How long from Beginner to 2000 strength at Chess960?

[EGarrett]

There's a lot of discussion about how much time it would take a very intelligent person to reach 2000 strength at traditional chess. A huge portion of this seems to come down to grunt work studying openings.

So what time frame do you think it would take someone to go from a beginner to topping 2000 at Chess960? Let's assume there was a prop bet and they played 40 hours a week on ICC.

(note: I'm not sure if the rating scale at Chess 960 is different than at traditional chess, so if it matters, assume that I mean whatever would be the equivalent to 2000 FIDE strength at traditional chess)

[ohsnapzbrah]

Very different skillsets. I'd imagine it'd be more actually to get to 2000 in chess960. The reasoning for this is that you do not need to know much, if any, opening theory. And it's often suggested that you don't really need to know much opening theory to get to 2000. But you would need a far better grasp of different positions and the strength of the pieces. There would also be a lot of funky tactics, much moreso than in normal chess, just due to the differing piece set up.

[fezjones]

40 hours a week lol. 18 months

[John_Douglas]

I think there would be no real difference.

Getting to 2000 has almost nothing to do with the amount of "grunt work" you do learning the openings. Anyway, learning openings is not grunt work. If you actually learn the opening and understand the tactical and strategic nuances, that will improve your all around chess game (including Fischer Random Chess). If you just memorize the moves by rote and don't understand why you're playing them, then it won't help you anyway because you won't know what to do once the book moves end.

[Do it Right]

There more there is to learn in a field the easier it is to show an edge over the field; not only because it gives you more areas to excel in but because it gives other people a chance to inappropriately imbalance their study and improvement. In chess the obvious example is obvious - openings. So many weak to average players spend practically all of their study time on openings and subsequently remain weak players forever. The less areas to learn and master the more difficult it is to show an edge. With openings taken out I imagine it would take somewhat substantially longer to reach an equivalent 2000 rating. I'd expect 18-24 months on the low end.