Attaining IM difficulty, can any titled players explain, please?

In my opinion of course it is possible it is not impossible becoming an IM in 3 months from 1700 anything is possible with money if he is able to blow 10s of millions of dollars on non stop coaching from Magnus Carlsen or another former world champion to give him coaching non stop for the 3 months and travels all over the world and plays as many norm tournaments as humanly possible i think it is possible it will cut it very close just like around the world in 80 days everyone said it was impossible that he was crazy and yet he achieved it remember money makes the world goes round ;)

i was assuming its just a thought experiment. can he/she get to IM strength in 3 months. not literally be an IM thats basically impossible

@TrainingOTB - He doesn't play classical online I think (like 6 games with 1600?, and rapid 50+ with 1600), but he does play OTB classical/rapid, he does not have a FIDE rating though (he does have a country level rating, but it doesn't translate over 1400 FIDE)

@JohnStuckey - It is a thought experiment; but I have my doubts that 1700 Lichess elo to 2500 Lichess Elo (IM strength).

@littleplotkin - He's not even doing it, he's claiming he can if he could quit his job and do it full time; so it'll never be provable - was just looking to see how much of a chance there was of it being possible.

It seems the verdict tends to near impossible; He is a smart guy, but like someone said, I don't think it's possible to get to a strength that requires 1000s of hours of practice (at over 2200+ elo levels), in 3 months. A good chunk of that time would be spent getting to a level that those 1000s of hours can be put into use.

Thanks for all the opinions, it was very insightful!

My 2c on opening theory though - Opening theory is great for saving time in the opening phase where you don't need to expend thought about the moves. So if you're exceptional like Capablanca, with no opening theory (inside joke for fans of a certain channel), you could still figure out how not to blunder and use correct principles to win.

You would be spending more time in the opening phase of the game, and the option to take your opponent out of book early so you can enjoy a good game. Opening master vs Talented gifted player, I'd side with gifted player in the long run. :)

@Ysharia okay, so, as much as I don't like expression that something is impossible, I got to tell, that 1400 elo to travel to 2300 (FM) elo within 3 months is impossible, not included to gain 3 IM norms also within 3 months or so. May be he was talking, that he can reach the level of knowledge of IM within 3 months.
Also there is one but, if he is still junior, there just might be a chance if he wins title directly from some of Fide events as below (this is probably the quickest way):
www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=199&view=article

Just walking step by step from 1400 to FM 2300 is very long way. If he is an adult, then the only help might be K coefficient, which is 40 for first 30 games, but after drops to 20. With K = 40, win is worth 37 rating points, and with 20 it's "only" 18pts, and these are wins against opponents rated 400 rating points higher than him. So in very unlikely scenario, where he keeps winning all the time against much stronger (higher rated) opponents, it is still needed to play those 30 rated games to have established rating, to even apply for FM. Then from FM to IM... just toooo long to write, much harder way, and many more conditions to be fullfilled. So better to place for example 2nd or 3rd in U20 World Championship or Continental Championship, and gain IM title straight away. But to get there 2nd or 3rd, with 3 months training... not real. ;)

Not sure if trolling or stupid.

You know what happens if you train too hard? At the end you are weaker than before. Learning takes its time.

Probably somewhere else someone is discussing (trolling) whether becoming PhD, snooker champ or professor is feasible within three months.

@Sarg0n haha lol, or like that guy (don't remember his name), "mastering one thing in one month" and he thought he can beat Magnus Carlsen with one month algorithm bull.hit training... ridiculous attempt. Magnus wasted few minutes of his life for that game.

I'm not certain of the reasons for the claim, he's not stupid - the possibility of trolling isn't entirely out of the question, but he seems pretty adamant about it. Erring on the side that he really is dead serious, my opinion alone isn't proof enough to shut down this discussion - which is why I am using this forum as a way of getting other facts I may not know about. (i.e. shortcuts/loopholes that I may be unaware of, that he may have know about).

I don't believe it; I think it's impossible. Like I said, my word is not enough to convince anyone. Thanks to everyone who provided some insights. I actually learned some intresting facts from the views posted here.

It might sound harsh but always when amateurs are underestimating masters I think:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

Things like this are a coping mechanism people use to brush off the fact others are better than they are when they dont want to admit it. Watch an IM like eric rosen or john bartholomew on youtube play through a slow game and see how well they understand what is going on. This is the result of countless hours spent on the game. You simply could not do that in 3 months.

Maybe im getting old but hearing people say they could be x if they did y gets on my tits. Either do it or dont, talking about it is pointless.

Surpassing - by far - a rating progression like this one ratings.fide.com/id.phtml?event=1503014 (while taking the required IM norms) is statistically unrealistic.

Well, there are better chances to get struck by lightning.