Realistic goals for adults？

If adults can earn a doctorate degree late in life, I don't see a reason they can't reach 2000 chess.com ratings. Like a doctorate, the adults must spend much study, time and effort.

First of all, thank you for the great article. I only read the first half of the article roughly, but it was an eye-opener that it is better not to exchange pieces as much as possible when you are at a disadvantage. However, there were many points that were difficult for me at the moment. Can I learn this knowledge in an easy-to-understand way in Chess.com lessons?

I've never taken chess.com lessons, so I don't know.

If you didn't read post # 12 then you missed the most important part.

There's a video by chessbaseindia where a prison inmate goes toe-to-toe with a IM after 2 years of learning the game. The instructor said there was another inmate of similar strength in the group (link below).
I think in general, one of the fastest ways to gate yourself in Chess or Go is to create elaborate and sophisticated explanations of how the game works, that completely fall apart with one counter example or exception. It's usually better just experience what it is, and embrace that you'll never fully understand what's going on. 
https://youtu.be/ca00C6yV6eE?si=zm-JKhJ0AiZxS-qp

how many games should you play a day? I'd really like to play 2-3 games of rapid every day for 30 minutes, but I have work and housework. Lack of time is the biggest barrier to improvement for adults.

On days when I have work, I can only play one game at most, and even on holidays, three games is the limit...

#1 you can get past 2000 without any coaching

Quality over quantity when it comes to improvement. It is more important to try to gain everything you can from a single game, than to spam games and you play the next one right away. That is why 1 longer game that you analise in depth is better than 20 bullet games when it comes to improvement.

Sure, a talented fanatic who does both for 12 hours a day will possibly have even greater results, but you can play 1 game, or even less per day and still improve, if you analise it and always learn something from it.

Hi, thanks for the details. Honestly, would it be more efficient to learn from a good player in person rather than using the review function on this site?

Online is often stressful because of the ELO system, smurfs, and cheaters.
If I don't need online, I'll consider switching to OTB completely.

I understand that these things are not great, but in my experience they have far less relevance for your improvement than you realize. I face a cheater maybe once in 20 or 30 games, and even such a game can still be instructive to some extent, when it comes to learning something new.

And when I say analysis, I do not mean review function of this site. Clicking on it will not make you any better by itself. Making an effort to figure stuff out will. I am not saying that using the engine for analysis is bad, but it is important how do you use it, if you do.

The most important thing is to be truthful to yourself if you really understand something or you are just following engine line without understanding. And you don't even have to understand everything from the game. If you learn one or 2 things, it is still some progress.

Not every +0.5 shift in evaluation has to be understood. You could try to understand it, but make sure to understand every blunder, and try to see why the evaluation went from +0.0 to -1.8 for some move for instance. Sometimes it will lose some material and then it is relatively easy to figure out, but sometimes it will be something else. Perhaps you have allowed some weakness in your structure that is hard to defend, perhaps you made your opponent's pieces a lot better and your king is kind of weak. Or perhaps you had some activity in a pawn down position but you allowed the opponent to nullify your compensation.

When you analyze, try to be creative, try out some move that you thought about during the game. Maybe it was the best move, or maybe it was a blunder. If so, see what was wrong with it. In the end, if some line looks just insane for your level, leave it alone and don't be too frustrated, there are always things where engine is not that helpful, even grandmasters do not play like machines and will choose different moves from time to time.

As for OTB, online games have the advantage because there is always someone you can play chess with.

Apart from that issue, if you can regularly play chess in person, that can be great as well, so go for it, why not.

No, in fact, some of the greatest chess players in history didn't start playing until older than you. So, while current players all started younger, you could be the one the shows that's not necessary. And even if you're not the one, so what? If you like the game, then just play it. In the end, that's all that really matters.

However, if your skill level is too low, you may not enjoy it as much as someone who is more skilled.

How can someone compare how much they enjoy something against how much someone they don't know enjoys it? The better player may enjoy it more, or they may enjoy it less, or they may enjoy it the same. In the end, what other's think or enjoy doesn't matter, either you like chess, or your don't.

I would say this is subjective. I had some exciting games I enjoyed when I was around 1 100, 1 200 and there were some blunders on the board. Win or lose, I enjoyed some games back then. I enjoy my games now as well, perhaps in another way, but in any case, for me at least, my playing strength doesn't affect how much I like or don't like playing.

hmmm very interesting. WANI. E. Idneed. alr im leaving now

Between work, chores, and if you have kids (and the sleep deprivation that comes from balancing all these), I think you are right. It's hard to give a hobby 100% focus when life gets in the way.

Wow, these comments are so discouraging! I just started learning chess from scratch on Chess.com a month ago and now I feel like I should just quit. I am nearly 63. What is so different about learning chess vs. other subjects like learning a new language or learning to code that makes it impossible when you're older? I just want to learn to play for fun, to play against my son and my grandchildren. I've been reading, watching instructional videos, doing the lessons here and probably an hour of puzzles every night. I'm not striving for a sky-high rating, just to be able to play the game somewhat competently. It shouldn't be an all or nothing thing.

I'm not quite that old (but I'm well on the way!). I disagree with the people suggesting that we are capped because of age--I've gotten significantly better with a similar learning style, others here have posted that they are adults with jobs and such and are scraping 2k which is something like the top 1%, maybe top 0.5% of chess players in the world.

I don't think I found the right way to say it, but all of us are far below the "brain biology cap"--investing time and just enjoying the game will yield dividends.

Quite possibly one of the truest and best posts i've read here in the forum. Enjoy the game! Enjoy the journey!! Great post.

Decades ago, in the 1970s, I was stuck at intermediate rating for literally YEARS.

I read books (there was no Home Internet back in those pre-historic days). I memorized opening lines. I played OTB at the city club every week, against players of my own strength or higher. I played in every rated OTB tournament within a hundred kilometers, and occasionally (that's twice) travelled more than a thousand kilometers to play in an OTB tournament against titled players. I analyzed my losses.

And I remained stuck, varying up and down between 1400 to 1600 rating. For years.

I finally decided that I didn't CARE about my rating anymore. I would continue to play in OTB tournaments, but would just play for fun.

By the end of the year, I crossed 1800, and the following year hit 2000 (CFC OTB ratings).

Thank you. It is nice to see that someone actually read that long post.