-term goals and be flexible and realistic about them. Also, don't set rating goals (or at least not ONLY rating goals) because they are the equivalent of the "teaching to the test" problem in education. Rating, like tests in school, is meanigful only as a measurement; it is not a sensible goal in itself.

4. Ideally, find a coach. If that is too expensive, a decent alternative is to discuss chess with as many people as you can, making sure at least some of those are significantly better players and more experienced than yourself.

5. If you don't have enough time to thoroughly analyze all of your tournament games, you are playing too many tournament games.

6. The main reason most adult players decline is that they don't have much time to devote to the game, not that the ability to improve disappears (although it is true that kids learn faster and easier).

Don't worry. Take a total break for a few weeks to let your subconcious catch up with all the knouwledge you've been feeding into the machine. Afterwards, your board vision will have improved as if by magic. During that break read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell to find out how the mind works and why learning anything goes with plateaus. And Outliers by the same author to liberate yourself from the illusion of 'talent'.

@OP From looking at your tournament history it could be a problem of playing too much . Be patient about reaching 2200 uscf , it took me 11 years to do so and I didnt play my first tourney until age 20 .  You will have bad results and " walls " to overcome , just don't let them get you down as this happens to almost everyone .  I found over the years that if I played too much my results suffered and also if I played too little they suffered . Ideal for me turned out to be 6-8 tournaments a year of classical weekend tournies .  You have to find whats ideal for you , might be more or less than what I found to be ideal .  I also found that when I studied more than played at about 60/40 split I made the most improvement . Some people seem to thrive playing more . You have to find what works best for you , its a very individual thing really. If your study sessions are too long you may not be getting the benefit you should either . When I had sessions in excess of 2-3 hours I found I didnt retain nearly as much as when I kept it at 2-3 hours . Sometimes its also good to take a break from chess too and I often had breaks from chess forced on me due to life interference but found that my chess often benefited from such breaks , to my surprise !  

I can understand your frustration I'm a pretty awfull chess player but i want to make it to 1500, i am currently 1100 and getting stuck in that range is absoluetely terrible. even A person who has never played chess before could probably get to 1100 so it really sucks.Fournetely Im only 13 so i still have a good 2-3 years left before i can no longer inprove. I guess to put it bluntly some people are good at chess other are not. I  hope you are one who is good. Best of luck!

I entirely agree with this! You should invest in a good coach and maybe play a bit less: you must be exhausted! It also sounds like you're getting terribly anxious about the situation and not enjoying the game as much as you once were. Your age is hardly an issue as yet. British GM, Jonathan Hawkins, was graded around where you are at 17 and now he's around 2550! I'm not saying you can match that but 2200 isn't undoable and you could well do better than that with all the dedication you're showing. 

A good coach is a great improvement. I was 1400 USCF when I was 7.

From my point of view I think you should just calm down and look at the bigger picture. Think about it, you still have many years ahead of you and there is plenty of time for improvement. If you don't do well one tournament, that's fine, the next one is just around the corner. It's not like the olympics where you mess up and have to wait FOUR YEARS. You're denfinitely going to get to your goals, there's more time than you might think there is. For example, look at Topalov, he's 40 and still a good player. You're thinking that you need to improve immediately, just slow down and improve gradually, the rating will take care of itself.