How long did it take you to get "good"

I know "good" is subjective so just tell me bout your progression, where you started and how long it took you to get where you are now.

I played for a few months when i was 18 and then not again for ten years.  I've found a new appreciation for the game and realize just how much nuance is involved.  How long have you guys been playing?  Months?  Years?  Tell me bout your progression.

Unless you have some sort of measureable way of describing what "good" is there's no way to answer your question. 

For me I felt like I was "good" when I could beat all of my friends.  I really felt good when I could beat my parents, one of whom was rated player.  When I won myNYC school distract  elementary school Chess championship I felt "good".  And when I came in 5th place in the City wide elementary tournament I felt "good".  I emerged from all of that, in 1972, with a USCF rating of about 1100.  Objectively speaking not very good, but still good enough to beat probably 80% of the chess playing people in the entire world. 

So, as an adult my rating has hovered between about 1850 and 2000.  So, I'm still "good".  But, now I'm better tha maybe 90% of the chess players in the world.  I'm guessing that none of this is helping because in the end only you can say what is "good" and what is not.  In reality the only way to tell if you're getting better is to play rated games for a while.  Let your rating stabilize for a while then see if you can get it to stabilize at a higher level. 

As a more pragmatic answer, as a beginner there is one very simple thing that we all need to learn how to do>  What is that?

DON'T GIVE AWAY YOUR PAWNS OR PIECES.   Once you can hold on to your "cookies" you can start making progress. :))

Well depending on your standards of what "good" is or "bad" is you could have many different answers. As it stands I do not fall into the "good" category and I have been playing for almost a decade.

Yeh i know the question is tough to answer...I was basically just looking for you to elaborate anyway you want on your progress.

Me, Im a complete newb.  If you dont count the couple months i played a decade ago then I have been playing for a couple days.  The good side to that is I have a lot of room for improvement...the bad side is Im gonna have to learn by getting crushed by good players.  Plan on becoming a premium member and reading some books, basically gonna do what I can to improve.

I have been playing for about 9 months and hopefully I can get "good" in the next couple of years! I am just going to keep working at it!

I consider myself a good player, and I got there with hard work for the last 1 3/4 years, though technically I've been playing since I was 5 but not much. Before that I didn't consider myself very good, even though I could beat my parents and even the instructor at a school chess club (he could teach you the rules and tactics but trust me he wasn't good!).

About every year or two I get good.   Then of course at the same time I re-define what "good" is and the cycle continues.  If I'd played myself as I am now 5 years ago I'm sure I'd tell my future self he can stop playing, as he's gotten good enough.  I haven't been active enough in tournaments to know, but from online I'd guess I've gained about 80-100 points a year on average.

My definition of a "good player" seems to be ratings that are at least 300-400 points higher than whatever mine is at the time heh.

?

She hasn't been "good" lately.

I feel I got "good" by my standards about a year ago, maybe less. I finally reached the 2000 benchmark (online) and began to understand POSITIONS, instead of just always looking for a move. LIfe is so much easier when you know what you cannot play.  That leaves only a few moves that are decent, and usually only 2 that are acceptable at all.  Ah!  Relief! 

I've been trying for over 35 years, and still not there yet. I blame myself for the lack of focus. 

The better I get, the more I realize I have to learn and the worse I feel about my game. But don't let that put you off! I'm probably just a bit odd. 

 I think everione feels good when first learn to play and wins against his friends then learn more and think at him as bad and the more he knows the more he feels that he don't know anythink. I think the only good ones are top players but there are thee engines too and they are far from being good.

I has 'good' days an' 'bad' days - on a 'good' day I'll beat a master, on a 'bad' day I'll lose to a novice, string of 'good' days an' I'll win a tournament, string of 'bad' days an' I'll finish with 50% Consistency don't seem to be my strong suit

As for improvement, I think it comes as a series of sudden leaps forward rather a gradual process - yes you have to put in the work, but the real improvements seem to arrive as a series of epiphanies then it just a question of focus and concentration

I don't even plan on getting good.

It took me 6 months of play to become "good", 3 months later I realised I wasn't good at all.

I'm working thowards becoming good again, and my definition of good is somewhere around the 2000 mark in national rating.

I was introduced to this wonderful game 2 years ago...but no serious thought up until a few months ago... began putting time into the  game, and learning all I can, (that is when I'm not fighting Doctor Doom). The term "good" is relative...I'd say I'm not where I want to be yet...maybe in a few years...I'm now in my first tournament ever, and so far undefeated (10-0-0)...so that's good...I love reading about chess history etc. and my goals right now are to reach a rating above 2000, and then to play a GM.

No, this seems normal to me. It seems that for every piece of knowledge you pick up, you see 2 more that you haven't yet.

     I am much worse now at age 47 than when I played in school.  I hope to regain form by the end of my second year on Chess.com but progress is slow.