Very few people devote 4-8 hours a day to chess. In fact, if you're willing to devote just three hours per week to target training, you'll quickly improve relat

Very few people devote 4-8 hours a day to chess. In fact, if you're willing to devote just three hours per week to target training, you'll quickly improve relative to others. The important thing is to divorce your enjoyment of the game from the purely competitive aspect of it. This is admittedly hard to do--part of the reason I quit competitive chess was because I got burned out. But I plan on returning soon, because the time off has helped me rediscover my love for the game and I don't think competition will ever remove that from me again.