You need to reach at least a GM level to make decent money out of chess, otherwise, if you're an IM, you need to have a little luck and good associations with the correct people to be able to make a living with lectures, books, videos etc, but it's a pretty long shot even to make a living with a GM title on your hand, and that would mean you'd need to be a pretty good player from a very early age, like 8.
Chess as a job
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Aug 19, 2010
0
#3
Top-5 makes you a multimillionaire, top-10 - a millionaire. Top-100 is enough to lead a middle class life. Being an "ordinary" GM (something like #500-#1000 in the world) is tough...
I am honoured that you replied Natalia, and from your calculation, you are multimillionaire, am I right :)
But was it worth to give up everything knowing that you may not succeed ?
Aug 19, 2010
0
#5
Shoneppk wrote:
I am honoured that you replied Natalia, and from your calculation, you are multimillionaire, am I right :)
But was it worth to give up everything knowing that you may not succeed ?
I am not top-5... 
It's not "giving up", it's choosing something you like. Success is not guaranteed in any profession. People just choose what they like and hope they will manage to reach a certain level.
How many Grandmasters are there?
Many people play chess just for fun, but what if somebody decide to practice so hard to become professional chess player and make money from it ? Does it pays of ? How much does it takes to become so good to have a sponsor ? What do you think ? :)