I think AndyClifton would be turning in his grave when he hear about the 10k hours thing.
How close are you to 10,000 hours?
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How are you keeping track of your total hours devoted to chess? Keeping a log book or journal or something?
I don't keep a log or a journal, but I do download all my games into SCIDvsPC, so I have an offline database of all my games. The 3.5k figure is just an estimate based on the time I spend onsite each day. I usually spend a while going through the online games, then once I've made my moves I go on to tactics trainer, and after I start making silly errors there I take in a video, read some articles onsite, or go for the really hard stuff on chess mentor.
I like the 10,000 hours theory, however I must say that one's ablilty to focus and truly learn from mistakes (analyze) is part of the equation. Some people play and play and play, yet don't see a growth curve in thier ratings. I personaly find playing Chess to be akin to learning an instrument. You have to develope an understanding of music theory, or at least have a great ear for notes, scales, chords, etc. And ultimately spend thousands of hours truly practicing with focused attention to reach anything near a "master" level.
Anyhow, I have only been playing Chess (learning how to play beyond how the pieces move) for just 2 years now and have certainly logged about 1000 hours.
Well, there goes another theory! Scientists just debunked the 10,000 hours hypothesis. See here:
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3027564/asides/scientists-debunk-the-myth-that-10000-hours-of-practice-makes-you-an-expert
Apparently you also need innate talent! Drat. And I only had 6,000 hours to go!
But I suppose it does explain Magnus Carlsen. I doubt that he had 10,000 hours by the time he was 10. 
I recently learned how to play chess in Febuary when I walked into a chess club. I learned to move the pieces and proceeded to lose to everyone in the club that night. It was Febuary of this year. I think that was when I got the bug. In October I found chess.com. I read your first post and decided to try and figure out how many hours I have logged in for training. I got nearly 100 hours since October. On my ChessMaster program I have a bullet rating of 1204. My blitz is 1438 and finally my Rapid is 1489. I do not have a classical rating. It's because I have limited time to train everyday and I can get more games competed. My goal is to get to 2000+ before I start playing real people (Unless it takes too long). One more thing, there are so many books/DVD's on chess I don't know where to start. Some people told me to check out Jeremy Silman and Dvoretsky along with Artur Yusupov's 9 book chess series. Right now I have only 1 book by Eric Schiller and it's named "Encyclopedia of Chess Wisdom". I got it for a penny at amazon.com...sucks that I had to pay $4 for shipping. I'm learning some ideas at least. Good question Genghis_McCann.
It is common wisdom that you need, on average, 10,000 hours of study to become expert at chess - in fact at any activity that requires skill and knowlege.
I've logged around 3,500 in the last 3 years or so since I joined chess.com.I must admit it's a bit of an obsession. My wife usually knows where to find me. OTOH I think I have a fairly balanced life otherwise, with lots of other interests, likes and dislikes. I've posted this on the Premium Members forum because we are the ones who Pay cash to access every service offered by the site.
How close are you to the 10,000 hours? Is it worth it? Why do we do it? Are you happy with the balance of chess and real life that results?
Only 6,500 hours to go.....
Good game,
Genghis