I started playing chess 2 months ago...?

Question

All the GM's I've read about started at a very early age (4, 5, 8) - did I start too late to have any Master level potential?

Also, I'm looking for new methods to learning. I downloaded the GrandMaster edition of ChessMaster and it seems to be teaching me a lot, but every game I play it seems I'm just getting worse.

I think the planning ahead is just distracting me from what's really going on.

Any suggestions on how to go about learning chess the right way?

Thanks

Answer 1

The fact that you're wondering these things after only 2 months suggests you're going to do very well in pursuit of reaching Master level :)

I'd suggest you play through the Chess Academy lessons on ChessMaster. They're a little boring at times, and extremely repetitious, but that's on purpose. Nothing teaches you how to set up a fork better than doing it 20 times in different positions.

If you're getting distracted by trying to plan ahead too far, you might consider approaching the game more positionally. There are several books out there on Positional Chess that can help, and I believe there's sections on the subject in ChessMaster as well.

Look for books by Carsten Hansen. He's a great teacher on positional chess.

Also, spend some time playing humans, too. ChessMaster is brutal on beginners :)

Answer 2

Lots of players become masters or grandmasters who start chess relatively late in life.  The biggest limiting factor is the amount of effort and commitment you are willing to make.

Sound long range planning is undoubtedly the best way to master the game, but I would suggest that someone like you, who started only  two months ago, is most likely to lose because of gross tactical oversights.  The best way to reduce blunders is to play a lot and read books on tactics.  When I was a teenager, I sharpened my tactics with "The Chess Sacrifice" by Vladimir Vukovic.  It's probably out of print now, but you should be able to find a used copy on the web.  There must also be many similar books written more recently.

Answer 3

I think the best example of a late starting GM is Tchigorin.

http://www.supreme-chess.com/famous-ches...

Answer 4

You should get the book Gary Kasparov teaches Chess.  Its a really good book!