Our top 10 or 20 players in the world don't have to do anything but play chess and they can earn a very good living -- $250.000 a year and up -- all of them can do that, just by playing chess. That's a big change. The emphasis to get money into chess was something started by Bobby Fischer. It's ironic because he didn't personally care about money at all. He wanted to get money into chess because he thought it added prestige to the game. He was right.
In our modern world, prestige is measured by money.
Checkmate: Earning A Living In Competitive Chess (2:36) • 'While some chess players can earn big bucks playing the game, many grandmasters are turning to coaching, lecturing and commentary to make a living in the sport.'
The video is an introduction to a Forbes.com story, Making A Living In Chess Is Tough - But The Internet Is Making It Easier (5 May 2017). A few days later, another Forbes article, How St. Louis Helped Kickstart An American Chess Renaissance (9 May 2017), started with another video, St. Louis: America's Premier Chess Destination, which was again introduced by Sinquefield. According to an earlier Forbes story, In The Esports Era, Chess Is Alive And Thriving (October 2016), Sinquefield is a 'Forbes Opinion writer'; see Contributor: Rex Sinquefield (forbes.com; 'I focus on pro-growth, free market tax reform solutions in states') for a summary of his opinions.
A year ago, I posted on The Money Game (May 2016), where Daniel Roberts of Yahoo Finance interviewed Maurice Ashley. There we learned that GM Carlsen is the only chess player earning a seven-figure income from chess. The other players have to be content with six figures. Can money replace the Elo rating system?
"If i won i could eat", something is not right if some of the top chess players experienced that! I think in the tier 5 football division in England everyone makes more than most chess players. Goes to show! Hopefully slowly things are changing and more money in the game will mean it becomes a more viable career option.
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