White Knight Review
Jerry Wall
May/June 2011
By Bill Wall There is not too much money in chess unless you are one of the top 50 players in the world. Perhaps the average salary of a professional chess player is around $35,000 a year. This would include chess teachers and coaches in schools or clubs.. The average chess salaries can vary greatly due to title (rating), location and experience. And if you are not winning chess tournaments, your income may not be steady. For more than 99% of players, chess will not be a profitable venture. Most chess players actually lose money
through travel expenses to chess tournaments, tournament entry costs (free for Grandmasters), club membership costs, purchase of chess books and software, and perhaps coaching costs. Professional chess players are most applicable in countries with a large chess presence such as Russia, China, and some European countries. If you are one of the top 10 players in the world, perhaps you can make a million dollars or more. For example, the winner of the world chess championship gets between $1 and $2 million. For the 2010 world championship, 4
the winner (Vishy Anand of India) got 1,200,000 euros ($1,693,800). The loser (Veselin Topalov) got 800,000 euros ($1,129,200) Top chess events may offer $100,000 for a first place prize. Top open chess events might offer $20,000 for first place. For example, the World Open chess tournament offers $8,000 for 1st place. The US Open only offered $8,000 for 1st place. The total prize fund $40,000. The 2011 US chess championship