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The Biggest Chess Prizewinners In 2023 (And How Much They Made)

The Biggest Chess Prizewinners In 2023 (And How Much They Made)

NathanielGreen
| 86 | Fun & Trivia

In 2023, GM Magnus Carlsen became the first chess player to eclipse $10,000,000 in lifetime winnings just from major tournaments alone—never mind from sponsorships or royalties or helping to run a business. After winning more than $700,000 in 2023, he is the all-time leader, passing GM Viswanathan Anand.

But Carlsen wasn't the biggest money winner of 2023. That honor belonged to GM Ding Liren, victor in the €2,000,000 ($2,200,000) World Championship. Despite falling ill and not playing for most of the rest of the year, he retained his cash lead on runner-up GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, although it was a virtual tie with less than $2,000 separating them. Nepomniachtchi was also a 2023 tournament millionaire even though, unlike Ding, he had more work to do after the championship match to reach that milestone.

Note: Prizes tracked for major tournaments (generally meaning a first-place prize of $10,000 or more), except national and team events. The figures also do not include streaming revenue, coaching income, appearances fees, sponsorships, royalties, or government grants.


Top Winners

Ding Nepomniachtchi Prize
This year's Million-Dollar Club, a.k.a. the world championship contenders. Photo: Mike Klein/Chess.com.

In addition to the world championship contenders, several usual suspects had another great year. Earning at least $250,000 were Carlsen, GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Wesley So, GM Hikaru Nakamura, and GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. And that's just from prizes in major tournaments, except national championships and team events. It also does not include streaming revenue, coaching income, appearances fees, sponsorships, or government grants. (Nor does it take out for travel expenses, which became an issue for the World Rapid and Blitz in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.)

Magnus Carlsen Fabiano Caruana
Carlsen and Caruana both won over half a million dollars—well over—in prizes in 2023, good for the third and fourth most of the year. Photo: Thomas Tischio/Chess.com.

After only one woman, GM Tan Zhongyi, earned six figures last year, two reached that mark this year thanks to the €500,000 ($553,000) World Championship in July, where GM Ju Wenjun defeated GM Lei Tingjie. Both of them also ended up over a quarter-million on the year.

Ju Wenjun Lei Tingjie
Ju Wenjun won the 12th and final game of the Women's World Championship to avoid tiebreaks and take home more than $300,000.

Rounding out the top 10 after Ding, Nepomniachtchi, Carlsen, Caruana, So, Ju, Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave, and Lei was GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov just ahead of GM Alireza Firouzja.

$100,000 Club

Here is the complete list of players who won $100,000 in major tournaments throughout the year, from the WR Masters in February to the FIDE World Blitz Championship that ended on December 30:

Player Total Winnings # Major Events
GM Ding Liren $1,228,200 2
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi $1,226,825 13
GM Magnus Carlsen $705,155 15
GM Fabiano Caruana $638,372 18
GM Wesley So $394,542 17
GM Ju Wenjun $354,581 4
GM Hikaru Nakamura $284,527 13
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave $282,854 12
GM Lei Tingjie $257,171 3
GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov $190,173 12
GM Alireza Firouzja $184,402 13
GM Levon Aronian $182,175 13
GM Anish Giri $169,799 13
GM Gukesh Dommaraju $142,555 12
GM Vidit Gujrathi $131,647 4
GM Arjun Erigaisi $126,806 10
GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu $122,679 6
GM Vladimir Fedoseev $118,982 8
GM Leinier Dominguez $113,900 9
GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda $112,612 4

Two players reached $90,000 but couldn't quite get to six figures. They were GMs Aleksandra Goryachkina ($94,569) and Daniil Dubov ($93,739).

The United States had the most players on the six-figure winners list of any country, with five (Caruana, So, Nakamura, Aronian, and Dominguez), followed by India with four (Gukesh, Vidit, Arjun, and Praggnanandhaa).

All-Time Update

Carlsen hitting $10,000,000 in winnings and passing Anand wasn't the only major development on the all-time list in 2023. Nepomniachtchi and Caruana hit the $3,000,000 mark, the eighth and ninth players to do so, while Ding and So became the 15th and 16th players to reach $2,000,000. Nepomniachtchi jumped into the top 10, all the way up to sixth.

Here is the complete list of all-time major event millionaires through December 31, 2023. Note: This list is not adjusted for inflation.

Rank Player Lifetime Winnings 2023 Winnings
1 GM Magnus Carlsen $10,143,604 $705,155
2 GM Viswanathan Anand $9,483,139 $21,129
3 GM Garry Kasparov $7,955,479 $7,500
4 GM Anatoly Karpov $5,989,480 $0
5 GM Vladimir Kramnik $4,775,825 $18,486
6 GM Ian Nepomniachtchi $3,660,430 $1,226,825
7 GM Bobby Fischer $3,519,559 $0
8 GM Veselin Topalov $3,306,834 $0
9 GM Fabiano Caruana $3,173,792 $638,372
10 GM Levon Aronian $2,964,122 $182,175
11 GM Hikaru Nakamura $2,904,341 $284,527
12 GM Ding Liren $2,338,054 $1,228,200
13 GM Wesley So $2,326,724 $394,542
14 GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave $2,287,285 $282,854
15 GM Sergey Karjakin $2,233,112 $0
16 GM Boris Gelfand $2,206,563 $12,343
17 GM Alexander Grischuk $1,951,034 $37,367
18 GM Boris Spassky $1,790,722 $0
19 GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov $1,734,657 $55,423
20 GM Nigel Short $1,408,506 $0
21 GM Anish Giri $1,359,970 $169,799
22 GM Peter Svidler $1,310,735 $53,706
23 GM Peter Leko $1,181,743 $0
24 GM Vasyl Ivanchuk $1,153,165 $25,000
25 GM Teimour Radjabov $1,111,015 $13,150
26 GM Gata Kamsky $1,110,202 $10,900
27 GM Michael Adams $1,068,271 $18,800

The number of players at $1,000,000 or more remains at 27, where it was at the time of our first article on all-time winnings from the summer of 2022. Next year might see three new members, however, with Firouzja, Duda, and Ju Wenjun all needing less than $150,000 to get there. Ju would become the first woman to reach the million-dollar mark, thanks in part to a significant increase in the prize fund for the FIDE Women's World Championship in recent years.

Top Events of 2023

The $2.2 million World Championship match between Ding and Nepomniachtchi was the most lucrative of the year, while the $553,000 match between Ju and Lei ranked fourth. In between was the World Cup, in which the open field had $1,834,000 available and the women's field another $676,250. Rounding out the top five was the $460,000 Grand Swiss.

Below are all the year's major open events along with the first place prize winner and amount.

Tournament/Series Site/Leg Ended Winner Prize Note
WCC Astana Apr. 30 Ding $1,212,200 Converted from Euros
CCT Final Toronto Dec. 16 Carlsen $206,000
World Cup Baku Aug. 24 Carlsen $110,000
GCT Bucharest May. 16 Caruana $100,000
GCT Sinquefield Dec. 3 Caruana $100,000
GCT Tour Bonus Dec. 3 Caruana $100,000
Grand Swiss Isle of Man Nov. 5 Vidit $80,000
Norway Chess Stavanger Jun. 9 Nakamura $69,703 Converted from Norwegian krone
World Rapid Samarkand Dec. 28 Carlsen $60,000
World Blitz Samarkand Dec. 30 Carlsen $60,000
SCC Chess.com Sep. 22 Carlsen $47,731
Levitov Chess Amsterdam Sep. 26 Nepomniachtchi $42,289 Converted from Euros
WR Masters Dusseldorf Feb. 25 Aronian $42,172 Converted from Euros
GCT R&B Warsaw May. 26 Carlsen $40,000
GCT R&B Zagreb Jul. 10 Carlsen $40,000
GCT R&B Saint Louis Nov. 19 Caruana $40,000
Chess 9LX Showdown Saint Louis Sep. 10 Sevian $37,500
CCT - Div. I Airthings Feb. 10 Carlsen $30,000
CCT - Div. I Chessable Apr. 7 Nakamura $30,000
CCT - Div. I ChessKid May 26 Abdusattorov $30,000
CCT - Div. I Aimchess Jul. 14 Carlsen $30,000
CCT - Div. I Julius Baer Sep. 3 Carlsen $30,000
CCT - Div. I AI Cup Sep. 29 Vachier-Lagrave $30,000
Qatar Masters Doha Oct. 20 Yakubboev $25,000
European Individual Vrnjacka Banja Mar. 13 Sarana $21,462 Converted from Euros
London Classic London Dec. 10 Adams $18,800 Converted from British pounds
Chennai Masters Chennai Dec. 21 Gukesh $18,000 Converted from Indian rupees
Abu Dhabi Masters Abu Dhabi Aug. 25 Fedoseev $15,000
Biel Festival Biel Jul. 26 Liem Le $11,603 Converted from Swiss francs

Conclusion

In 2024 there is both a Candidates Tournament and World Championship, giving ample opportunity for big cash money with the Champions Chess Tour, Grand Chess Tour, and World Rapid & Blitz all back on the docket as well. Who will claim the largest slice of the prize pie? Stay tuned throughout the year to find out!

Which 2023 prize winner's amount surprised you the most? The least? Who will win the most prize money in 2024? Let us know in the comments!

NathanielGreen
Nathaniel Green

Nathaniel Green is a staff writer for Chess.com who writes articles, player biographies, Titled Tuesday reports, video scripts, and more. He has been playing chess for about 30 years and resides near Washington, DC, USA.

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