If this has been covered in another topic I apologize, but I couldn't find anything on it.

What would you have done differently in your chess career, knowing what you know now? No specific types of responses, just anything you would do differently if you had to do it all over again. Some sample questions to get the thoughts flowing...

More/less studying openings/middlegames/endgames?
Taken chess less/more seriously?
Traveled more/less for tournaments?
More/less time into the game?

I'm interested to hear the responses of those who have "made it" (I consider having a title "making it", even if it isn't your personal ultimate goal).

Is "Candidate Master" a title? What is the minimum for what you consider a titled player?

Good question, I didn't really have anything specific in mind. Let's say NM or FM, as an example.

i'd spend more time on things other than chess. it has always been my life. when i was a baby, we had a tiled floor in the food-burning room, so my mommy would pick me up from square to square and i'd be a chess piece. usually the queen, but sometimes the knight. i'd capture everything on the floor. that's how i learned how the pieces moved. and i realize i've probably fought with my friends much less than what is average for my age, so when i'm finally allowed to go outside on my own i probably won't be able to catch many mice.

i'm an ultra-GM, 2807 fide.

Looks like we can lock it up after that answer, .

well I'm no 2800, but I am an NM.

I would have started earlier - there are a ton of fun opportunities for kids to play and get subsidized travel if they are any good at all (and especially if they are girls).

However, having not started competitive chess until 19, I guess I don't really have any regrets or things I'd change; I played pretty seriously through university, made some connections that helped me get started in the business world, had some fun, and a few years after, got my NM title, made a frank self evaluation about my ability to go further, and dialed it back to a hobby and accepted that I would probably see my play and results degrade, but remain a "sometimes dangerous" opponent. Maybe if I had a regret it's that I basically stopped playing for many years and let my level get to a point where I probably can't regain my former strength.

The honest truth is that most people aren't going to make anything of a chess career; keep your playing in perspective and you'll be fine. Maybe I would have taken it a bit less seriously, but some of the things I accomplished are awesome lifetime memories of finding one thing that I was really (comparatively) elite at after a pretty sad high school athletic career.

I'm not a titled player, but I honestly believe I had what it took to become at the very least FM. I ended up quitting chess at my peak of around 2200 since I lost interest.

Back when i was playing chess I would watch every video I could on roman dzindzi because he would explain his thought process very well and I think I highly benefited from those. I jumped from like 1100 uscf to 1800 uscf <I was stuck at 1000 uscf for 2 years prior> in less than 2 year and I honestly believe the videos helped tremendously. I adapted a lot of the play styles/heuristics and just played a bunch.

I wish youtube existed back when I was playing chess.

There's so many instructive videos where players that play similar styles as me and are a little to moderately stronger than me would explain their thought process in games.

This is an example which I think is a very good series by John Bartholomew:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYkT...aoF_T&index=28

Hey Tex, I never got the chance to finish my point!

So the subject was how much effort strong players put in over the board. I would argue that strong players aren't much better than weaker players at this in general. Those that do put in the effort, at any level, have a lot to gain imo.

Of course you need to take into account the time control and tournament. It would be unreasonable to be at maximum capacity for the whole of a 9 round, classical time control tournament. In longer games/tournaments there is a skill to 'turning up' at the critical moments.

Glad you remembered your password Sorry again to have to go so quickly, I was in the airport and they started boarding my flight unexpectedly.

Here's a sort of related question for you. How much of what you did to make it to FM do you not find helpful, in retrospect? I guess that's tough to answer because there are things you might not think were helpful, but subconsciously were.

Yeah as you guessed its really too hard to say. Trying to learn the Dragon inside out when I was 16 wasn't the best use of my time.

Hi, I'm a CM (Candidate Master).

I probably should've took chess more seriously in school. Was busy with other things.

I should've spent more time studying classical games and thematic/key/critical games in my openings. I spent too much time on just learning lines, it's important to understand all the motif, themes etc. and I didn't have enough guidance until I found a coach who was actually good. In my country, the chess community isn't too big and it's hard to find tournaments to play and travelling is expensive.