I just started playing this year at the age of 30, is it too late to get good?

Awsome totally agree with FM M_Hassen I tried playing as a child but back then to me the horsey was cool. Back then I new nothing about how the pieces were supposed to move it was not until my Grade ten year that I was able to sit down with a classmate that new how to play.

Since then I have been playing off and on the main thing that has held me back for so long is what allot of other players struggle with real life issues and money issues.

To me it is never too late to pick up on something new. I have a goal that I am doing my best to reach. Age is just simply a number do not let bad commentary persuade you from reaching your goal.

Slowly my next goal will be reached and it does not have anything to do with chess. This goal will only help me more when it comes to chess.

the amount of time you putting in, i reckon you can get to 1600 ELO and then plateau.Please be relevant, helpful & nice!

This is just not true. A late starter will peak lower than if he started earlier, but there is no reason he cannot peak higher than everyone else. Maybe if he started when he was 6, he would have peaked at 3200 but because he started late he only got to 2900. Of course it is not impossible. That is like saying it was impossible for a human to run the 100m under 10 seconds, oh until someone did it. Or that it was impossible to walk on the moon until someone did that too. People probably thought it was impossible for an 11 year old to be an IM until someone did that.

But we're not talking about the difference between starting at 6 and starting at 16, we're talking about starting at 30.

I find it a compelling and apt analogy.  I would though like to follow it further:  fishing is way more fun when you're catching fish!

You will still have a lot of fun, and that is what it's all about.
But it depends on your definition of good.

You can get pretty good for a tournament player, but it will be hard to earn a master title for instance... It just depends on you, not on age...

It's about the strike first, then the fight, then the actutal landing of the fish, then just being outdoors.  In that order.

For chess, I guess the equivalents would be spotting killing tactical blow, the positional buildup to that point, actually delivering the mate and finally just playing the game.

It's actually not a bad analogy.

Your 30?!? Oh Horrors!!! My "Student" was 78 years old when he started to play (!!!), he is now 84 (!!!) and is a active tournamnet player. He hit a high  of 1510 (USCF Class "C" ) before he had 3 disastrous tournaments and fell all the way down to his rating floor of 1300. He is now working on fighting his way back up again.

OK for the GOOD News / BAD News: If you work long enough and hard enough, the sky is the limit how high your rating will hit -- that's the GOOD News; The BAD News is that the "GOOD  News" is totally unrealistic. If you wok long enough and hard enough, and have enough  money to play  in tournamnet after tournament  A USCF  Class "A"  (1800 - 1999) rating is quite possible. A much more likely rating will be  anywhere between 1400 - 1799 (Class "C"  -- 1400 - 1599; Class "B" 1600 -- 1799).

To maximize your potential rating, you need to play  SMART -- by which  I don't mean  you need to BE smart, so much  as you need know which  tournaments in which to enter, and which tournaments to bypass.

The United States Chess scene is Schizophrenic: It is a single entity, but dual personalities. On one hand the USCF  was founded as a Gentleman's Social Organization, where a man could go, enjoy a good cigar, a glass of sherry, and the companionship of other men -- in other words it was an ADULT organization. Indeed some 64% of the USCF's dues is paid by ADULT members defined as anyone over the age of 25 (you are an Adult), yet ADULT members comprise only 42% of the  membership, the other 58% of the membership are under the age of 25. Of that 58%, 55% are under the age of 19, 47% under the age of 16, and a whooping  37% -- more than 1/3 of the membership -- are under the age of 12!! Meet the flip side of USCF's personality disorder: Scholastic Chess.

Scholastic players, unlike the vast majority of Adult players, play in organized school chess clubs that many times have contracted with some "Chess Coach" often times USCF Class "A" rated or above. To further handicap Adults, the  USCF developed an Age Based rating formula for anyone under the age of 25 who is unrated. The net result is a Giant Black Hole in which rating points are directly transferred  from ADULT players, to Scholastic Players, because these coached "Scholastic Players" will frequently mop the board when pitted against an equally rated ADULT. In short after decades of criticizing the Soviet  Union, the United States has re-invented the wheel, and has integrated chess into many school curiculums, since there is a very STRONG correlation between chess and academic performance. I am a very strong advocate of using Chess a a TEACHING tool, which is what every school points too. Where the  USCF and I part company is allowing  children -- some as young  as 6 years of age -- to compete in tournaments against ADULTS. This is WRONG!!! I refer to this as "Screening the population to find the Next Bobbie Fischer". Instead of segregating  the membership into Scholastic and Adult  memeberships, and making tournaments -- with the exception of a few major ones like the US Open etc., -- EITHER Scholastic OR Adult, all USCF tournamenets are mixed tournaments, mostly populated by scholastic players, with many of the lower "Classes" packed to the ceiling with Scholastic Players.

So how should a 30 year old ADULT player, "Play  SMART"??

1) Practice. To recite the question asked by a tourist  asked a New Yorker, on how to get to Carnegie Hall, to which the reply was, "Practice man, Practice"!! Use chess web sites such as Chess.com, and others to practice, and build your  skills. Play a minimum of at least 100 games under your belt, to  gain an approximate idea what is your "true approximate rating  strength". During this calibrating phase if you WIN, then choose as your next opponent someone who is rated 50-100 points higher; if you DRAW play someone 25 - 50 points above or below you.; if you LOSE, play  someone 50 - 100 points BELOW you. After 100 games you should have a pretty good idea what your UNOFFICIAL POTENTIAL USCF UNRATED rating will  be to start.

2) Armed with  this information  you are now ready to play  in a USCF tournament and begin working  on your OFFICIAL USCF  Rating.  Here is where you need to PLAY SMART: A) Select ONLY tournaments that have a time control of 40 moves in 2 hours, Sudden Death in  1 hour, with a 5 second delay (often written 40/2; SD/1; d5). AVOID  ALL Tournaments that are marked Game/30, Game / 60. Game /xyz; (often written G/30; G/60; G/x, y, or z where x,y,z is some number of minutes.) G/30  - G/60 tournaments are very popular with  Scholastic Players as they are "Dual Rated" meaning they earn both  a "Regular Rating" as well as the less coveted "Quick Chess Rating", which is really a more "fun" type rating.  AVOID  ALL Tournaments that  have a "Scholastic Component" in them.  

3) Most USCF tournaments will be broken down into "Sections"  or "Classes". To to pick tournamnets that have a large number of Sections. Depending on the structure of the tournament, and your self condfidence, try to AVOID playing in the so-called "Booster" section, which  are cramed to the rafters with scholastic players, and "Play Up" one section higher. For your first few tournaments the Booster Section should be considered, but do  be  aware that you  are more likely than not to be playing  one  of these over-coached crumb crunchers.  Indeed before even submitting your entry fee you might want  to check to see how many ADULTS have  pre-registered. If there are a LOT of ADULTS then your chances  are  better than if it most packed  with crumb  crunchers. 

4) IF you are unlucky enough to  have to play some 6-8 year old -- and chances are better than  ever you  will --  don't cut the  kid any  slack --  YOU STOMP THE LITTLE %&*^#@ INTO THE GROUND!!! I can tell you the kid won't cut YOU  any  slack!!! Don't think you can  pull the  Scholars Mate or some simple trick  on the kid. Chances are s/he already knows several Openings, Lines, etc. --  remember THESE KIDS HAVE BEEN PROFESSIONALLY COACHED. As a Rule of Thumb,  to know the REAL rating strength of that 6-8 year old crumb cruncher in front of you tack on between 100 - 200 points  to the kids posted rating. Thus  if the kid has an 1000 rating, you can expect to be playing someone  with an established rating  of 1200.  

5) Should you be lucky -- though  "luck" tends to  favor those who are best prepared -- enough to beat the crumb  cruncher,  and s/he breaks down in tears --  which  often happens -- smile kindly, tell them they played a good game, offer them encouragement, etc., then walk away. Chess is COLD BLOODED GAME. 6 thru 12 year olds should not even be allowed into an  ADULT Tournament, but the USCF in  all its "infinite wisdom" (cough) allows such  stupidity  to prevail.   

6) In your FIRST Tournament you will  be listed as UNRATED, mean you  have no official rating with the USCF. For PAIRING PURPOSES ONLY, however, since you are older than 25, YOUR ASSUMED Playing strength will be listed as 1300. This is the rating  the  USCF uses as their starting point in helping to establish your Provisional Rating. If you beat some 8 year old with an 800 rating you will gain few if any rating  points  for such a win -- it is assumed-- if on the other hand, you LOSE to that 8 year old with  his 800 rating, its the computed as though he  beat someone with a 1300 rating, and your rating will sink.  While you may be  listed as UNRATED you should play  +/- 50 -100 points  from  your calibrated rating, assuming you did not cheat during your prep  work. IF you played  stronger than your prep rating, CONGRATULATIONS, you did really well; if you played weaker than your prep work rating suggested it means you need to do some more work and   its  back to the drawing board with you.

7) During  your first  25 tournament games -- usually 5 tournaments -- you  will earn a "Provisional Rating", after 26 games your "Provisional Rating" will become your USCF  "Regular Rating" 

If you PLAY SMART you can avoid the exteme yo-yo effect in your rating due to having played in tournaments packed with crumb crunchers.

Oh, and what happens to all these "Scholastic Players",  and all the rating points they "stole" -- sucked into the Black  Hole -- from Adults?? The USCF's own research has shown that most of them will stop playing  tournament level chess once they enter High School. By the time they finish  High School,  only  1-5% of all "Scholastic Players" will still be playing.

Final word: If my 84 year old "Student" (trust me, I'm NOT a chess coach  by any stretch of the imagination, but I am a decent Class "B" player), can hit 1510 with in 6 years, if you  are 30, depending on how often you  play, and if you PLAY SMART, a Class "A" rating is well within your reach. A Class "C" rating is a certainty, and Class "B" rating almost as sure. 

Wishing you  lots of Success. PLAY SMART!!!

Those 6-8 year olds can be quite mature.

Just not true, and you surely can't believe it is.

We almost agree.  Move landing of the fish to the top of the list and I'm with ya'.

+1

For me, "good" means maintaining a 4-digit rating on chess.com. So far I'm still not "good" at bullet.

I suggest you try and learn from your mistakes. Learn to identify your mistakes and learn how to avoid the mistakes you do make.

At first you might need a coach to point out your mistakes.

you're never too old to try something new ! re: it takes time, but just relax, have fun, and enjoy the experience....and it will be ALL GOOD !

Mikhail Chigorin didn't start studying chess seriously until he was 24. Within five years he was one of the best players in Russia. During the next twenty years he was consistently one of the best players in the world.

Achieving 2000+ ELO is well within your reach, I'd say, assuming you continue to work hard.

just hier a gm to spent 8h to study withy per day it will cost you at least 300$per day but in two years you will become the teacher.Take this from me theory and blitz kill it.learn the fundamentals and play a 60 min game vs someone you will lose fall in to a trap open badly make a bad plan even draw after the game analyze the game with youre opponent and learn what you should if do

Hey if it has not been done then somebody has to be the first to do it.

So why not you and now!

NM or FM starting after 30 sounds extremley ambitious. You'll need a lot of OTB practice (probably 100+ rated long games/year for a couple of years to catch up) and a lot of training as well. You'd better get a coach soon too

Blitzing on chess.com won't help much, at least not till you've started the serious stuff. You may want to have a look at this post and pick some training package.

I disagree. Young players pick up patterns and become familiar with the geometry of the chessboard without even noticing it, even if they play crap. That's something which beginner adult players very often struggle with.