Rich parents
How do norm chasers afford to play so many tournaments?
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I’m an active follower of norm tournaments in the US, both open and closed ones, and notice quite a familiar crop of professional chess players playing just about all of them. Considering how expensive the entry fees (especially for closed tournaments which go from $800 upward) and travel costs, how are these players able to afford it? Is being a chess pro a more lucrative career than back in my day?
I got this,...
d1enji wrote:
I’m an active follower of norm tournaments in the US, both open and closed ones, and notice quite a familiar crop of professional chess players playing just about all of them. Considering how expensive the entry fees (especially for closed tournaments which go from $800 upward) and travel costs, how are these players able to afford it? Is being a chess pro a more lucrative career than back in my day?
They could be coaching young players as well to fund the tournament fees.
This is a very good question that I thought of myself a few days ago. Chess is not that lucrative for any except the best chess players in the world. Here in the UK there are few jobbing GMs who get by winning tournaments. I think a few other leverage whatever titles they have for video and book revenue.
Money is everybody's dirty secret. By and large, I believe wealthy families are what the aspiring chess player should hope to be born in. When looking through games collections and games from opening books we see many minor GMs appearing at various tournaments around the world. It is obvious that these involve large amounts of money needing to be spent. It is also obvious only a few ever get the big prizes.
I get the impression quite a few strong players who are independent of family wealth work in finance or have even abandoned chess for it.
Here in the UK the 4NCL weekend format encourages the more wealthier middleclass families from sponsoring the kids with hotel stays and long journeys to play. Chess was originally a wealthy pursuit of those at the top of Maslow's hierarchy. I believe it still fundamentally is as far as pursuing excellence in the field is concerned.
I’m an active follower of norm tournaments in the US, both open and closed ones, and notice quite a familiar crop of professional chess players playing just about all of them. Considering how expensive the entry fees (especially for closed tournaments which go from $800 upward) and travel costs, how are these players able to afford it? Is being a chess pro a more lucrative career than back in my day?