Chess as a career

I am a 30 year old graduate student. At this point of time, I want to decide whether to become a chess pro or whether to keep it as a hobby. I am quite deeply immersed in chess and would like to be serious about it. Can anyone give me suggestions about whether it would be better to be a pro or keep it as a weekend thing.

I think that to have a chess career at that age you have to be already a strong player (at least a master)

Yes, it would be VERY difficult to make a living out of chess, especially at the age you are now. You would have to be a master in your early teens.

Anyway, why would you want to have a career in chess? A hard way to make an easy living.

i guess i just wanna get better and because i enjoy chess a lot. i would like to have the time to look more deeply into it and play a lot of tournaments and with a career that is not really very much possible.

If by "a chess pro" and a "career in chess" you mean leaving aside everything to dedicate yourself exclusively to chess, I would say your level does not seem to be high enough, at least judging from your ranking at chess.com. You would be in competition with loads of people with much higher levels. Are you at a point where you can play blindfold chess? Or 20 simultaneous tables? Also, chess is not really a way you can make money. If you have a level of over 2000 then maybe you can make some money teaching and mentoring other players, but you'd have to reach that level.

well why not just try it just for fun and see where you getting. life is an endless journey the least thing that happens you get experience and say well i tried it, it didnt work but at least i tried it and never have to worry about it again...

Sure it is. You can still have time to play a bit, some study and play in weekend tournaments, im sure?

Maybe go after a more stable career and play chess competitively in your spare time. Maybe you may just reach a level where you can produce some chess books or win some competitions and make a partial living off it, but it is unlikely with such a late start.

the point is that i consider myself a bright person. and i occasionally play brilliancies. i thought maybe for the best in me to come out i have to go after this seriously. on the other hand, a regular career might offer the security and stability to allow me to play chess in a more relaxed way and hence probably improve faster and probably give me the money i need to buy the books i want lol.

Go for the career. You won't be able to make a living playing chess.

i thought so. anyway, i could always learn and improve in my spare time which might make it more valuable to think that i could achieve as much as some masters while only spending a fraction of the time.

what do you do for a living if i ask?

Don't do it! Chess will become work and so it won't be fun anymore

work can be a lot of fun!!! its all in the eye of the beholder

I agree. I have seen many professionals who just pointlessly move the knights around giving meaningless checks when it serves no purpose but in their eyes I am sure they are trying hard.

Yeah .. tell me about it ... this one time, I saw this world champion on a live transmission and he took 30 mins to ponder a single move.   WTF!

I can play 15 bullet games in that time. 

Losers!!!

I like how people are taking this guy seriously...

shivsky i am not talking grandmaster level here. they i am sure are einstein level. but low rated players who have decided to take up chess for a career tend to think and think and make senseless moves because they think that doing it that way means that they are playing better.

Gotta be a strong GM by age 30 to play professionally. Otherwise you would probably be struggling.

Regardless of how early you started, it seems strange to suddenly think you even have the option to "decide" whether you want to become a chess pro or not.

Based on your chess.com rating, you have another 1000 points to go before you could seriously consider chess as a profession. It's hard to comprehend just how big that gap is. It takes most GMs years to get those last couple hundred points.

I disagree with Pogonina though, and I think it is possible for some people in this world to pick up a board at age 30 and become a GM some years thereafer. These people would be few and far between the average though, and I would guess all of them would be some sort of chess savant types.

I seriously doubt anyone can become a GM once he has passed 30 without being already a very serious player (say >2000 FIDE).

But, there is a very remote and delusional possibility that you could make barely enough to pay for food and bills by teaching chess. It's just not a true job, you know.