chess as a profession?

Do you think that chess shud be taken as a profession? And wat do u think in terms of money that an IM or GM earns?

This isn't a matter of opinion. If someone has enough sponsors to support himself by chess alone, he isn't going to care whether chess is "taken" as a profession or not.

I've never heard of an IM who could earn a living by playing. Most have a day job unrelated to chess, while others manage by coaching and producing instructional materials.

It's pretty much the same for "lower GMs". I heard (from GM Movsesian) that you have to be in the top 50 in the world to be able to live off from just playing.

Sure! I was just offered 100,000 a year, and my ratings just 800 or so!!!!!

I have always heard that its desperately hard to make a living just from chess.  A  small handful of players can earn enough from just prize money to make a living.  A larger number can get by on a combination of prize money, writing, coaching, etc.  There are something like 1100 grandmasters world wide (according to Wikipedia).  I think many have a day job or some other non-chess income.  Almost no one gets "rich" by any means, perhaps the top 20 players in the world make a large income. (a figure I have seen attributed to Anand.)

Yep, you'll have to be in the top30 at least. And even then it's a risky business. Consider having an invite to 20-30 major tournaments every year from which you'll need to pick the ones you might afford to go to. Still you'll have to pay your own traveling, lodging, dining and whatnot. From these handful of tournaments you would usually have to fare in the top 3 to get prices which even on quite large tournaments might not be more than 10,000 euros for first prize. So even if you'd manage to win 3 of those tournaments a year, you'd be making as much money as an average nurse in scandinavian countries with the extra expences of several thousand euros for the afore-mentioned expenditures. If you have a family to feed on top of that, you've better had married into upper class.

a lot of people can make a living out of chess.. out of playing chess not so much..

Too many inaccuracies here. First of all, there are no 20-30 major events a year. An elite player participates in about 10 events. You must be mixing up "chess tourists" with super GMs.

Secondly, at such events the conditions are full coverage of travel and lodging expenses + appearance fee + prizes.

Thirdly, if you talk about major open tournaments, there are many prizes (and even prize categories, e.g. age, rating, sex groups etc.), not 3. 

However, your conclusion is true: most chess players aren't rich.