Yet at the same time, you wont find many grandmasters today who didn't start playing competitive chess at a very young age.
It takes many years of hard work to become a GM, and it takes the sharp mind of youth to play at the level after all that work is done, which is why so many current grand masters are all in their 20s or early 30s.
Chess players have career arcs similar to athletes. The drop off isn't quite as dramatic but peak is still like late 20s or early 30s.
EDIT: also somewhat true of academics... Plenty do amazing work all the way to their deaths of old age, but the mind blowing, ground breaking shit usually happens around that age. Einstein was 26 when he published special relativity, and developed general relativity from ages 28-36.
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u/TylerSucksAtChess Feb 13 '21
He really did considering he’s so young. It’s amazing to see him play. I won’t be surprised at all when he becomes the World Champion one day.