If chess players are so smart why they are not millionaires/billionaires?

Karpov is obviously a billionaire. Everybody knows he never plays chess, and when he pretends to play, in fact a 100 milion dollars robot who looks like him at perfection, with houdini 4 in the brain, is playing. The real karpov spends all his time on the carrabian sea, on his 150 meters long yacht, surrounded by sexy girls and caviar, sending email all the day to sell and buy some listed share.

So what you're saying is that super gms prefer to play chess than chase wealth.

ok, so if i offered each of the top 100,  $50 million, in exchange for never playing chess again, which do you think they would pick?

almost all of them, including tarrasch if he were still around, would take the money, and thats only 1/20th of a billion.

Anyone including me who could get $50M easily would give up chess or anything. To work very very hard, GM would prefer working hard for chess than amass billions. Their chance to amass billions is probably equivalent to Bill Gates becoming a GM anyway. Going to happiness, billionaires are living under constant anxiety, stress day and night. How could they be happier than a GM?

I don't think so... There's not a lot of players (but there are some exceptions) who stop playing chess at that level for the money (and no matter the money, 50 milions, less or more, or even a bilion).

Actually, it does pop up often and is very well-known among chess players. If you asked a hundred knowledgeable chess players who the richest strong chess player who ever lived was, Karpov would be the most frequent answer.

   To please_let_me_win; Have you read anything by Kasparov?  "Karpov has connections to Illyumzinov and the FIDE bureaucracy". Ya think?  They proped him up for years.

If Bill Gates is so rich, why didn't he win that chess game? :-)

Tap water is inspected. Who inspects bottled water?

Values and intelligence are different things.

If Nobel prize winners are so smart, why are they not all millionaires/billionaires?

This article seems to say that Karpov is not a billionaire.

http://www.rumafia.com/person.php?id=1662

I laughed a lot. I love how these statements have become a trend. xD

Money's not the root of all evil....the lack of it is........

because we waste our talent on games

I wonder if as much stupid is the question as much answers it gets

They say "Money can't buy happiness"....but then the rich say oppressing things....and the poor can't speak from experience........

Many non GM chess players have done well in wall street.

Sam Weinstein is one name I can think of right away and there are many many more

Usualmente, pero es solo porque es más fácil contestar a una pregunta así que a una pregunta dificil.

Ask yourself....Do rich people look sad ?....Do poor people look happy ?....

And for what is worth, this is the income declaration of Mr. Karpov for 2012:

So, he declared an annual income of approximately 70,000 USD, and the ownership of 1 house, 4 apartments and a piece of empty land.

Source: http://www.duma.gov.ru/structure/deputies/131089/&usg=ALkJrhjubRIDesp46KEHZvCz2ELbNViVZQ