One day, a year before turning 50, I decided to play a five minute game of chess against Lichess, level 2. I lost horribly but I wanted to make it a habit. So every day with my morning coffee I would play a quick game.

For months I didn't win a single game until, one day, I did. That was five years ago. I still don't play more than a game or two a day, always 5+0 Blitz, but each year I've moved up a level in Lichess and I think about 100 points. I'm somewhere between 1700 and 1800 rating currently.

Now I'm plateauing and I can see that some openings are killing me and I'm still too tactical, meaning moving up in ranking won't be as easy now, but if the author is using an anecdote to say that you can't be a novice when you get older, I'll use one to say that's nonsense. It's a mindset; it's up to you.