How Do Pro Players Actually make money from CHESS??

[Mark Howitt]

Yep but he's making money doing a newspaper column etc...

The thing with chessplayers is...

If you're good you have at least to have decent memory and spatial awareness...

These can be transferable...

What a lot of chessplayers lack (and I have done too in past had to read books on it) is social intelligence...

But what I've seen more and more is now it's not just chessplayers a lot of people lack this...

But with a bit of social intelligence chessplayers could do many things...

[Matt Mackenzie]

I remember Bill Hartston telling me he doesn't think chess confers any transferable skills whatsoever.

Another person lost to chess, because he wasn't earning enough. And he was pretty good!

I think his not quite managing the GM title - which he thoroughly deserved to acquire - was a significant factor in that.

[Keith Arkell]

Appearance fees, prizes, simuls, club chess, 4NCL, England teams, lectures, articles, books, Chessable stuff, coaching and private sponsorship are some of the more obvious ways those of us lucky enough to enjoy the pro chess life finance it.

I sometimes wonder how snooker players, darts players and cricketers, etc etc, survive financially, as a) they can't usually play professionally into old age, and b) as far as I'm aware they don't have access to similarly long lists of professional activities along the lines of those I've listed above.

[Matt Bridgeman]

Appearance fees, prizes, simuls, club chess, 4NCL, England teams, lectures, articles, books, Chessable stuff, coaching and private sponsorship are some of the more obvious ways those of us lucky enough to enjoy the pro chess life finance it.

I sometimes wonder how snooker players, darts players and cricketers, etc etc, survive financially, as a) they can't usually play professionally into old age, and b) as far as I'm aware they don't have access to similarly long lists of professional activities along the lines of those I've listed above.

There’s £50,000 in the world seniors snooker, and they probably do a lot of appearances at clubs. TV commentary. There must be a lot less pro snooker players than chess players I’d guess?https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_S ... ampionship

Cricketers? Coaching I suppose if they want it. With county cricketers that aren’t necessarily on the England team, they are often fully educated and will bounce into a full-blown career when they want to. There was a counties player who was a chess parent in Lancs who is an architect.

Darts? Is that even a career? They probably drive trucks! Lol

[Matt Mackenzie]

Snooker players can certainly play to quite an age at a still decent level, and there is a quite a thriving seniors scene in the game now.

[Keith Arkell]

There’s £50,000 in the world seniors snooker, and they probably do a lot of appearances at clubs. TV commentary. There must be a lot less pro snooker players than chess players I’d guess?https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_S ... ampionship

Cricketers? Coaching I suppose if they want it. With county cricketers that aren’t necessarily on the England team, they are often fully educated and will bounce into a full-blown career when they want to. There was a counties player who was a chess parent in Lancs who is an architect.

Darts? Is that even a career? They probably drive trucks! Lol

On the whole chess players are quite brainy, whether 'fully educated' or not, so could ( and often do) also switch to other full-blown careers, but I guess the question was how do those of us who stay in chess all our working lives make it work.

I too get the impression that apart from the absolute elite of the other sports I mentioned, there are not so many others who can stick around earning a living there. Whereas in chess there are even, for example, umpteem relatively low ranked players who are able to earn a good living from teaching chess.

[Keith Arkell]

Snooker players can certainly play to quite an age at a still decent level, and there is a quite a thriving seniors scene in the game now.

Good to hear about the snooker senior scene! And some of those seniors seem to still compete at the very top - eg Mark Williams and Ronnie must be closing in on 50.

[Roger de Coverly]

[ Whereas in chess there are even, for example, umpteem relatively low ranked players who are able to earn a good living from teaching chess.

I think that's relatively recent, in the sense of being in the last thirty years. Go back thirty five years or more and whilst local piano tutors, maths tutors even were commonplace, chess tutors were few and far between. Even further and the count diminishes to one, Bob Wade.

I can vaguely recall at the age of six or seven being subjected to piano lessons and riding lessons. Chess lessons no chance.

[Roger de Coverly]

The thing with chessplayers is...
If you're good you have at least to have decent memory and spatial awareness...
These can be transferable...

My comment is intended as a bad taste joke,

Titled players are usually quite good at swindles. You might hope this is not a skill transferable to the financial world.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Snooker players can certainly play to quite an age at a still decent level, and there is a quite a thriving seniors scene in the game now.

Good to hear about the snooker senior scene! And some of those seniors seem to still compete at the very top - eg Mark Williams and Ronnie must be closing in on 50.

At the very end of his career, Fred Davis lost to a teenage Ronnie O'Sullivan.

That was a freak admittedly - most players retired in their 50s at the latest - but is up with Korchnoi playing the likes of Carlsen and Caruana.

[Mick Norris]

Born in 1975, turned pro during season 1992/93 Class of '92 (snooker)

Snooker world seniors used to be 45+ but is now 40+

Fred Davis

With the beginning of the snooker world rankings in 1976, Davis was ranked fourth in the world, and remained on the professional tour until 1993 when, aged 80, he retired due to arthritis in his left knee.