25-08-2014, 04:18 PM
Lots of interesting ideas being generated.
Matthew basically nails it here. 22 is not young in chess terms and ideally we need to get them playing and training at a much younger age. Someone who knows what they are doing would really need to organise this. On a related note, how many chess academies are there in Scotland - is Aberdeen the only one? If so, is there evidence to suggest that they work in terms of creating more (strong) players?
However, it is certainly possible to continue to improve in your twenties (and beyond) and I still believe that strong investment in this area is needed. Whilst you may not have the tactical sharpness you had at 16, this is compensated for in other areas.
Andy M, can we see a comparison with other titles and norms? There seemed to be a drop of after Rowson - Shaw was something of an anomaly and I suspect Dearing cruised to IM and then got a real job and life.
Closed tournaments in Hungary - It's hard to imagine a less motivating place to play chess. 2200 IMs who have sold their chess soul and the tournaments are not very professionally done in my opinion (maybe I'm fussy). I would expect Czech Republic to be better, though that would not be hard. Strong opens are better value for money.
Matthew basically nails it here. 22 is not young in chess terms and ideally we need to get them playing and training at a much younger age. Someone who knows what they are doing would really need to organise this. On a related note, how many chess academies are there in Scotland - is Aberdeen the only one? If so, is there evidence to suggest that they work in terms of creating more (strong) players?
However, it is certainly possible to continue to improve in your twenties (and beyond) and I still believe that strong investment in this area is needed. Whilst you may not have the tactical sharpness you had at 16, this is compensated for in other areas.
Andy M, can we see a comparison with other titles and norms? There seemed to be a drop of after Rowson - Shaw was something of an anomaly and I suspect Dearing cruised to IM and then got a real job and life.
Closed tournaments in Hungary - It's hard to imagine a less motivating place to play chess. 2200 IMs who have sold their chess soul and the tournaments are not very professionally done in my opinion (maybe I'm fussy). I would expect Czech Republic to be better, though that would not be hard. Strong opens are better value for money.