i finally figured out what i want to be in life. i want to be a rated chess master. not even a grand master, just a regular, everyday, plain old master. thing is, i'm, old (38, which isn't old, but then again, when you have 19 year old grand masters....), which doesn't really make sense to me. if i wanted to be a UFC champion, or win the Tour de France, then yeah, age is important, the body can only go so far for so long. but chess is mental. yes, it requires some imagination and memorization, but as long as i don't get alzhiemers anytime soon, or suffer any blunt trauma to the head, i should be able to learn and figure crap out enough to be decent enough to attain the rating of chess master. plus, while everyone else has to deal with jobs and school and such, i can spend most of my day studying.
so, that is what i wanna do. i've started a blog to track my progress, it's at: chessloser.wordpress.com.
laugh and jeer all you want, i think it's possible.
I wish you well in your quest for masterdom. I barely made it to expert (twenty years ago!). I'm too stupid now even to get back to 2000. My chess knowledge is much greater than it was twenty years ago, but my play is much worse. (Current USCF: 1804). Too many psychotropics I suppose.
Originally posted by masscatno doubt there will be internet chess titles sooner or later. it's just another venue, only far more practical one compared to traditional otb. I've played exactly 4 games on a real board in my whole life, and I suspect many, if not most, of the new breed of chessoholics are the same.
I suppose a lot depends on where he's starting from. If he's already 2000 it shouldn't be too difficult. If he just learned the moves today that's another story. I always assume when one says "master" they are referring to OTB. Whoever heard of a "server master"?
btw, what was the name of that GM who earned his title in his sixties, or something like that?
I don’t know if the ICCF includes e-mail tmts. or just postal games in their ratings but I suspect if we ever do have a “Server Master” title it’ll probably command less respect than “Correspondence Master” does. Even before engines OTB players looked down their noses at CC players just like diehard CC players look down their noses at server players.
You can have more than one goal in life.
I would respect an OTB master more than a CC master. For this reason, computers. Everyone can set their shredder or fritz and look at moves, or if they see a new move they can get a book and look it up to find the best response. At an OTB match if you see something new you have to think it out without being able to move pieces or use a book or computer. I am not saying that CC is pointless, obviously not I play it 🙂, but I do think OTB deserves more respect because you have a certain amount of time and the one that is more prepared usually wins.
How old were you when you started playing chess?
Being an OTB master is akin to being really good at anything else, the later in life you start, the harder it gets to excell. Almost all masters started playing chess in their early teens or before, and there are very few exceptions.
Breaking 2200 may be a door that has closed for you. I've known intelligent people that have played chess all their lives but couldn't break 1600.
But good luck to you.