lichess.org
Donate

Aging in Chess

Re @ebk1976 #7:

To begin with, Péter Lékó did not lose the World Championship match, he drew it after losing the last game. There was no play-off back then.

While I agree that playing top chess becomes more difficult around the age of 40 (and perhaps even several years earlier), it can be very individual. It is mostly wrong to make conclusions based on one or two tournaments. My opinion is that players around 40 are not weaker than before, just have more bad days than before. (Which is very similar in terms of results.) Class remains, while maintaining enough energy becomes more challenging.
Say, I had some pretty bad results recently, which also had a lot to do with my busy schedule and tilting. That said, on a normal day or a good one I am able to play as well as before. GM Vasyl Ivanchuk became the World Rapid Champion in 2016, at the age of 47. He finished 2nd in the European Blitz Championship in 2023, at the age of 54. When he is in good form, he is a formidable opponent. (Even for considerably stronger players than me. He possesses great understanding of chess, just sometimes appears to be out of form or not motivated.
Another thing is that the competition has grown up. Nowadays the young players can reach a high level much easier than before, as there are many courses, trainers, one can play or study online and so on. This also means that it is more difficult for young players to break through, as there are many strong youngsters nowadays.
When it comes to classical chess or rapid, I am not sure if I played better 10 years ago than now. (I am going to turn 40 in a few months.) But the level of players rated between 2400 and 2550 has raised a lot, and not only because the advanced opening theory makes it harder to score highly against nominally weaker opposition. There were some recent events where I played at my standard level or even slightly better, but still ended up losing rating.
Players like Fabiano Caruana or Arjun Erigaisi can score very well even in open tournaments, but for many lesser mortals it is hard to face young and aspiring IMs (or WGMs) who are often underrated. Results of the recent big open tournaments confirm this view.

Re @ebk1976 #7: To begin with, Péter Lékó did not lose the World Championship match, he drew it after losing the last game. There was no play-off back then. While I agree that playing top chess becomes more difficult around the age of 40 (and perhaps even several years earlier), it can be very individual. It is mostly wrong to make conclusions based on one or two tournaments. My opinion is that players around 40 are not weaker than before, just have more bad days than before. (Which is very similar in terms of results.) Class remains, while maintaining enough energy becomes more challenging. Say, I had some pretty bad results recently, which also had a lot to do with my busy schedule and tilting. That said, on a normal day or a good one I am able to play as well as before. GM Vasyl Ivanchuk became the World Rapid Champion in 2016, at the age of 47. He finished 2nd in the European Blitz Championship in 2023, at the age of 54. When he is in good form, he is a formidable opponent. (Even for considerably stronger players than me. He possesses great understanding of chess, just sometimes appears to be out of form or not motivated. Another thing is that the competition has grown up. Nowadays the young players can reach a high level much easier than before, as there are many courses, trainers, one can play or study online and so on. This also means that it is more difficult for young players to break through, as there are many strong youngsters nowadays. When it comes to classical chess or rapid, I am not sure if I played better 10 years ago than now. (I am going to turn 40 in a few months.) But the level of players rated between 2400 and 2550 has raised a lot, and not only because the advanced opening theory makes it harder to score highly against nominally weaker opposition. There were some recent events where I played at my standard level or even slightly better, but still ended up losing rating. Players like Fabiano Caruana or Arjun Erigaisi can score very well even in open tournaments, but for many lesser mortals it is hard to face young and aspiring IMs (or WGMs) who are often underrated. Results of the recent big open tournaments confirm this view.

@RealDavidNavara
Thank you so much for responding I am a huge fan of yours!!!
Yes, Leko did draw the World Championship match, but this was effectively a loss, which is why I would still mention it that way.
Your point about class is completely valid. Even when Kasparov (at 61 years old) played the 9LX tournament this past year, while his results were mediocre (in that field), we could still see his class and brilliance reappearing at certain moments.
The rising amount of strong young players is clear. From players like World Champion Gukesh to Rapid World Champ Volodar Murzin, to just a random 14-year-old 2200 who can upset grandmasters, it is much harder to improve or maintain rating imo.
Thank you for offering your thoughts, I appreciate it!

@RealDavidNavara Thank you so much for responding I am a huge fan of yours!!! Yes, Leko did draw the World Championship match, but this was effectively a loss, which is why I would still mention it that way. Your point about class is completely valid. Even when Kasparov (at 61 years old) played the 9LX tournament this past year, while his results were mediocre (in that field), we could still see his class and brilliance reappearing at certain moments. The rising amount of strong young players is clear. From players like World Champion Gukesh to Rapid World Champ Volodar Murzin, to just a random 14-year-old 2200 who can upset grandmasters, it is much harder to improve or maintain rating imo. Thank you for offering your thoughts, I appreciate it!

This is ofcourse given that you have already faced the peak as a top level player.
As an amateur who is turning 40 this year, I believe I still have potential to get a lot better if I put in the effort.
These players have already extracted all they possibly could from their talent.

One player that could be named as an exception along with Anand, is Viktor Korchnoi.
Korchnoi still played very well in the 1991 Candidates Tournament. He was 60 at the time.
He also beat Caruana in a blitz game at the age of 80.

This is ofcourse given that you have already faced the peak as a top level player. As an amateur who is turning 40 this year, I believe I still have potential to get a lot better if I put in the effort. These players have already extracted all they possibly could from their talent. One player that could be named as an exception along with Anand, is Viktor Korchnoi. Korchnoi still played very well in the 1991 Candidates Tournament. He was 60 at the time. He also beat Caruana in a blitz game at the age of 80.

@Geelse_zot 100% true. An amateur can still improve tremendously at pretty much any age, although it will be harder the older they get.
Korchnoi was also an incredible player, he is also one to mention.

@Geelse_zot 100% true. An amateur can still improve tremendously at pretty much any age, although it will be harder the older they get. Korchnoi was also an incredible player, he is also one to mention.

honorable mention goes out to Viktor Korchnoi.

He was still in the top 100 at the age of 75.

honorable mention goes out to Viktor Korchnoi. He was still in the top 100 at the age of 75.

@asafebgi said in #6:

How do you explain Anand?
He's declined but he barely plays so it's hard to tell.

@asafebgi said in #6: > How do you explain Anand? He's declined but he barely plays so it's hard to tell.

Hikaru is his own worst enemy, not his age. He already stomped Hans Niemann not long ago—after HN claimed that Hikaru was too old at this point to be competitive enough to win against him. However, Hikaru ignores important factors, such as not being dedicated to chess as he was in the past, as he admits he considers himself a chess "streamer" on YouTube and not a chess player. How can that not be a factor in his wins vs losses over the long haul? In addition, the "younger" players who now defeat him have all sorts of chess AI and bots to train with plus GM coaches. Wind the clock back to earlier times and those players will be quite different in terms of skill level.

Hikaru is his own worst enemy, not his age. He already stomped Hans Niemann not long ago—after HN claimed that Hikaru was too old at this point to be competitive enough to win against him. However, Hikaru ignores important factors, such as not being dedicated to chess as he was in the past, as he admits he considers himself a chess "streamer" on YouTube and not a chess player. How can that not be a factor in his wins vs losses over the long haul? In addition, the "younger" players who now defeat him have all sorts of chess AI and bots to train with plus GM coaches. Wind the clock back to earlier times and those players will be quite different in terms of skill level.