Getting better at age 60?

Hi all,
I am just about to turn 60 and a few months ago rediscovered chess for myself. I learned when I was 7, but just the rules and played dilettante-ish games against other kids for a while. Then at age 15 I got a Fidelity Chess Challenger 7 and tried to play seriously against it for a while. I sucked and only once beat it at level 3 because I played purely on intuition and never learned about openings, end games etc. Then 45 years of nothing.

To my amazement I almost (not quite!) picked up where I left. I know that because I got sucked in again trying to play against a Chess Challenger 7 emulator (CB-emu) and had serious fun.

Now here is my question: I am under no illusion that I will go places at my age with my limited capacity to grow new dendrites. However, should I even somewhat seriously try to get better?
At the moment, I play a lot of puzzles and yes, I have improved there. I also check out the opening patterns almost every time I play against the computer and look at my worst moves post-game. I only have played against a human once; it seems a bit stressful at the moment.
I still feel that I am mostly just reactivating brain connections formed when I was 15. Which is fine - I would be perfectly happy to stay at my level and just enjoy if I get told that no amount of work will lead to much improvement at my age.
Thanks for any input!

(Awesome CAPTCHA mechanism, btw!)

@coderunner86 said in #1:

Try 30+20 games it's nice to have time to think. You can start against the Maja bots, that's what I did to get over my fear/ hesitation to play humans.

https://lichess.org/@/maia1

They're designed to play human like.

Although playing people is really a lot less scary once you start.

And about getting better, I think reaching your potential even factoring in age is a long way away so don't stress about it.

I'm 65. I would never let conventional wisdom stop me from trying to improve. Of course it's not so easy to teach an old dog new tricks, you can compensate by appropriate repetition to reinforce what you have learned. Also, most "beginner" chess books are written to sell, which means they will target the largest market. So the right kind of book is important, one that is more reliant on the written word than on diagrams and arrows, which I suppose might be easier for the agile young teenage mind.

I am 50+ years in the game, but I say there is room for improvement. I guess I'll find out.

@lonelypeanut said in #2:

Try 30+20 games it's nice to have time to think. You can start against the Maja bots, that's what I did to get over my fear/ hesitation to play humans.

@maia1

I will try out maia; let's see how it treats me.

@themysterytramp said in #3:

I'm 65. I would never let conventional wisdom stop me from trying to improve.

That I completely agree with - something age teaches you I guess. I was looking for replies from people around my age. Of course, as opposed to you I had a 45 year pause!

Also, most "beginner" chess books are written to sell, which means they will target the largest market. So the right kind of book is important, one that is more reliant on the written word than on diagrams and arrows, which I suppose might be easier for the agile young teenage mind.

Would you have a book recommendation then for somebody like me?

I am 50+ years in the game, but I say there is room for improvement. I guess I'll find out.
Good luck to both of us!

I don't know if you can become a chess grandmaster at 60 – but is that really the goal? I started chess this year in February and I'm also going to be 60 in 3 months.
I've read, (and I take into account the book advice given by our friends on this forum - all advices)
I've watched (still today) educational videos -and I've been going to lichess, I've been practicing: puzzles (but this is not enough) and problems (in general and I've started the themes).
I go to an association to play against real players - it's impressive and very nice! They are excellent teachers. One day I shall play an honorable game with them, to honor them and for my happiness.
In the meantime, I don't just have to work on openings and tactics but also the panic I have when I'm facing a human or stockfish player.....I do anything!............ it will come one day ...
I'm sure you'll improve – the most important thing for me is to love this chessboard and these 32 little "friends" who want to play in all directions !
If you came back on the chessboard after so many years, is it really a coincidence in your opinion?
Maybe chess is not just a game.....
Go on... It's a world of its own where every story (= match) is different – endlessly.....

I'm closing in on three score. My ratings were up about 60 points in last 12 months, I expect that trend to continue a good while.

I've particularly enjoyed watching live master games such as chessbaseindia for my learning.

Its awesome that you are coming back.

You can almost always learn new stuff. Maybe not as fast or to the most complex degree, but you have some wiggle room.

I am also noticing a decline in reflexes and speed of calculation. The depth is still there, but not the speed. So, I would say to stick to longer time controls. Keep studying, something will stick.

@coderunner86 said in #1:

Hi all,
I am just about to turn 60 and a few months ago rediscovered chess for myself. I learned when I was 7, but just the rules and played dilettante-ish games against other kids for a while. Then at age 15 I got a Fidelity Chess Challenger 7 and tried to play seriously against it for a while. I sucked and only once beat it at level 3 because I played purely on intuition and never learned about openings, end games etc. Then 45 years of nothing.

To my amazement I almost (not quite!) picked up where I left. I know that because I got sucked in again trying to play against a Chess Challenger 7 emulator (CB-emu) and had serious fun.

Now here is my question: I am under no illusion that I will go places at my age with my limited capacity to grow new dendrites. However, should I even somewhat seriously try to get better?
At the moment, I play a lot of puzzles and yes, I have improved there. I also check out the opening patterns almost every time I play against the computer and look at my worst moves post-game. I only have played against a human once; it seems a bit stressful at the moment.
I still feel that I am mostly just reactivating brain connections formed when I was 15. Which is fine - I would be perfectly happy to stay at my level and just enjoy if I get told that no amount of work will lead to much improvement at my age.
Thanks for any input!

(Awesome CAPTCHA mechanism, btw!)

Hey @coderunner86 , your story is very similar to mine. I played chess as a kid, mainly against family and friends. I never joined a club or anything - well, I did go to a local chess club once, got destroyed, never went back! Anyway, I remember devouring all the chess books I could find though I wouldn't say I studied in any systematic way. Had a number of books on tactics, some game collections (Bobby Fischer mainly). Got too "good" for family and friends, but then when I went away to college I focused on other things and didn't really play at all for about 30 or 35 years.

Came back to the game about 3 years ago and have been playing regularly here and at chess.com since. When I started I was also anxious about playing against other humans...not sure why but I was - so I played lots of games against the engine and various bots. The maia ones are fun. This let me get used to playing again and also established a rating so I didn't have that dreaded "?" next to my name. Really, though, there's not much difference between playing those games and playing real human opponents. They don't know who you are and you don't know who they are, and you can always turn on zen mode to avoid communication during games. I very rarely encounter someone who is obnoxious or abusive.

As for getting better at 60...I don't see why not. As you note, we don't learn as quickly or efficiently as kids do, and I am sometimes frustrated by my inability to remember ideas or lines in the openings I play. But if you enjoy doing tactics and studying strategy (and an opening or two), it's time well spent even if improvement is slow. You'll win lots of games and gain rating points if you do simple things like not hanging pieces, and taking advantage of when your opponents do.

@borninthesixties

Well said!
Much of what you say reminds me of my journey in chess.

There is (or was) a popular course on coursera.org called Learning How To Learn. It used to be free to take, not sure if it still is. I would recommend doing that. I really enjoyed it and it helped me in all aspects of life including how to learn efficiently and effectively.

Then if you have the interest and you find it enjoyable to study chess, study it. There is a lot of free chess material on here and elsewhere. 100s of chess youtube channels with lessons.

Rating doesn't matter. Whatever your rating is, you'll be able to find a game with similar rated people and win 50% of the time. If your rating is 1000 and you play others rated at 1000, you will win/lose 50/50 and if you're a GM rated 3000 and play other GMs rated 3000 you will win/lose 50/50 (but mainly draw)