How would you tell your parents you want to make a living at chess?

You're still not getting the imperfect synonym that I meant, dude. 

"......that i meant, dude"

Sure if his parents are reading this it will put a smile on their face. They may even want to make a living at chess.

1- 800- A - TRAVEL!

Get a one way ticket to paradise. StrategicPlay  dont tell them i am coming.

You'd think a guy named Rich would be, well, ya' know...

it would be VERY hard to make a living at chess. I'm comfortable with having it as a hobby.

Most parents would be supportive. They would certainly want you to have more than one iron in the fire in case your present enthusiasm wears off at some point.

Nor is the idea so very daft. Paid work is pretty well drying up the world over as the machine takes over more and more tasks. Entertainment is very much the coming thing.

What you are really going to need, though, is a supportive coach. They will charge for their work with you so you also need to find as many Saturday jobs or other sources of income as you can.

Good luck.

Make em look on the bright side. You could be an accountant.

well - I think it would be a waste of a life - 

- like myself I played chess for a long time never read the books and don't know how to read notation - and never studied chess

- but in the old days I could hold my own

- now everybody and his uncle who plays chess studies chess and the pool is so much better

- times have changed - like the story goes - tracy austin I think and believe - had lessons 24/7 and did thousands of drills - thousands of cross court thousands of down the line  - drilled thousands of smashes every day - then she went and played ladies who did not - and she dominated for a short while - - - what you are thinking about doing is sort of like tracy austin but in chess - - except there is a major diffrence - it is like you doing all the drills and stuff except your competition is doing THE EXACT SAME THING - -  you DON'T HAVE A GIANT ADVANTAGE IN THAT YOU ARE STUDYING CHESS 24 7 and the competition is watching television and eating junk food 24 7 - your competition is ALSO STUDYING CHESS 24 7

- well - I might have a low rating like between 1100 1200 and sometimes 1400 ???? - - - however that is NOT my true rating - - I got to thinking about it - and my game is all attack - and any good player beats off my ( primitive / simple ) attack and when my attack petters out - my opponent goes on to win - - furthermore - I think I have a pattern - I believe I only beat players who JUST STARTED TO LEARN  and / OR - who make dumb mistakes - doing this builds my rating a little

- then I play an average or below average player WHO KNOWS A LITTLE BIT OF SOME THING AND DOES NOT MAKE SIMPLE MISTAKES -  well I get whumped - so I play a real bad player I win ( or better player who has a bad day and makes dumb mistakes - I win ) - BUT if I play someone who knows a little bit of something I lose - 

- so my rating is NOT 1200 1300 or 1400 or whatever whatever site says on what ever type of game at any particular time of day  - I BELIEVE MY TRUE RATING IS 800 - 1000= for real - - not what any computer might tell me what my rating is 

- and the pool is getting mega good mega fast - - like I could win tournaments HOW -  by me playing tournaments - - all I needed to do in a five game tournament is win 3 games and I got a trophy NOW I CAN WIN THREE ( RARELY 4 GAMES ) - AND no TROPHY - - HEY MAN THERE ARE LOTS OF GOOD CHESS PLAYER OUT THERE !!!!!!!!!!!!! ( exclamation marks)

- I think you will NOT have a cake walk - - as in the pool of people who are GOOD CHESS PLAYERS  - is large large large

- You would probably be one of many

- any way it is good to have dreams BUT IF YOU ARE DOING THE ARTIST MUSICIAN thing - - ( or chess thing ) - - well - it would be smart to be like the RESPONSIBLE  - -  musicians chasing the RECORD LABEL DREAM - 

- what is that they do -??? - they always talk about having a DAY JOB 

-  alternate plan B - - some thing that you can fall back on and feed yourself and pay your bills with 

======== THIS POST HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR A WHILE - IF I WERE YOU I WOULD READ EVERY ENTRY FROM BEGINNING TO END

= like if you want to pursue a pipe dream it would be nice to go into the endeavor - a little informed - some of these people make really good points and offer GREAT WISDOM -  towards this question you asked here

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/anyone-can-be-a-super-gm

I posted this saying that I know I don't have the stuff because I WAS ABSOLUTELY CLUELESS IN THE ENDGAME

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/anyone-can-be-a-super-gm?lc=1#last_comment

One person - solved the endgame - - and that made me say wow and gave me something to think about - - like in all end games - it is me primitive homo chess sapien - just taking pieces and try to constantly check my opponent 

- - - this guy appeared to have thought out a complicated sequence of moves that resulted in mate - - 

- - - I FOR ONE DON'T THINK LIKE HE DOES -realizing that was sort of an ureka  moment for me 

== I would like to point out and hope you consider if you study chess 24 /7 for four years you might get a 2000 or 2200 rating ( whatever)

if you study in a university for four years 24 7 you might get a UNIVERSITY DEGREE - - you can then go on to use that degree to get a car / a house / a beautiful wife

- I don't think you can get a car / house or beautiful wife with a 2000 / or 2200 chess rating

Unless you are a grandmaster, do not say such things.

I think you continue on the path you've already set while working on your chess and gaining strength and when you have become strong enough the news will be more easily received as they might see it coming or can understand you're serious about it and can probably manage to make a living off of chess related activities (like coaching, playing in tournaments, maybe writting some chess related books,ect). For now, keep silent and learn the game better. :)

I would assume that a struggling chess player would probably be living with his parents ... so the communications channel would be fairly easy.

BTW, I do find it amusing that the OP for this post is certainly not some doe-eyed innocent kid with a pocketful of dreams ... he has made 12 "thought provoking" posts since he started this one yesterday ... some of them timed on the "hour" (does he have a alarm that goes off reminding him to post another question? :) )

**********

ThAT'S a nice plan. But it has a serious flaw. Your folks will look sideways at each other. They think the same thing:

"surely you made all this money by smuggling weird stuff across the Mexican border".

********

Then it is time for your family to click clack on a different board in a new way.

No man, they won't understand ... They think Chess is too "progressive" and leads to other, harmful board games like Monopoly or Risk. They don't even know I have an account here, they'd probably disown me!

If you're old enough to type out this question without help, and you're rated 1350, it's too late.

You'll have to settle for life as a doctor or lawyer or banker or something else you can start at 18.

The downside: you won't get to play chess all day.

The upside: you'll make tens of thousands times as much dosh over the course of your career, which will improve your mating prospects.

I would show them some evidence that you have a good chance of making a living as a chess player, so that similarly to college, they would support your attempts at a higher education. Good luck.

Lol, there you go!  Why does (mostly) everyone here think they can make a living playing chess?  It's difficult stuff, I would think more people would make lite of this encounter. 

You can make a very good living from chess if you are a low rated player. Try to gather a bunch of investors and make another chess website as a rival of Chess.com and ICC.

lol

I wouldn't tell them.  How do you phrase "I'm going to trash my potential to be some starving, poor chess hustler" to your parents?