To what extent does age affect your ability to become a chess master?

You can become even a GM - I don't believe in age stuff. But the problem is that you'll need to work countless hours and most adults can't afford such a privilege as not having a job. If you want to try - you can send me a message and we can set something up. I'll bring you to > 1800 FIDE in a year.

Well, working 30 years in training business on both sides, having seen thousand beginners. No, that ain’t work.

Go ahead, wish you good luck!

@Sarg0n are you currently listed in a club in Germany? I also live in Germany, and play for SG Niederkassel (region Cologne/Bonn). Maybe we'll play each other some day ;)

The problem with „hard brain work for 8 hours as an adult in a new working field“. Learning new things is always an interaction with your stored knowledge and wisdom. Having rigid „lanes“ in your brain decreases the effectivity and efficiency.

A brain is no bucket to fill, say after 8 hours it is 8x as full compared to 1h. You need years and decades to evolve everything. More than a couple of hours per day in a new area is counterproductive.

Good luck! 👍🍀

So, how many of the young kids who dream to become grandmasters actually make it? How many of the kids continue to play when they get older? The chance is about 1 in 1000 to actually make it to GM.

@Sarg0n I believe it's a made up concept that your brain gets worse and worse when you get older. Of course when one reaches 50th that's true, but OP is 20! He's not even old. Many scientists used to enter the universities when they were around 20. The main problem is money of course. Also I think that the OP isn't really serious ;)

@hangrad I would say its way smaller than only 1/1000

@KalabukhovDaniil Why do you guys say I am trolling? Like literally how were any of my questions a troll?

@philsers you have long way to go to get any FIDE title. At this point, the chance you get CM is 1/100,000,000. It's tough to improve and the higher you get the tougher it becomes. What motivates you to get good?

lol @ Sarg0n projecting His own excuses on everyone else.

If your dream is be a GM, you can do this in 10 years with enough hours and proper coaching each and every day. Dreams are real, naysayers and negative nancy's are demons!