Money In Chess

Just out of curiosity, at what level (rating) must someone be before he or she can attempt to make money in chess, whether it be through tournaments or other means?

Humorously, you can go from winning lots of money to never being able to win money with just 100 or so rating points. Most tournaments have different sections, so if you are at the higher end of your rating section, you can win money. Also, for larger rating sections, there are under prizes. For instance, in the U2200 section, there is normally an under 2000 prize if the open section starts at 1800+ so that other players have a chance at money. I have also been teaching chess to kids for about 3 years now and make pretty decent money doing it. You can do this at relatively low ratings, since when you teach you teach pretty simple stuff. It's much more important to be good with kids. And if you ever reach strong master, normally IM or above, but some FM's and NM's have also done it, you can write and publish a book, although from what I hear, there isn't all that much money in this unless you can write relatively quickly, or write a gem of a book and become quite popular.

writing a good chess book must be hard with so much chess critics! someone always has to disagree with something someone says about something ;-)

Originally posted by !~TONY~!
Humorously, you can go from winning lots of money to never being able to win money with just 100 or so rating points. Most tournaments have different sections, so if you are at the higher end of your rating section, you can win money. Also, for larger rating sections, there are under prizes. For instance, in the U2200 section, there is normally an under 200 unless you can write relatively quickly, or write a gem of a book and become quite popular.

Very interesting. In fact, a little bit inspiring. I'm 15 and I wrote my final grade 12 final exam on Friday so I'm done school. It's about time I start doing something and I figured I may as well see what the odds of me making it in a game I truly enjoy were. I've been developing very quickly too so I'm thinking it's just possible I hit a rating near 2000 in the next year (If I keep improving at the rate I'm going I'll be 2600ish in the next year 🙄 but I understand that improvement slows the better one gets at chess). Thanks for the input !~TONY~!.

rapid improvement is easy in chess until certain levels for instance in 9 months i was able to hit 1550 and stay there. then i pleateaued. it wasn't until 9 more months till i got some help and was able to steady out at 1600. now i've learned some more from higher rated players and shot off again but i heard its harder and harder to gain points the higher you go. so the equivelant from going to 1100 to 1200 is the equivelant of going from 1900 to 1915 avg. only comparativley.

Originally posted by kmac27
rapid improvement is easy in chess until certain levels for instance in 9 months i was able to hit 1550 and stay there. then i pleateaued. it wasn't until 9 more months till i got some help and was able to steady out at 1600. now i've learned some more from higher rated players and shot off again but i heard its harder and harder to gain points the higher you ...[text shortened]... om going to 1100 to 1200 is the equivelant of going from 1900 to 1915 avg. only comparativley.

my rating jumped from 1100-1200 in my first month playin chess. took another month to reach 1250 😀

Originally posted by kmac27
rapid improvement is easy in chess until certain levels for instance in 9 months i was able to hit 1550 and stay there. then i pleateaued. it wasn't until 9 more months till i got some help and was able to steady out at 1600. now i've learned some more from higher rated players and shot off again but i heard its harder and harder to gain points the higher you ...[text shortened]... om going to 1100 to 1200 is the equivelant of going from 1900 to 1915 avg. only comparativley.

At the same time... I'm 15 and fairly obsessed.. my plateaus will be of much shorter duration than most. Either way I see what you mean.. I will have a hard time getting to and holding 1600 in 3 weeks (my current goal).

Originally posted by ih8sens
At the same time... I'm 15 and fairly obsessed.. my plateaus will be of much shorter duration than most. Either way I see what you mean.. I will have a hard time getting to and holding 1600 in 3 weeks (my current goal).

Hi, my name is Matt. I'm 15 years old and I've been playing chess for about 8 years.

8 years to reach 1550? How good are you at math?

nm

Originally posted by cmsMaster
Hi, my name is Matt. I'm 15 years old and I've been playing chess for about 8 years.

8 years to reach 1550? How good are you at math?

as in i knew the moves...
I only started caring about chess any more than monopoly when i joined the site.

edit - I should also point out that in the 7 months I've been on the site my rating has gone from what I would estimate to be about 1250ish to 1550. 300 points in 7 months is decent imo.. and if you'd look at my rating graph, i've started to improve a little bit faster as of late. I'd anticipate my rating on here to be 1800ish in another 12 months or so.

you are able to jump so high in rating points because of the errors that are made by players in those levels. starting from 1620 or so they will play a decent opening and wont drop pieces. they will have a decent idea of the middle game. 1700 to 1800 know the middle game very well, the ideas and the pawn moves and piece play they will know much better also. their middle game and endgame skills are exceptional and will mean the difference from a draw and a win.

Originally posted by kmac27
you are able to jump so high in rating points because of the errors that are made by players in those levels. starting from 1620 or so they will play a decent opening and wont drop pieces. they will have a decent idea of the middle game. 1700 to 1800 know the middle game very well, the ideas and the pawn moves and piece play they will know much better also. t ...[text shortened]... ddle game and endgame skills are exceptional and will mean the difference from a draw and a win.

well you seem to know your stuff! wow.

What would you anticipate my rating to be in, lets say 12 months if i keep playing at the same rate i have been?

Originally posted by ih8sens
well you seem to know your stuff! wow.

What would you anticipate my rating to be in, lets say 12 months if i keep playing at the same rate i have been?

1660

1700-1800 is a totally different story from 1500-1600, at least from my perspective, and I've played both. These timeouts are killing me though, and it's something can can really affect your rating. I should probably be 1650-1700 on here (I'm 1648 on PC and I think the ratings are comparable) but if your gameload gets too high, or you get too busy your rating can take a big hit on here.

Originally posted by ih8sens
well you seem to know your stuff! wow.

What would you anticipate my rating to be in, lets say 12 months if i keep playing at the same rate i have been?

The skies the limit. If you work your nuts off, you can do anything. I'm in the same boat as you as a few months ago my opening was to checkmate you as quick as possible. In another year, with hard work, I'd say 1750 is quite reasonable.

its very hard to say. i expected to be 1700 in three months at the rate i was going!! it took me 9 months to even touch it and since my big break i havn't settled ne where yet. it depends on how you go about the game. i go through long study sessions for a short period of time. then i learn from my games. at times i don't even study my games i just play another instead. it helps me keep the interest for the game. it took me a coach to help analyze my games and a lot of study of how to go about middle games to even settle at 1620. but you have talent i've seen you play. other than our game.