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

@BTRex2010 said in #10:
> well to be fair in my opinion 9-10 years old is the best place to start bc your not extremely stupid (what can you expect from a 5 year old lets be real) and also in my experience (i started chess really early) the board game just gets really boring if you start way too early. but it is true that starting chess in your youth gives a huge advantage towards aiming to get a title, for example its pretty much impossible for a 30 year old who just started chess to get GM.

ima be honest i agree with every single part of this
especially how chess can get boring if you start too early
also, usually when you start at an age like 5 and you get good your parents start pushing you a lot to the point where its no longer that enjoyable anymore

Tbh I don’t think starting chess at 5 makes you better than starting at 7-8, I started at 6 and my friends who stared at 8-9 are at the same ( even higher ) level as I am. At 5 or 6 you’re probably just gonna learn how the game works as we can’t handle more than that in that age.

"... the NM title is an honor that only one percent of USCF members attain. ..." - IM John Donaldson (2015)
www.jeremysilman.com/book-review/reaching-the-top/

Probably , yes xxx

Yeah. Starting chess too early doesn't make any difference I guess because you'll probably will only know how the pieces work for about 2 years.

I believe it is 6 months old, and it is also a good time to begin learning Mandarin Chinese.

@MartinPlath said in #16:
> I believe it is 6 months old, and it is also a good time to begin learning Mandarin Chinese.
Lol I should go and find a 6 month old to teach him Mandarin.

Starting early is known to help, but I don't know there is any exact research on the optimal age. It is also know that even though starting early increases the chances, it is possible for some to become GM starting later.

Hell, my buddy and I were hanging rooks on a3 and h3 when we started in earnest at 13. Now he writes chess books and is a professional coach. He never made it past IM, but he could have if he prioritized it since I think he was above 2500 for a bit, or super close. I never made it past 1913 USCF. Everyone is different, and just because starting early helps, it doesn't mean that some cant succeed starting later.

@BTRex2010 said in #10:
> well to be fair in my opinion 9-10 years old is the best place to start bc your not extremely stupid (what can you expect from a 5 year old lets be real)

But you get some of the chess knowledge really deep ingrained into the brain, and the kid may pick up patterns and relations in a way that would take much more work later. It's when the brain is still fresh and the structures are still being built,

We all learned so much at this age, which defines our thinking process into adulthood.