19 years old - too late to become a pro?

Check out this thread:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-players/inspirational-adult-improvers

yes.

that's the short answer. Long answer: if you are extremely talented, can remember thousands of games, and put full days playing, reading, analysing in it, you might be able to make it.

test for the extremely talented: look at/relay ten games. Then replay them out of memory. Then do that ten times. If you are succesful and like it you have minute chance to become a regular pro.

I think you will find it more rewarding to just play and enjoy yourself, slowly improving, without any thought of becoming a pro.

btw some of the conmments are funny.

Get on a good training program  - 2000 is definitely reachable

You can learn many positions and you can train your instincts!

Best~

It's never to late to get good at something, but how good you get depends on you. You have to work hard and love it. My friend started late and he is now over 1700 and still climbing beating 2100's. A good book that I would recommend to improve your game is "The Art Of Attack In Chess" by V. Vukovic get the latest version though, the older ones are hard to understand.

Yes. It is too late. If you were meant to become a Grandmaster, FIDE would have selected you by your second tri-mester of fetal development. 

If you're not picked by the time you grow thumbs, it's too late!

If your parents didn't read you "Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual" while you were still in the womb, you're quite out of luck.

With dedication and practice I believe 2000 is reachable for most people whatever their age.

Dan Heisman wrote about one of his students who used to go by "Mr.Bojangles" on ICC. He was 38 years old with a full time job and rated 1400. He became around 2100 player. If a 38 year old with a full time job can do it, a 19 year old definitely can.

Some people are way too pessimistic about the human potential for learning, it's as if people think once you become an adult you're unable to learn anything. Like "omg once you're over 18 you can't learn anymore!!!, and if you're over 25 you may as well be declared legally brain dead!!" There also seems to be an overestimation of how much children can learn, as if every child is some super-acclerated learner.

I started less than two years ago at the age of 30 and I'm already rated higher than most of the people making disparaging comments about how you as a 19 year old will have trouble reaching 2000. Just because people are frustrated that after playing some goofy blitz games every so often they're not improving they try and tell everyone else they can't improve either. Or young people that don't really spend time on chess and then think that if they're not improving much that must mean anyone older than them will definitely not improve. I remember some guy named TheGrobe that I saw post on here when I first started. He was saying older people couldn't improve. I'm already higher than him despite the fact he's been playing since he was a kid and was involved in scholastic chess.

As the NM above said 2000-2200 is definitely possible for most people despite their age and you ask any titled player and they'll tell you the same. It may be difficult to become a GM when you start chess at a late age but expert level player is well within anyone's grasp if they put the time in and practice. It's not going to happen over night, but if you consistently put the time in and study/ do tactics puzzles everyday for years, unlike these pessimistic little s**ts on here who are off at college partying and drinking all the time and every week or so they'll sit down and play some goofy blitz games, and then they come to the conclusion that since they aren't improving nobody else can. I study chess or play chess everyday. If someone does this everyday and doesn't take days, weeks, months etc off like a lot of these people they can for sure reach 2000 and even higher.

At age 40, I was rated 1500. At age 41, I am now just shy of 1900 (1893).

Yes, you can become a professional chess player, it is going to take a lot hard work. I started playing in a chess club at seventeen and three years later made expert and I was planning to go grandmaster and my father talk me out of it.

 I went through some of your games and you have two things against you, you blunder a lot and you are weak in tactics: that is okay, because you correct this. You need to work on your tactics everyday, do the five tactic trainer gives you everyday and buy a book on tactics work everyday on it and complete the book and work on same book again until you master all the problems, this will help you with pattern recognition. And another tactical book a little harder and do same like first book. Get a good book on the endgame ( Silman Endgame book is excellent) and start with the basic endgame.

 Stop playing bullet and blitz games, this will ruin your chess skills, you are not strong enough.

Get a good middlegame book and start reviewing it, so can get a good foundation, like to recommend Logical Move by Move  by Chernev, excellent book, it explain the reason behind each move, this book help me a lot. One favorite middlegame book is Modern Chess Strategy by  Pachman, this book reveiw all possible middlegame situation, this book alone help me to reach expert level.

 Your first goal is to become expert and one web-site mention to become an professional chess player, you need a 2400 FIDE. You still can make money as an expert.

DragonWhisperer wrote:

Quit ... before it's too late

Just play and enjoy , read books and get familliar with openings , takes time but with much effort you may just get there .

You might read a book called Rapid Chess Improvement by Michael de la Maza. I think he claimed something like being able to take a 1400 to an 1800 in 2 years. Or something like that. At any rate, it's worth a read (although most of the techniques are really tedious).

Apparently, Bent Larsen only started to play (competitively) when he was 17. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bent_Larsen

It's probably possible, if you have the ability, work ethic, and a good teacher. Have a career to fall back on though. I understand it is hard to earn a living solely playing chess unless you are one of the top in the world. You might be able to become an instructor and earn a living that way, if you aren't one of the top players in the world.

Sometimes I think about what would have happened if I started playing chess as kid and not in my 20's. I think I will still get to 2000 eventually but that's probably it.

can chess pros collect unemployment if they cant get a game?

 I been playing for 20 years and when you stink at chess its just the way it is

If you can just reach expert level which is the top 5% in the USCF then put some time in on writing a chess book for amateurs.  Even though thousands of chess books have been written, I believe there is always a niche especially for club players that could be very successful economically.  I understand that Fred Reinfield never reached past master level USCF and yet published many books that are still being sold today.

One example I believe would be to take a book like "Chess Openings Theory and Practice" and simply convert it over to algebraic notation.  A chess expert could easily update many of the lines while leaving the work basically intact.  That is one way to become a pro.

Make e-books where the reader can play out the variations, or do something similar to chess mentor,