Prize money in chess

stassneyking · 2023-01-20T17:24:27-08:00

I was going to play in the Southwest Open, but after calculating all the expenses decided it's just not worth it. Spending $800-$1000 dollars round trip for a chance to win $2000 seems kind of ridiculous. Most of the big tournaments in the U.S this year seem to have a prize of about this much.

Sort:

PlayByDay

Jan 29, 2023

#61

Ziggy_Zugzwang skrev:

I think chess players like female basketball players for example, might think the world owes them a living and the food we eat and other day to day needs spontaneously appear without other effort and the market mechanism.

Chess is almost a cultural pursuit and approaches sport - let's not have that debate - but it is not what drives the economy.

Tournament organisers for their part will make a judgement - for better or worse - on what level of prizes and tournament players give them a reasonable profit. Clearly if they thought they could earn more by making prizes bigger they would over a number of tournament iterations.

Doubt it's about feeling owed a living and more lack of understanding where money comes from. If there is no audience, why would sponsors pay more for sponsorship? If there is no audience then there is no entry fees from audience and therefore no money from that source. So, should club which organize the tournament pay more from their own pocket?

But many players don't think about the flow, or the lack of it, of money and instead wonder why eSports and poker have larger money prizes.