How Much Do Chess Players Make Per Year- Are They Millionaires?

Although chess is one of the most amazing games ever created, unlike other sports, it doesn’t have a huge amount of money swooning around it. However, what most people ponder about is how much money do chess players actually make? Of course, it’s not equivalent to what a Formula 1 driver or an NBA player would make, but given that chess is played worldwide, are chess players millionaires?

It’s actually very tough to calculate how much money chess players make in a year, but talking about the top players in the game, they are surely millionaires. Most of the international tournaments played today are worth a million dollars and there’s a host of tournaments played every year, compounding onto a chess player’s wealth.

The millionaire chess players

The players who are famous make a good amount of money because their source of income is not confined to just playing chess. Here is the list of some of the richest players in chess today.

Magnus Carlsen

The Norwegian Grand Master is the world chess champion for over a decade now. Taking his success from a chessboard to a chess app, Magnus has grown into a millionaire today. His net worth is estimated to be $8 million.

Garry Kasparov

The Russian Grand Master, Garry Kasparov, is one of the top players in chess history. The former world champion retired from competitive chess in 2005 and his net worth is $5 million.

Hikaru Nakamura

Well, to be the richest chess player in the world, you don’t have to rank world number one. The American Grand Master is the highest watched chess player on Twitch. With a net worth of 50 million dollars, he has quite a fan following in online chess.

Fabiano Caruana

The most successful Italian Grand Master is also the second richest chess player in the world. Fabiano Caruana has a net worth of $13 million.

Judit Polgar

Males aren’t the only millionaire chess players. With a net worth of $5 million, the Hungarian Grand Master is richer than many male chess players.

READ MORE- Alexandra Kosteniuk is the ONLY Women Competing Against 15 Male Dominated Line Up Including Magnus Carlsen

While chess may not be as rewarding for everyone as it is for the above mentioned players, it could be an amazing career choice. Chess is not just confined to tournaments and matches anymore. You could be a streamer on YouTube or Twitch and earn a great deal of money.

20 years ago, you may have limited options, but today, chess could be a lucrative career choice for you.