Games
How long does it take to become a chess master?
Updated
About 11,000 hours of deliberate practice on average. In a study of 104 Argentine players, those who reached master level had put in 11,053 hours, but the fastest needed about 3,000 and the slowest more than 23,000. At two hours a day, 11,000 hours take about 15 years.
When players reached master level
Hours of deliberate practice reported by Argentine players who reached master level, a rating of about 2,200, and the study time grandmasters spent alone in their first ten years of serious play.
- The fastest master
- 3,016 hours
The quickest player in the study reached master level after 3,016 hours.
- Grandmasters’ study on their own
- About 5,000 hours
In their first ten years of serious play, nearly five times as much as intermediate players.
- The average master
- 11,053 hours
The average deliberate practice of the players who reached master level.
- The slowest master
- 23,608 hours
Nearly eight times the fastest. Some players passed 25,000 hours without reaching master level.
| Level | 30 min a day | 1 hour a day | 2 hours a day | 4 hours a day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The fastest master (3,016 hours) | 16 years 6 months | 8 years 3 months | 4 years 2 months | 2 years 1 month |
| Grandmasters’ study on their own (5,000 hours) | 27 years 5 months | 13 years 8 months | 6 years 10 months | 3 years 5 months |
| The average master (11,053 hours) | 60 years 6 months | 30 years 3 months | 15 years 2 months | 7 years 7 months |
| The slowest master (23,608 hours) | 129 years 3 months | 64 years 8 months | 32 years 4 months | 16 years 2 months |
What makes it faster or slower
- Study on your own, not only games Serious study alone was the strongest predictor of rating in Charness and colleagues’ study of rated players.
- Starting age In a reanalysis of that study, players who started younger reached higher peak ratings, even with the same amount of practice.
- Practice is not everything Some players in Gobet and Campitelli’s study passed 25,000 hours without reaching master level.
Track your chess study
Add Chess to 10k with sub-activities such as Tactics, Openings, Endgames, Game review and Playing, so study and play show up apart. Your total sits next to the numbers above, and a daily goal keeps the habit going.
Questions and answers
Can you become a chess master in 3,000 hours?
The fastest player in Gobet and Campitelli’s study did, but the average was 11,053 hours and the slowest needed 23,608.
Does playing online count as practice?
Charness and colleagues found that serious study alone predicted rating best. Track playing separately to see how your time splits.
What rating is master level?
In Gobet and Campitelli’s study, master level meant a rating of about 2,200.
Sources
- Fernand Gobet and Guillermo Campitelli, “The role of domain-specific practice, handedness, and starting age in chess”, Developmental Psychology 43(1), 2007
- Neil Charness, Michael Tuffiash, Ralf Krampe, Eyal Reingold and Ekaterina Vasyukova, “The role of deliberate practice in chess expertise”, Applied Cognitive Psychology 19(2), 2005
- Alexander Burgoyne and others, “The impact of domain-specific experience on chess skill: Reanalysis of a key study”, American Journal of Psychology 132(1), 2019
Related pages
- Time distribution
A pie chart of where your hours went, split by sub-activity.
- Streaks and heatmap
Count the days in a row you practiced, and see months at a glance.