Originally posted by revan1 I don't think that you can be great if chess is not your main focus. I think you can be good, but not great. The more I learn about chess, the more I realize how much I DON'T know. Chess is my main outlet for my competitive nature, but if you are an aspiring writer, musician, teacher, whatever, chess just takes too much of your life to be great. (imo)
The answer to your question is no. I think becoming a great player requires a massive amount of effort over a long period of time, even great talents like Fischer, Kasparov, Karpov, Capablanca etc. worked very hard to become great.😏
Originally posted by wormwood then the answer is no. you can't get there without living, breathing, eating and obsessing about chess for 15 years straight.
I tend to agree, but I'll leave this question open to everyone.
For someone who has a full life outside of chess but is still motivated to get better... what's a realistic goal? A 2000 rating?
'easily' is probably the wrong word here, but yeah, I sort of agree with the general idea. meaning it's probably not a very 'realistic' goal, but still within the possibilities. it 'just' takes that burning feverish desire and unyielding willpower.
and I never meant those couldn't exist parallel to other interests, just that simply dabbling around with chess makes getting Good absolutely impossible.
I think that this thread is like weight loss programs.
Certainly losing x number of pounds is possible.
For example going to the pub for a few pints could lose you a few pounds.😀
Walking 3 miles a day for 2 years might also work ...that`s maybe 1 hour a day more or less but not just for 2 days...like chess if you study tactics for 1 hour a day for like 2 years I would predict gigantic increase in your rating.
Originally posted by National Master Dale ...like chess if you study tactics for 1 hour a day for like 2 years I would predict gigantic increase in your rating.
I did about 2-4h tactics a day for 2 years, and got from learning the rules to 1800. some day I plan to do something similar with much harder problems (and maybe 1h a day or so), but it's still probably a couple of years away on the 'to do' list.