The Top Chess Prizewinners In 2024, And How Much They Won
The 2024 prize money figures are in, and it was another big year for the world's best chess players. Just in tournament winnings alone, two players won over a million dollars, six made $400,000—more than the President of the United States!—and 17 earned at least six figures. Three players earned enough to reach $1,000,000 in lifetime tournament winnings, including the first woman to ever reach the mark in our tabulations.
Join us as we dig into the biggest winners of 2024, the all-time update, the richest events of 2024, and much more. And remember:
Prizes are tracked for major individual international tournaments, generally with a first-place prize of $10,000 or more. The figures thus do NOT include streaming revenue, coaching income, appearance fees, sponsorships, royalties, government grants, national championships, team events, or small tournaments. Prize winnings are but one part of the chess ecosystem!
Top Winners
Just like in 2023, the two big winners in 2024 were the contestants of the FIDE World Championship, who this year were GMs Gukesh Dommaraju and Ding Liren. Both won over $1,000,000 in the World Championship alone, with Gukesh eclipsing $1.5 million for the year as a whole, taking the top spot.
As GM Magnus Carlsen has stepped away somewhat from classical chess, he is giving up some money but still had the fourth-best year in 2024. He was surpassed not only by Gukesh and Ding but by GM Alireza Firouzja as well. Firouzja won about half his money from the Grand Chess Tour, a series in which Carlsen only played one event.
Below them, but also earning at least $200,000, were GMs Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. GM Wesley So fell just short of the mark but still won the 10th-most of anyone this year.
$100,000 Club
A total of 17 players won $100,000 in 2024, including two women, GMs Ju Wenjun and Humpy Koneru. This was especially big news for Ju, but more on that later.
Here is the complete list of 17 players to reach six figures, with their tournament prize winnings throughout the year, from the Chessable Masters in February to the FIDE World Blitz Championship that ended on December 31
| Player | Total Winnings | # Major Events |
| GM Gukesh Dommaraju | $1,577,842 | 8 |
| GM Ding Liren | $1,183,600 | 5 |
| GM Alireza Firouzja | $639,173 | 18 |
| GM Magnus Carlsen | $633,369 | 11 |
| GM Fabiano Caruana | $456,520 | 14 |
| GM Ian Nepomniachtchi | $449,486 | 14 |
| GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | $254,375 | 14 |
| GM Hikaru Nakamura | $241,228 | 7 |
| GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | $202,136 | 11 |
| GM Wesley So | $192,744 | 11 |
| GM Ju Wenjun | $170,386 | 4 |
| GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov | $132,981 | 12 |
| GM Humpy Koneru | $123,497 | 4 |
| GM Levon Aronian | $122,985 | 10 |
| GM Arjun Erigaisi | $119,767 | 9 |
| GM Volodar Murzin | $118,750 | 4 |
| GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda | $105,899 | 7 |
Of the 17 players this year, a whopping 15 are familiar faces from last year. The only new names were Humpy and GM Volodar Murzin, who both earned the bulk of their cash by winning the 2024 World Rapid Championships. Murzin also had a strong showing at the World Blitz Championship and was the last player to reach the $100,000 milestone in 2024.
And if you've noticed that the list is shorter this year compared to the 20 names on the 2023 list, you can blame the world championship cycle. The FIDE World Championship was held in both 2023 and 2024, but the other four biggest tournaments of 2023 were not held in 2024: the Women's World Championship, the World Cup (open and women's), and the Grand Swiss.
All-Time Update
For the first time since we began compiling all-time winnings in the summer of 2022, new players have joined the million-dollar club! Not only that, but there were three: Gukesh, Firouzja, and Ju.
Gukesh had only earned about $150,000 before this year, but becoming world champion is very lucrative. Meanwhile, Firouzja was knocking on the doorstep at just under $900,000 in lifetime winnings prior to this year, and his huge 2024 blew him past seven figures overall.
Ju became the first woman to hit the mark, as data has become more available (otherwise, GM Judit Polgar might be on the list), and FIDE has significantly increased the Women's World Championship prize fund in recent years. She cracked seven figures lifetime by winning the 2024 Women's World Blitz Championship.
Also of note is Ding cracking the top 10 all-time. Here is the complete list of all-time tournament prize millionaires through December 31, 2024. Note: This list has not been adjusted for inflation.
| Rank | Name | Lifetime Winnings | 2024 Winnings |
| 1 | GM Magnus Carlsen | $10,776,973 | $633,369 |
| 2 | GM Viswanathan Anand | $9,485,844 | $2,705 |
| 3 | GM Garry Kasparov | $7,967,979 | $12,500 |
| 4 | GM Anatoly Karpov | $5,989,480 | - |
| 5 | GM Vladimir Kramnik | $4,775,825 | - |
| 6 | GM Ian Nepomniachtchi | $4,109,916 | $449,486 |
| 7 | GM Fabiano Caruana | $3,630,312 | $456,520 |
| 8 | GM Ding Liren | $3,521,654 | $1,183,600 |
| 9 | GM Bobby Fischer | $3,519,559 | - |
| 10 | GM Veselin Topalov | $3,307,916 | $1,082 |
| 11 | GM Hikaru Nakamura | $3,145,569 | $241,228 |
| 12 | GM Levon Aronian | $3,087,107 | $122,985 |
| 13 | GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | $2,541,660 | $254,375 |
| 14 | GM Wesley So | $2,519,468 | $192,744 |
| 15 | GM Sergey Karjakin | $2,233,112 | - |
| 16 | GM Boris Gelfand | $2,209,498 | $2,935 |
| 17 | GM Alexander Grischuk | $2,033,247 | $82,213 |
| 18 | GM Boris Spassky | $1,790,722 | - |
| 19 | GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | $1,743,349 | $8,692 |
| 20 | GM Gukesh Dommaraju | $1,729,614 | $1,577,842 |
| 21 | GM Alireza Firouzja | $1,537,104 | $639,173 |
| 22 | GM Anish Giri | $1,426,612 | $66,642 |
| 23 | GM Nigel Short | $1,408,506 | - |
| 24 | GM Peter Svidler | $1,310,735 | - |
| 25 | GM Peter Leko | $1,181,743 | - |
| 26 | GM Vasyl Ivanchuk | $1,153,165 | - |
| 27 | GM Teimour Radjabov | $1,111,015 | - |
| 28 | GM Gata Kamsky | $1,115,402 | $5,200 |
| 29 | GM Michael Adams | $1,068,271 | - |
| 30 | GM Ju Wenjun | $1,041,022 | $170,386 |
At least one more player should be joining the millionaire club in 2025, as GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda needs to earn less than $40,000 to get there.
Top Events of 2024
The $2.5 million World Championship match between Gukesh and Ding was easily the biggest single event of the year. The next closest competitions in available prizes were the €500,000 Candidates Tournament and $500,000 Champions Chess Tour Finals.
Below are all the year's major events, along with the first-place prize winner and amount. Tournaments open to women only are marked by an asterisk (*) in the first column.
| Tournament/Series | Site/Sponsor | Ended | Winner | Prize | Note |
| WCC | Singapore | Dec. 12 | Gukesh | $1,350,000 | |
| CCT Finals | Oslo | Dec. 21 | Carlsen | $206,000 | |
| Candidates | New York | Apr. 21 | Gukesh | $118,258 | Converted from Euros |
| GCT | Sinquefield | Aug. 29 | Firouzja | $100,000 | |
| GCT | Tour Bonus | Aug. 29 | Firouzja | $100,000 | |
| World Rapid | New York | Dec. 28 | Murzin | $90,000 | |
| World Blitz | New York | Dec. 31 | Carlsen/Nepomn. | $80,000 | |
| GCT | Bucharest | July 5 | Caruana | $68,750 | |
| Masters | Stavanger | June 7 | Carlsen | $64,750 | Converted from NOK |
| Norway* | Stavanger | June 7 | Ju W. | $64,750 | Converted from NOK |
| SCC | Chesscom/Paris | Sept. 8 | Carlsen | $60,019 | |
| Freestyle | Weissenhaus | Feb. 16 | Carlsen | $60,000 | |
| World Rapid* | New York | Dec. 28 | Humpy K. | $60,000 | |
| World Blitz* | New York | Dec. 30 | Ju W. | $60,000 | |
| Candidates* | Toronto | Apr. 22 | Tan Z. | $59,146 | Converted from Euros |
| Titled Cup | Chess.com | Dec. 31 | Nakamura | $44,450 | |
| GCT | Warsaw R&B | May 12 | Carlsen | $40,000 | |
| GCT | Zagreb R&B | July 14 | Caruana | $40,000 | |
| GCT | St. Louis R&B | Aug. 16 | Firouzja | $40,000 | |
| 9LX | STL | Oct. 30 | Caruana | $37,500 | |
| CCT - Div. I | Chessable Masters | Feb. 7 | Carlsen | $30,000 | |
| CCT - Div. I | Chesscom Classic | May 15 | Firouzja | $30,000 | |
| CCT - Div. I | Crunchlabs | July 24 | Vachier-Lagrave | $30,000 | |
| CCT - Div. I | Julius Baer | Oct. 1 | Carlsen | $30,000 | |
| Masters | UzChess | June 14 | Yakubboev | $25,000 | |
| Masters | Qatar | Dec. 12 | Esipenko | $25,000 | |
| WSCC* | Chess.com | Sept. 05 | Ju W. | $23,036 | |
| Masters | WR | Oct. 18 | Arjun | $21,638 | Converted from Euros |
| EICC | Petrovac | Nov. 19 | Indjic | $21,213 | Converted from Euros |
| Grand Prix* | Tbilisi | Aug. 25 | Kashlinskaya | $20,149 | Converted from Euros |
| Masters | Shenzhen | Mar. 7 | Bu X. | $20,000 | |
| Grand Prix* | Shymkent | Nov. 9 | Goryachkina | $19,070 | Converted from Euros |
| Masters | Chennai | Nov. 11 | Aravindh | $17,800 | Converted from Rupees |
| Masters | Sharjah | May 22 | Bardiya | $12,000 | |
| Masters | Biel | July 25 | Le | $11,095 | Converted from Swiss Francs |
Conclusion
While there is no FIDE World Championship in 2025, there will be plenty of opportunities for players to win prizes as the World Cup and Grand Swiss tournaments return. How will Gukesh fare as the defending champion? Will Magnus claim the top spot? We have 12 months to find out.
Which 2024 prize winner's amount surprised you the most? The least? Who will win the most prize money in 2025? Let us know in the comments!
Nathaniel Green is a staff writer for Chess.com who writes articles, player biographies, Titled Tuesday reports, video scripts, and more. He has been playing chess for about 30 years and resides near Washington, DC, USA.
