How to improve at chess when you are "older"

Hey everyone, I'm currently trying to find out how one could make the progress of middle-aged chess players a lot easier and faster

I know some of you are concerned about your age:

-maybe you quitted chess when you were young and now want to get back at chess seriously

or

-You just have learned chess and want to get better.

It would be helpful for you to gain clarity about your current situation if you can respond to these 2 questions honestly:

1. As a chess player, who wants to get better, What are the 2 biggest issues, you're dealing with?
2. Regarding getting better, what kind of results would you wish for more than anything else?
   

Thanks so much in advance - looking forward to reading your answers!

P.S: You can comment below or send me a DM.

How about going from 350 elo to around 1100 elo? That would be a good start for adult senior.

From playing chess for the past 50 years to playing competitive well online competitive chess for 15 I find its becoming more and more difficult to play blitz at high speeds. Scores are really not that important anymore. One exception would be when I play a GM or IM. Then during the game I'm saying to myself " What did he say in his book that I should do on this move". Really get the sense that a GM is unbeatable at my level. 

Age is not a barrier. Most old chess players refuse to sit down with a chess book and study for a few hours a day. Anyone can get to 2200 if they want to. It takes dedication. I suck but every year I am better because I study. My improvement average suggests I will be 2200 when I am 60 years old.... that's 18 years away. 🤔

I'm 58 and my chess study is what i like to call the gymnasium of the mind.  I study purely for the mental exercise. 

I'll be 78 in a few weeks.  I got back into playing chess about six months ago after not playing for over 40 years and I hadn't played much more than knowing how to move the pieces then.  I started back thinking I should do something for mind exercise and to hopefully postpone senility.  I don't study enough to expect to get out of the beginner group.  At this point I'm hoping to get out of the uh oh class when I see some openings,  cut down on the blunders and continue to enjoy playing.  I've been stuck in the 800s for the past four months and getting into the 900s is my current goal.

I should clarify my statement about anyone can get to 2200... I meant national rating and not 2200 FIDE.

I have bottomed out as a USCF B player, and have no real expectations to get back to being an A player.

Interesting chat or blog. Many are older than I but I do agree that it helps the mind to stay active.

I am age 80 and improved slowly until 14 months ago when I had pneumonia and could get no hospital  care as hospitals were full of COVID..  I survived   but it was a set back for my chess.

I am now recovering and am now near near 2450 in strength. [all time high about 2570]

As long as you keep playing slow chess every day and gain knowledge every day you can keep advance in age from too much of a limit.

I peaked at age of 42 and had 1900 + but the last 13 years dropped to 1700+ . Despite the hours and days I spend with , there is no end to loose elo points. I feel less sharp with white and still are about 150 elo less strong with the black pieces. Lets say 1850 for white , 1700 with black. This has been throughout my 35 years of chess.

I play fide tournaments (2x a year),

study (perfection) my openingsrepertoir

study endgames

puzzle a lot at chesstempo (mixed 1750 avg) and lichess (2350 on avg) ,

play around 30 official games a year

play around 50 games against my chess oldies of 1700-1800 elo range where I force my oldie in the openingvariation that I just learned to more detail.All at tournament conditions.

I puzzle with peaks , usually 5 a day, occasionally none , but can be up to 50 in one day. I guess about 1500 a year.

My biggest problem ?

Plain errors. Sometimes I forget the opponents attack and start calculating from my perspective and loose a piece in 1. A bit like Biden but to a lesser degree. I'm only 55.

Problems to concentrate , lack of energy to calculate, count on my sense of strategy and piece harmony too much. Getting too slow. Its like a football player who is slower cause of age , who tries to compensate positionally.

Lack of visualisation. My scan on move 1 is wide but the deeper I calculate , the less accurate. Already on move 3, moved pieces on move 1 or 2, fade.

My "new" fide is still mid 1800 but I feel overrated and my last 2 year performance is about 1750 old fide ( 2 years ago ) to 1800 new fide (last year).

They don't they just need to study ,practice ,get more understanding

I would recommend tying to get into a stong club or a coach so you have tons of good players to learn from and try to be better than studying is of course important but actual practice is typically better (study study study those endgames lol ) or just try to get really really good on your own

Honestly do the time control that's best suited for you blitz may be helpfulcbut rapid is (typically) better for older people try to play with increment so you don't start rushing if you are too impatient or play to fast

I recommend studying endgames and middle game ideas and trying them out yourself I honestly just learned one or two main ideas (and a tiny bit of theory ) for most openings I didn't really study them at all if I had to guess out elo is decreasing due to sloppy midgames and endgames

As the ops description says you should not follow the average advice you need to find a different way to improve to lol find what's best suited for you (I like how the op is 2500+)

We just have to change our approach to the game. Do we play for a win when the best outcome is a draw? Are we playing for tricks and getting worse positions? Sometimes we just need to better analyze the situation.