What age is too late to become a good chess player?

..... ..... .... 48

"The only people who differentiate Germans from Austrians are either blinded by "Allied Politics" or come from families unworthy of German ancestry!"

I didn't know the dream of Grossdeutschland was still alive. In reality, the only people who _don't_ differentiate Austrians from Germans are neonazis.

@Kusokosla: "Challenge accepted and conquered already, and I’m sure I’m far from the only example. 2000 is VERY VERY easy to get to by yourself without any lessons or even many long games at an adult age. I don’t know what the big deal is. 2000 is literally a few hundred puzzles done 6-10 times over until instant recognition, 2 or 3 general chess books, a few thousand blitz and bullet games, and maybe a few youtube videos on openings. 2000 basically means one knows a little bit about the game and has some experience."

I think the original question was about being a good chess player (OTB, not online). So if you are unrated, you may still have quite a bit to go. I think many will be surprised at the difference between online blitz and OTB :)

@Sandstad May be, but I played a buddy of mine who is 1950 OTB and got the better of him when I was 1700 bullet on here. If anything I find online bullet harder than slow OTB, since tactics are very fast, requiring better grasp of the said tactics. But ok. But I do find it very hard to believe that with 2100 and no serious study bullet I’d be 1400 OTB and unable to get to 2000+

@Kusokosla Your claim that "2000 is VERY VERY easy to get to by yourself without any lessons or even many long games at an adult age" just based on your own bullet rating fluctuating between 1800 and 2100 seems to me like you are underestimating the difference between fast online games and slow tournament games. A friend of mine has peaks at 2497 bullet and 2395 blitz on lichess and is still stuck around 1900 FIDE (I am sure he has a much higher potential of course). He would destroy me in bullet just as I would destroy him OTB. Online ratings are surely correlated to OTB potential, but it is perfectly possible to be 2100 bullet and find it very difficult to reach 2000 FIDE - just as it is perfectly possible to be 2100 FIDE and have problems reaching 2000 bullet. Reaching 2100 bullet is mostly about not hanging pieces and mouse skills. "Tricks" has less impact when the opponent has time to think before moving.

Why don't you enter some rated tournaments, get a rating and prove us wrong? :)

@FMSandstad

So you’re saying I could be 2200 FIDE! YESS!!! I happy now. Thank you ;)

Yuri Averbakh is 97 years old and still rated about 2450. You can still be a strong chess player at any age.

dead is too old.

perhaps it may be too late to learn to play chess if one is so old they are senile, and have no awareness of what is going on around them.

the cool thing about chess, especially if you just want to play for fun, is there is a rating system, and its used to match you against similar skill players. most 9 year olds make mostly random/terrible moves, many new players do the same, and start around 800-900 in skill rating.

as long as you have enough sense to do even slightly better than that, you can start improving and enjoy chess. it doesnt matter if your highest rating you ever hit is 1000 or 1200 or 2000 or 2600. you will always have people to play good games against, and you will mostly win and lose the same number of games...half. the only difference is the higher rated players have tougher opponents.

cheers.

As long as you study and work somewhat seriously on chess you can probably get to a good rating, especially because you probably have a decent amount of free time. In comparison, I started to play seriously ~1 year to 6 months ago and I am ~1800 here now at 13