Road to Grandmaster

[Andy Burnett]

This thread is rather tragic. He's being written off at the grand old age of 21.

He's not being written off, it's just that most of us appreciate how strong Grandmaster level is.

If he got rid of the girlfriend, perhaps he'd have a chance.

By the way, I'd appreciate it if someone who understands Paul McKeown posts could PM me the meaning of "p.sh".

An anagram of ship, perhaps designed to get past any sweary-word filters, or simply to avoid obvious offence (not one of Paul's usual considerations I'll grant you )

I think Ian is right about my 100/1 also being way off the mark; my own odds would likely be higher than that and I've already defeated a few GM's.

[E Michael White]

Look, 25,000 to one would make just as much sense

At 25000:1 the odds would be too good for the punter.

If you back all 10000 or so players in the ECF grading list you might expect 1 or 2 of those to emerge as GMs in the next few years. Random odds of 5000 or 10000 to 1 seem more appropriate.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Will.

Tried to stick on £2.00 with my WH account but no success am going
along to my local WH to see if I can do it over the counter.

Quite a task young man, you are going to get more than your fair share
of leg-pulling and no doubt offers of advice from everywhere.

When press do come calling try to get girlfriend into the picture
as a chess player with a girlfriend may help slay a few misconceptions.

If you come out of this with an FM title, which I think is within the
bounds of every good chess player, then you can hold your head high.

The leap from there will be the very hard but if the Wright brothers listened
to everyone who said it could not be done then we would still be stuck on the ground.

[Paul McKeown]

Oh, Mr. D'Souza, I see that the obtuse remark is not beneath you. I can't say I'm bothered in the slightest.

Oh, Mr. Burnett, your accusation of insensitivity to causing offence, rather reminds me of an old saw concerning pots and kettles. I can remember some dreary threads in times past in which you were accused in the strongest terms of wilfully causing unnecessary offence.

Matthew Turner is correct, the whole charade would appear less to do with chess than with a young man's self publicity stunt. I don't believe that the story should be dignified further.

[Will Taylor]

Hi Will.

Tried to stick on £2.00 with my WH account but no success am going
along to my local WH to see if I can do it over the counter.

I doubt you'll be able to over the counter. The way I did it was to e-mail Joe Crilly (jcrillyATwilliamhillDOTcoDOTuk).

Quite a task young man, you are going to get more than your fair share
of leg-pulling and no doubt offers of advice from everywhere.

When press do come calling try to get girlfriend into the picture
as a chess player with a girlfriend may help slay a few misconceptions.

Haha, will do.

If you come out of this with an FM title, which I think is within the
bounds of every good chess player, then you can hold your head high.

The leap from there will be the very hard but if the Wright brothers listened
to everyone who said it could not be done then we would still be stuck on the ground.

I shall try to be more 'Wright brothers' than 'Icarus'.

[John Moore]

Will seems to be a rather engaging young man from his blog. I seem to recall Glenn Flear saying he went from 130 to 230 in ten years at roughly 10 points a year so slow and steady is possible but Glenn was already way over 200 at 21.

Starting from where he is at 21 and not having a lot of time to study chess, I would suggest Will needs to play as many rated games as possible. The chances of becoming a grandmaster are mighty slim - the chances of doing so and retaining all of the other interests (Mandarin Chinese!) are nil.

Nonetheless, have some fun and I, for one, will follow your blog with some interest.

[Geoff Chandler]

Good reply

I was expecting one of the other lads to come back and say I
had my head in the clouds. (again).

WH gave me [email protected] and am waiting on a reply.

My bookie knows I'm chess daft as I only bet on horses with
chess type names.
He actually points them out to me when I put my foorball bets on.

He asked if you were any good. I said you were "Brilliant."
So expect the odds to get slashed pretty soon.

I may be corrected but I think the Latvian player Janic Klovans who sadly
passed away very recently was the oldest player to get the GM requirements
by OTB play. He picked up his final norm when he was was over 60.

So age is not a handicap, you just have to become one of the few exceptions.

(perhaps put a link on your posts to your site.)

[Ben Purton]

If Will Hill offered me(with inflation taken in to account on both bets).

10000/1 on becoming GM, i would not back it.
Say 100/1 on being chess boxing world champion....

This id definately back. Because the task is transition from martial arts to boxing as the chess is already there....


I mean this in most respectful way to random guy, but your be lucky to make 210 ecf.

Ben

[Michele Clack]

If he really believes he can do it, is prepared to put in enormous amounts of work and has staying power then he just might do it. In any case if he did get as far as 210 ECF that in itself would be a big achievement.

Michael de la Masa documents his own increase over 2 years from USCF 1321 to USCF 2041 in his book "Rapid chess improvement". This was published by Everyman Chess in 2002. He did it by studying tactics at high intensity and playing a lot and analysing all his games on Fritz.

Since he started at a much lower level than Will and was a few years older who knows what Will might achieve. If he does stay with it and makes big strides then there should be some really good publicity for chess. Best of luck to him.

[William Metcalfe]

Will needs to do is talk to a certain J Hawkins another north east player who has gone from 130ish grade to our latest IM.
He would probably be able to give him some ideas what he needs to do.
The Hawk has shown what can be achieved.
How many of you on here would have given J hawkins a cat in hells chance of becoming a IM

[Michael Jones]

I'm graded roughly the same as Will, and am slightly older. I'd guess that if I put sufficient work in (which I'm not likely to) I might conceivably make it to 180 or even 200 at a (big) push, but I'm pretty certain I could never make it to GM level, which is why I've chosen to get a degree and keep chess as a hobby rather than attempt to make a living out of it.

It's very unlikely, but it's not impossible - and you certainly don't achieve something by believing from the start that you can't. Good luck Will.

[Andy Burnett]

Will needs to do is talk to a certain J Hawkins another north east player who has gone from 130ish grade to our latest IM.
He would probably be able to give him some ideas what he needs to do.
The Hawk has shown what can be achieved.
How many of you on here would have given J hawkins a cat in hells chance of becoming a IM

What sort of time-line did Hawkins achieve this on? I can see from the FIDE ratings history that he was 2200-ish at the age of 23.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

http://grading.bcfservices.org.uk/getre ... ef=174270L

Certainly Hawkins' improvement in his teens wasn't particularly impressive. His first grade was 127 at the age of 13 or so (which is itself very high for a first grade) but then he fell down to 102 for his second grade! After that he crawled fairly slowly and unevenly up to 179 at the age of 22. His rise in the four years after that was remarkable.

[Arshad Ali]

Michael de la Masa documents his own increase over 2 years from USCF 1321 to USCF 2041 in his book "Rapid chess improvement". This was published by Everyman Chess in 2002. He did it by studying tactics at high intensity and playing a lot and analysing all his games on Fritz.

If GM strength is the Himalayas, 2041 isn't even the foothills. Each successive 100 points will be harder than the last. From 1900 to 2000 shouldn't be too hard. From 2000 to 2100 will be harder. And from 2100 onwards, the true trials will begin, where innate talent will play an increasing role.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Ali.

Agree innate talent can play a magor roll. but....

You can see the Himalayas from the foothills.
You can buy a map to guide you to the top.

There is no map leading to you to a GM title.
Every players map to the top is different and in most cases
the destination is not even known.

Some go straight up to the top, others take the zig-zag path.
A few appear stuck half way up and just when you think they
will slide back down, they make it.

Most of us, the non-titled players, got lost somewhere in the wilderness
or took the wrong path and ended up climbing the wrong bloody mountain.

There is no doubt the mountain this lad has chosen to climb
will be higher than most GM's had to climb.

Having the natural gifts of say a Short and McShane etc gave them a lift up.
But never understimate sheer stubborn determination.