Do you really have to start chess at 5 years old to become a GM?

@Sarg0n said in #8:
> I know players who started in their youth time and did everything (really everything) and weren’t able to reach 2000.
>
> In the last decades no adult starter has become GM. True, there are those stories where Chigorin did it in the dinosaurs era. Those were the days when most players hardly couldn’t tell a Bishop from a Knight.
>
> If it helps your ego than yes, you can do it. Realistically, hardly any adult starter will become FM or IM.

Jonathon Hawkins from England started playing properly when he was 18. I don't know if he counts as adult starter he was an average club player when he was 18 about 1700/1800 FIDE, and made GM basically from scratch.

@Cyncko-3000 said in #37:
> WOW nice. even still I'm only rated FIDE 1122 after doing chess for 8 years!! Sorry 1473 now after new adjustments.
> Are you talking about beating players who are rated 2000 FIDE online or OTB?

No I mean otb classical.My classical rating here is so low because I never play classical online because I am bored.

@panagiskosmatos said in #42:
> No I mean otb classical.My classical rating here is so low because I never play classical online because I am bored.
Wow!! Why are your rapid and blitz ratings low though? BTW where are you from bc it changes from place to place. I'm from Sri Lanka and here 1100 FIDE is like 2000 on lichess

@Cyncko-3000 said in #43:
> Wow!! Why are your rapid and blitz ratings low though? BTW where are you from bc it changes from place to place. I'm from Sri Lanka and here 1100 FIDE is like 2000 on lichess
Well I am from Greece and here 1100 is somewhere between 1500 and 1800

@panagiskosmatos said in #44:
> Well I am from Greece and here 1100 is somewhere between 1500 and 1800
??? 1500 to 1800???? Bro I had to spend 7 years to get 1100 FIDE here!!

Grasping the value of an exchange is paramount. If a child cannot understand value, than it's not time to learn chess.