New world champion to earn $390,000
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I think it's not so big amount for Chess Champion.
Actually Matt, it pays to be World Champion...
The average chess professional does not make very much...
The average chess professional does not make very much...
Creg wrote: Actually Matt, it pays to be World Champion... The average chess professional does not make very much...
Exactly, you have to be pretty much top in the world before you make any money. It seems unfair that other sport players earn millions a year in football etc, but I suppose that is televised.
Chess really is a tough game, especially at the top. Compared to the money other sports professionals make, chess players are grossly underpaid. Or should I say that pro's in other sports are grossly overpaid. However I do feel that lower level chess tournaments, should increase their prize money. Unfortunately chess being a cerebral sport, is not much appreciated by the general public, who would much rather watch two 'dunderheads' swat a ball across a net.
Chess really is a tough game, especially at the top. Compared to the money other sports professionals make, chess players are grossly underpaid. Or should I say that pro's in other sports are grossly overpaid. However I do feel that lower level chess tournaments, should increase their prize money. Unfortunately chess being a cerebral sport, is not much appreciated by the general public, who would much rather watch two 'dunderheads' swat a ball across a net.
I think the Poker championship winner gets something like 7 million for first place and that game is not even close to being as complex. I think it just depends on the popularity of the sport.
If you consider the amount of talent, time and conditions necessary to be able to become world champion, and then the amount of people who try but never achieve it, I don't think it is so well paid. I mean the average football (american or not), hockey, baseball, etc. player earn more.
this all falls under entertainment... you get paid based on how many people are entertained. you really can't be overpaid as an entertainer because you can only make as much as people are willing to pay to watch you. the only way you can be underpaid is if the promoter is taking more than they should. but ultimately, i never buy the "overpaid/underpaid" athlete argument
Though this is a large amount, its far from the most earned by a champion from a World Championship. Though this is probably because 1.3 million was split between 8 people. Here are some big prizes from chess matches.
1921 - Capablanca and Lasker play for a total of 25,000. I don't know what that is after inflation, but I imagine its quite a bit.
1972 - Fischer got the prizefund of The Macth of the Century raised to 250,000. I believe he was offered more than a million for the 1975 match, but turned it down.
1978 - $560,000 was the prize fund of Karpov-Korchnoi, with 2/3 going to the victor. *SPOILER* it was Karpov.
1981 - $430,000 (not sure about this) was for the second Karpov-Korchnoi Match
1992 - Fischer won 3.5 million out of 5 million (I think) in a return match against Spassky. This is the most ever earned from a single sporting event (don't bother arguing over whether chess is a sport, start a new topic for that) except for some boxing matches. Well possibly many boxing matches, I dont really follow boxing.
2003 - 1,000,000 Kasparov - Deep Junior
2004 - Fide knockout was for a total of 1.5 million
Also most of Kasparov's matches had prize funds in the hundreds of thousands, and Kramnik's matches against topalov and Leko both had prize funds over 1 million.
Here is an article with the prize structure for the FIDE World Championship:
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90779/6274359.html
The new world champion will recieve $390,000 while second place will recieve $325,000. Maybe it does pay to become a chess professional?!