What makes a good chess player?

What are the qualities to make someone a good chess player?

Is it about intelligence, about practice, about concentration?

Are these qualities given to by birth, or do you gain these by expirience or by time?

Is it true that everybody might become a GM? Or just those who are gifted?

In short: Which qualities/charasteristics/experiences are needed te make someone a good chess player?

I believe anyone can become a Grandmaster. It's just that innate qualities such as intelligence and spacial awareness, for example, will allow one to become better faster and easier.

I'll leave out the clichéd answers (some of which you already mentioned) but the less-often-heard trait of a good player is an obsessive-compulsive desire to not make mistakes and even better, NEVER make the same mistake twice.

I've been in clubs where I see a novice-level kid walk in, get beaten, figure out why and come back next week stronger just based on his ability to not repeat the mistakes he made.  While I dance around at my 1700-ish rating level month after month, year after year, I see kids (and adults) with this attitude shoot up the rating ladder like nobody's business. No coaches, no 8-hours of studying a day regimens .... just an intensive desire to "self-correct".

Sure, you might agree, all of us "self-correct" and learn from mistakes. It's just that these tenacious punks do it to the Nth degree  :)

You'll easily identify them in a club ... they'll get so furiously angry at themselves (and not their opponent or nearby furniture, thankfully!) and instead of running away or calling this game "not their thing", they quickly figure out (with a stronger player's help , book, computers etc.) why + where they went wrong and they are ready to do battle again ... they have a ton of fire in their belly and are screaming for a "rematch with themselves".

Not true. If everybody had the inate ability to reach grandmaster leve, there would be many, many more GM's

Personallly I think it's mainly important that your motivation fits. It's like what shivsky said: you must be willing to get better. You do that by figuring out what mistakes you've made and how not to make them again.

Further of course you need concentration and a little intelligence never hurts, but mainly it's about the good attitude. I fully agree with shivsky!

Rooperi, your argument would be true. You forgot that most of us do not have the time/desire to become a GM. You're raising a bad argument....

And you forget that we are on a planet with a popualation of 7 billion.

If one percent of one percent of them had the inclination, that would make 700000 GM's.

Your argument is worse than mine.

i guess you mean 2700+. I think for 27000 you defenately need those points

Apart from those talents mentioned earlier in this thread I am sure that you would also need the talent or lust and/or very strong interest to spend hours and hours on the matter. Study openings, end games, puzzle of different kinds like "find the plan" or whatever and other chess related matters and of course play, play and play and analyse afterwards.

I think a good chess player should be able to find the best move in any situation.

Have somewhat of a photographic memory to memorize positional lines. Be able to draw any situation if necessary and force checkmates in less than 20 moves against other chess players with less skill.

Chess masters who have the ability to visualize the board in their head are also good blindfolded chess players.

My point is, there are many tens of thousands of people with the will, desire or drive to become Gm's, and with the resources like time and money to pursue it. Some of them even play on this site, I'll wager. But there are only about 1200 GM's. To reach the top you need more than sheer will.

knowing/remembering positional lines has little to do with finding the best move. Sure, if you know an opening, you can play the best move, because you know it's the best move. But after the game goes in a for you unknown variation, this skill doesn't help you at all in finding the best move! 

Do you guys think we are derailing this potentially useful thread? The OP posed a more generic question here relating to what it takes to be good...not freakishly world-beating good.  Perhaps we could post this as a new thread question "What does it take to become a GM?".

Thanks!

 So you say you need more than the will, but what abilities do you refer to then?

Well, I think you need natural talent too.

 I guess it might be better to change the 'tread question' into: what does it take to become a GM? Although I think it is better to change the question a bit into: what abilities are necesserely to become a GM?

IMO this answer was dead on.  "Amateurs practice until they get it right, professionals practice until they can't get it wrong" is something I remember every time I get into a position where I've screwed up before and failed to learn from it, or learned something once only to forget it later.

The secret to success in any endeavor is hard work. Nothing else matters. It was Garry Kasparov who famously said, "Do not begrudge the time," hinting at the tremendous time he has spent studying chess.

I play the piano as well, and I was once reading an interview with a world famous pianist (I don't remember who) and they asked her about her practice habits, and I was curious because I'm not really good at the piano and I wanted to get better, and she said something like, "Oh, you know, everyday I wake up in the morning, have breakfast, play piano for about three hours, have some lunch, play for another three hours, have some dinner, and maybe play a little bit before I go to bed." And I was like, "Holy mother of God, good bananas, great Scott, 1.21 gigawatts, damn!" I bet you if I played the piano for six hours every day for my entire life I would be a world famous pianist as well. But guess what? I don't want to.

That's why I quoted you above. You may THINK that there are tens of thousands of people with the will, desire, and drive to become grandmasters... but not really. I've noticed that people VASTLY overestimate the amount of effort they put into things. You played chess for three hours a day for a year? Big deal. That's NOTHING. And playing isn't necessarily studying, either. Playing blitz all day might not make you any better.

I'm not denying that there is some genetic component, and to be the world champion probably requires a lot of luck, a lot of skill, and a lot of genetics, all combined (and being born in Russia with a father who is also a grandmaster probably helps). But if you just want to be really good at something all it takes is really hard work.

The reason I'm posting this is that it saddens me how many people think they "just can't do it". I think most people believe this because it gives them an excuse. "Well, I wasn't born with that talent, so it's not my fault." 99.99% of people give up on things before they get anywhere near the amount of effort required to become a grandmaster. And that's fine. As long as you acknowledge and respect the amount of effort the real grandmasters put into their craft.

I'm not a grandmaster. But the truth is, I don't WANT to be one. Sure, it would be glamorous and awesome to be that good at chess, I'm just not willing to put in the dedication necessary. And I'm okay with that. I admit that. I think it was Tiger Woods who said, "Everyone wants the perks that come along with being the best, but nobody is willing to put in the years of effort it takes to get there." I think that's true for pretty much everything. Would you really want to dedicate every waking hour of your entire life to chess? Because that's what it takes.

People always love to point out counterexamples, like so-and-so was great at chess by the age of 13, but such a person isn't a normal grandmaster, and even so I bet you he dedicated most of his 13 years of life to chess. It's not like he popped out of the womb being awesome at chess.

I always find that art is a good example of time and effort. People are always praising how talented artists are and that "I could never draw like that", but they never realize that such artists are the people who sat in the back of the class in high school and drew all day rather than paying attention. After drawing all day for a couple dozen years these people are naturally very good at drawing.

Another reason for the misbelief that "people are born with talent" is that you often never actually see the hard work people put in. Because geniuses often make things look so effortless we assume that there is no effort behind it. That's just flat out wrong. Whereas you or I might walk down the street listening to our iPods, a grandmaster is walking down the street thinking about chess. Whereas you or I might be watching TV, a grandmaster is thinking about chess.

I have a great example from my own life. I was a straight-A student in high school, and during study hall, while most other people were playing ping-pong in the rec room, I was studying. A student came up to me and said, "What are you studying for, Philip? If I was a smart as you, I would never study! I would just relax and chill out. I wish things came as easily for me as they do for you." It never even occurred to him that the REASON I was so "smart" was BECAUSE I studied. Sure, in class and it looked "effortless" to get straight A's, but that's only because most people didn't pay attention to me at home or during study hall. They never noticed the time that I put in.

Sure, it's a cheesy story, ha ha, but the point is valid.

Again, I'm not denying that genetics have something to do with it, but please don't use it as a shield or excuse not to try hard.

Here's my 50 cents:

What are the qualities to make someone a good chess player?

"The ability to calculate quickly and accurately."

Is it about intelligence, about practice, about concentration?

Practice. Concentration is about practice too.

Are these qualities given to by birth, or do you gain these by expirience or by time?

Experience (if that's supposed to mean hard and serious work. )

Is it true that everybody might become a GM? Or just those who are gifted?

I think if one starts serious study from a very early age (early childhood) he/she can become a GM. But for this, many factors must come together, like financial situation, dedicated family, love of the game at such young age (which also might have to do with talent) etc.

Those who think's everybody could be a GM, surly doesen't have what it takes....

Everybody who thinks chess is that easy, doesen't know much about chess...