Prizes in Chess

 

In November-December 1843, the stakes were 100 British pounds a side in the Staunton vs. Saint-Amant match, held in Paris.  Staunton won the stake.

In 1845, the first place prize for the U.S. Championship match was $1,000.  The winner was Charles Stanley (1819-1901), defeating Eugene Rousseau (1810-1870) in a match.

In 1851, the first international chess tournament was held in London.  Adolf Anderssen won the event.  His prize was 183 British pounds and a silver cup.  He owed 1/3 of his winnings to Szen after a private agreement that if either one were to take first place, he would share 1/3 to the other.  The total prize fund was 551 British pounds )over $500,000 in 2021 dollars), raised by Howard Staunton.

In August 1857, the first British Chess Association (BCA) Congress was held in Manchester, England.  The winner was Johann Jacob Loewenthal (1810-1876) in the 8-person major section.  Loewenthal was supposed to play Boden in the final round, but after the first game was drawn, Boden was unable to remain in Manchester, and conceded the prize to Loewenthal.  First prize was a set of Chinese carved ivory chessmen.  John Owens (1827-1901) won the 16-player minor section.  The first place prize was a set of Staunton chessmen made of wood.

In 1857, first prize in the first American Chess Congress was $300 (equivalent to almost $7,000 in today’s currency).  Paul Morphy won first prize, but refused to take any money.  He did accept a silver service consisting of a pitcher, four goblets, and a tray.  Morphy’s prize was given to him by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

In 1857, Paul Morphy defeated Charles Stanley in a chess match and was awarded $100 in prize money.  Morphy gave the money to Stanley’s wife and children.  As a mark of gratitude, she named her daughter Pauline, who was born in December, 1857.

In 1858, Staunton refused a purse of $6,000 ($190,000 in 2021) to play against Paul Morphy because he considered it too little money for a “formidable enterprise.”

In 1861, Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900) won the Vienna chess championship.  His first place prize was a suitcase.

In 1862, the prize fund in the International Tournament at London was 210 British pounds, of which 100 pounds was given to the first prize to Adolf Anderssen.

In 1866, the stakes were 100 British pounds in the Anderssen vs. Steinitz match.  The money was raised by the Westminster Chess Club, won by Steinitz.

In 1867, 1^st prize at a Paris International Tournament was 5000 francs, won by Ignatz von Kolisch.  The top four finishers also received a Sevres vase, worth about 5,000 francs, and presented by the Emperor Napoleon III.  Kolisch invested his vase in real estate right after the tournament.

In December 1871, first prize in the second American Chess Congress was $100 (equivalent to $1,500 in today’s currency).  It was won by George Mackenzie.  The total prize fund was $290.

In 1873, the emperor of Austria offered a prize of 200 ducats to the winner of the Vienna International chess tournament.  It was won by Steinitz.

In 1874, the total prize fund in the third American Chess Congress was $450.  First place prize was $225.  The players had to pay a $20 entry fee.

In September, 1876, the first “brilliancy prize” was awarded to Henry Bird for his game against James Mason, played in New York.  The prize was a silver cup.

In 1878, a subscription was raised by American chess players to send James Mason (1849-1905) to a Paris tournament.  Mason failed to win any prize money and was so embarrassed, that he did not return to the United States.  He then settled in London. The first place prize at the Paris tournament was a Sevres vase, worth over 5,000 francs.  It was won by Johannes Zukertort, given to him by the President of France.  Zukertort sold it three days later at a pawn shop for about half the value.

In 1886, the prize fund for the Steinitz-Zukertort world championship match (first official world championship match) was 400 British pounds ($2,000) each.  The prize fund was split evenly.  Steinitz won the match, scoring 12.5 to 7.5 and received $1,000 in prize money.  There was also $3,000 that was paid to those who bet on the winner.

In 1889, the first “best game” prize in a major tournament was awarded to Gunsberg for his game against Mason, played in New York.

In 1889, the second official world championship match had a prize fund of $1,150, the lowest ever for a world championship match.  Steinitz defeated Chigorin in the match with a score of 10.5 to 6.5.

In 1890-91, the world championship match was between Steinitz and Gunsberg.  This was one of the the first times that the loser took a share of the prize money.  All previous world championship matches, the loser did not get any prize money.  Steinitz won the match with 6 wins, 4 losses, and 9 draws.  He took home a $2,000 winner’s share.

In 1894, the prize fund for the Steinitz-Lasker world championship match was 400 British pounds a side.

In the 1901 NY chess championship, 1^st place was $40. ($1,020 in today’s money).  It was won by Julius Finn.

In 1904, Baron Albert Rothschild (1844-1911) donated 500 francs ($100) for the brilliancy prize at the chess tournament in Cambridge Springs.

In 1909, Czar Nicholas of Russia donated 1,000 rubles for the chess congress prize fund held in St. Petersburg.  The czar also donated a vase of the Imperial porcelain manufacturer as a first place for the all-Russian Minor Tournament.  The prize fund for the event for the chess congress was 10,500 rubles.

In November 1909, Frank Marshall (1877-1944) defeated Jackson Showalter in a match, held in Lexington, Kentucky. The prize was $500 a side.

In 1914, a chess congress was held in Mannheim, Germany.  During the event, World War I broke out.  Only 11 rounds out of a scheduled 17 were played.  All the Russian masters were arrested and the prize fund was cut in half.

In July 1916, the winner of a chess match in Kansas won a bushel of matches.  [source: Parsons Daily Eclipse (Parsons, Kansas), July 28, 1916, p. 6]

In 1916, first place prize for the winner of the Tarrasch-Mieses match, held in Berlin, was a kilogram of butter.  Tarrasch won the match with a 9-4 score.

In 1916, the first place prize at a chess tournament in New York was a barrel of schmaltz herring.

In 1920, all the chess players stopped playing and went on strike at the 1^st All-Russian Chess Olympiad, held in Moscow.  They refused to play unless they were given more prize money and better rations.  Their demands were finally met and the tournament continued.

In 1920-21, the world championship prize fund was $25,000 ($370,000 in 2021 money).  The purse was to be divided as follows: Dr. Emanuel Lasker would get $13,000 and Capablanca would get $12 ,000, win, lose or draw.   After five games, the “Commission for the encouragement of touring throughout Cuba” gave an extra $5,000, of which $3,000 would go to the winner and $2,000 would go to the loser.

In 1925, in a blitz tournament held in Breslau, the first place prize was enough silk to make six shirts.  Hans Kmoch was the winner of the tournament and the silk.

In 1927, the prize fund for the Alekhine-Capablanca world chess championship was $10,000.  Capablanca also received a $20,000 appearance fee.  Alekhine won the match with 6 wins, 3 losses, and 25 draws.

In 1935, Max Euwe won the world championship match against Alekhine and won the $10,000 stake.  Euwe won the match with 9 wins, 8 losses, and 13 draws.

During his chess career, Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) obtained 19 brilliancy prize awards, more than any other chess player.

In 1948, first place in the first chess Interzonal, held in Saltsjoboden, Sweden, was $550.  It was won by David Bronstein.

In 1946, Botvinnik won the first international chess tournament after World War II, Gronignen 1946.  His prize was 1,500 Dutch guilders and a silver cigarette box from the Queen of England.  A tablecloth was given to the best non-prize winner.  A picture of the Martini Tower in Groningen in a silver frame was given to the last place finisher.

In 1948, first place in the 1948 Interzonal was $550.

In 1948, Mikhail Botvinnik received $5,000 for winning the 1948 5-player world championship match-tournament.

In 1950, Bronstein and Boleslavsky won the first Candidates tournament in Budapest, Hungary.  First prize was $5,000.

In 1951, the winner of the world chess championship match received $6,000.  The loser received $4,000.

In 1955, the first place prize at the U.S. Open in Long Beach was a new Buick automobile.  It was won by Nicholas Rossolimo.

In 1957, Fischer won $750 after winning the US Open in Cleveland.

In 1959, the prize fund for the U.S. Open was $3,450.  1^st place was $1,200.

In 1959-1960, the first place prize in the U.S. championship was $1,000, won by Bobby Fischer.

In 1961/62 the U.S. Chess Championship prize fund was $3,000.  First place was $1,000.

In 1962, Fischer earned $750 for his 1^st place money at the 1962 Interzonal.

In 1964, first place in the 1964 Interzonal in Amsterdam was $250 after a month’s work.

In 1966, Petrosian received $2,000 for his win over Boris Spassky.

In 1966, the first place prize in the U.S. Championship was $2,500, won by Bobby Fischer for the 8^th time.

In 1968, Grandmaster Jan Donner took 1^st place at the International Tournament in Venice.  Donner announced on television that he would donate the prize he won to the Viet Cong – on the condition that the proceeds were to be used for buying machine guns, not medicine.  After the announcement, Donner’s position as the weekly chess editor for Elseviers Weekblad was terminated.

In 1969, Boris Spassky received only $1,400 for winning the world championship match from Tigran Petrosian.

In 1969, the U.S. Championship had a prize fund of $6,500.

In 1971, the prize fund for the USSR championship, the strongest country championship in the world, was 250 rubles.

In 1971, the prize fund for the Buenos Aires candidates match was $7,500 for the winner (Fischer)  and $4,500 for the loser (Petrosian).

In 1972, Iceland originally offered $62,500  and Yugoslavia offered $76,000 prize money for the world championship match between Fischer and Spassky.  Belgrade, Yugoslavia later increased the prize money to $152,000.  Buenos Aires proposed $100,000.  Iceland increased their prize money to $125,000, tax-free.  Jim Slater, a businessman in London, added $125,000 to the prize money.  The total prize fund at Reykjavik was $250,000.  That amount exceeded the sum total of all prize money from the previous 27 world championship matches since 1886.  Fischer got $153,240 for winning the world championship in 1972, and another $40,000 in royalties.  Fischer received 30% of the television rights and gate money.

Fischer asked the Icelandic Chess Federation (ICF) to deposit $46,875 (half the loser’s share of the prize fund) in his bank account before the match started.  The ICF refused. 

Spassky’s share of the 1972 world championship match prize money at the end of the match was $93,750, the most money he had ever seen or made.  Prior to this match, the most money Spassky had ever won was $5,000, in a tournament outside the USSR.

In 1973, Fischer handed over $61,200 of his 1972 world championship prize money to the Worldwide Church of God.

In 1973, the first World Open chess tournament had a prize fund of $15,000.  First place was $2,000, won by Walter Browne.

In 1974, the second World Open had a prize fund of $17,000.  First place was $3,000, won by Bent Larsen.

In 1975, the third World Open had a prize fund of $20,000.  First place was $3.000, split between Pal Benko and Alan Trefler.

In 1976, there were no medals given for board prizes at the 22^nd Chess Olympiad in Haifa, Israel as in past chess Olympiads.  Instead, there was a miscellany of prizes, only one per board.  For example, the best 6^th board went to Kim Collins of the USA.  He received a copy of Bobby Fischer’s My 60 Memorable Games.

In 1977, Bobby Fischer was offered $250,000 to play one chess game at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.  Afterwards, President Marcos of the Philippines offered to sponsor a $3 million championship match in the Philippines.

In 1978, the world championship match prize fund was $560,000.  The winner (Karpov) received 5/8, and the loser (Korchnoi) received 3/8 of the prize fund.  Karpov won the mach, scoring 6 wins, 5 losses, and 21 draws.

In 1980, MIT computer science professor Edward Fredkin offered $10,000 to the first program with an established rating of 2450, and $100,000 prize fund to go to the first program to defeat the world chess champion.  The computer BELLE was awarded the prize of $5,000 for becoming the first program to achieve a master’s rating.

In 1983, some of the prize fund for a tournament held in Ohio went to the Ohio Nuclear Weapons Freeze campaign.

The 1985 world chess championship prize fund was 72,000 rubles, with 5/8 for the winner and 3/8 for the loser.

In 1986, the London portion of the prize fund for the world chess championship between Karpov and Kasparov, held in London and Leningrad, was donated to the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster.

In 1987, the prize fund for the world chess championship between Karpov and Kasparov in Seville, Spain was 2,280,000 Swiss francs.  Both Karpov and Kasparov got a mere 137,000 Swiss francs each.  The rest of the prize fund went to the Soviet Sports Committee.

In 1988, GM Guillermo Garcia Gonzales took 2^nd place in the 1988 New York Open.  His $10,000 prize money was confiscated by the Department of Treasury, invoking the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, because he was Cuban.  In 1990, he died in a car accident in Havana and the Treasury Department kept the money.

In 1988, the $10,000 Fredkin prize was awarded to the inventors of DEEP THOUGHT for being the first program to achieve Grandmaster status

In 1989, the Belgrade Grandmaster’s Association (GMA) had a prize fund of $100,000, funded by Yugoslav Airlines.  98 grandmasters participated in this event, won by GM Krunoslav Hulak of Yugoslavia.

In 1990, the prize fund for the Kasparov-Karpov match was $3 million.  Kasparov won the match with 4 wins, 3 losses, and 17 draws.  He received $1.875 million in prize money. 

In 1991, Artashes Minasian won the 58^th and last USSR chess championship, held in Moscow.  His prize was a gold medal and a new automobile fresh from the “Lada” factory.

In 1992, the prize fund for the Fischer-Spassky rematch was $5 million.  The winner, Fischer, got $3,650,000.

In 1993, the FIDE world championship match was supposed to be between Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short.  However, Kasparov wasn’t happy with the prize fund, so he broke away from FIDE and helped founded the Professional Chess Association (PCA).  Kasparov objected that 20% of the prize fund would go to FIDE.

In 1994, the 1^st place prize in the U.S. Championship, held in Key West, Florida, was $8,000.  It was won by Boris Gulko.

In 1995, the prize fund for the Kasparov-Anand world championship match was $1.5 million.  Kasparov beat Anand with 4 wind, 1 loss, and 13 draws and received $1 million in prize money.

In 1997, the $100,000 Fredkin prize was awarded to the inventors of DEEP BLUE computer, which beat Garry Kasparov in the final game of their 6-game match in May, 1997.

In 1998, the prize fund for the U.S championship was $100,000.  First place was $12,000.

In 2000, the prize fund for the Braingames World Chess Championship was $2 million between Kasparov and Kramnik.  Kramnik beat Kasparov with 2 wins, no losses, and 13 draws and won 1.33 million.

In 2002, Kramnik got $800,000 for playing Deep Fritz in a match.

In 2003, the prize fund for the 2003 World Chess Championship was $1 million.

In 2004, the prize fund for the Classical World Chess Championship in Hamburg was one million Swiss Francs ($772,600).

In 2005, the HR Global Chess Challenge tournament was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  It was the richest open chess tournament in history, with a $500,000 prize fund.  First place was $50,000, won by GM Zviod Izonia of Soviet Georgia.  The event drew 1,358 players and 43 grandmasters.

In 2006, the 34^th World Open had a prize fund of $358,000, with 1^st place being $18,000.

In 2006, the Kramnik-Topalov world championship match had a prize fund of $1 million.  The prize fund was arranged to be split at $500,000 for each player.  Kramnik won the match on tiebreaks.

In 2007, the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Elista had a prize fund of $40,000 per match.

In 2007, the prize fund for the World Chess Championship in Mexico was $1.3 million.

In 2008, the world chess championship prize fund was 2 million Euros ($2.7 million).  The winner (Viswanathan Anand) got 60% and the loser (Veselin Topalov) got 40%.  In addition, 400,000 Euros went to FIDE and 600,000 went to the Bulgarian organizers.

In 2009, the Anand-Kramnik world championship match has a prize fund of $1.9 million.  The prize fund was arranged to be split at $950,000 for each player.  Anand won the match with 3 wins, 1 loss, and 7 draws.

In 2009, the prize fund in the U.S. championship was $100,000, with $30,000 going to the winner.

In 2009, the prize fund for the World Open in Philadelphia was $250,000.  First place in the top section was $15.200.

The 2010 U.S. Women’s Championship had a prize fund of $65,000, the largest prize fund in the history of women’s chess.  1^st place was $16,000, won by Irina Krush.

The 2010 U.S. Men’s Championship had a prize fund of $170,000.  1^st prize was $30,000, won by Gata Kamsky.

In 2010, the Anand-Topalov world championship match had a prize fund of $2.8 million.  Anand won the match with 3 wins, 2 losses, and 7 draws and received $1.68 million.

In the 2011 US chess championship, 1^st place was $40,000.  Total prize fund was $166,000.

In 2012, the Anand-Gelfand world championship match had a prize fund of $2.55 million.  Anand won the match on tiebreaks and received $1.53 million.  He was also given a $400,000 bonus from the Indian government.

In 2012, the U.S. championship  prize fund was $160,000.

In 2013, the Carlsen-Anand world championship match had a prize fund of $2.5 million.  Carlsen won the match with 3 wins, no losses, and 7 draws.  He won $1.5 million for winning the match.

The 2014 US championship had a prize fund of $171,000, plus an extra $64,000 for any perfect score (the Fischer bonus).

The 2014 Sinquefield Cup had a total prize fund of $315,000.  Fabiano Caruana, who won the event, won $100,000.

In 2014, the prize fund for the world championship was 1 million Euros ($1.25 million), with 60% going to the winner (Carlsen) and 40% to the loser (Anand).

In 2014, Wesley So won $100,000 in the Millionaire Tournament in Las Vegas.

In 2015, the chess World Cup for 2015 has a prize fund of $1.6 million.

In 2016, the prize fund for the 2016 Candidates Tournament was 420,000 euros.  1^st place was 95,000 euros.

In 2016, the prize fund for the U.S. Open was $40,000.  First place was $8,000.

In 2017, the prize fund in the 2017 US championship was $194,000.  1^st place was $50,000.

In 2018, the prize fund for the Candidates Tournament was 420,000 euros ($516,000).  1^st place was 95,000 euros.

In 2018, the prize fund for the Carlsen-Caruana world championship match was 1 million euros.  Carlsen got 55% and Caruana got 45%.

In 2019, the total prize pool for all the chess tournaments that year was $8,622.047.

In May 2020, world champion Magnus Carlsen won $70,000 in the richest online chess tournament ever, called the Magnus Carlsen Invitational.  The total prize fund was $250,000.  [source: Morse, “Magnus Carlsen wins $70,000 as he triumphs in richest online chess tournament ever,” CNN, May 5, 2020]

In November 2020, the prize find for the online National Open was $20,000.  First place was $2,000.

In November 2020, the Champions Chess Tour kicked off with a $1.5 million prize fund.  [source: “Champions Chess Tour with $1.5 million in prizes to kick off next week,” ChessBase News, Nov 14, 2020]

 In 2020, Magnus Carlsen earned $519,997.  Ju Wenjun, the world woman’s chess champion, earned $347,368.  [source: chessprizes.com]

In January 2021, GM Teimor Radjabov won $60,000 for winning the online Airthings Masters.  GM Levon Aronian took 2^nd place, earning $40,000.

The average salary for chess jobs is $35,000.  Average chess salaries can vary greatly due to company, location, industry, experience and benefits.

Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand has made over $1 million each of the past two years from chess winnings alone.

Top events - $100,000

Top open events - $20,000

Top 20 - $100,000 to a million a year.

Top 20-100 - $60,000 a year.

Chess coaches $30,000 a year.

Source of income:

Tournament and match earnings, teaching, writing books, articles software, sponsorship

For more than 99% of players, chess will not be a profitable venture.

Chess hustlers can make $100-$200 a day.

Bundesliga is the strongest team chess tournament in the world.  Top GMs are paid $50,000 to play in it.

The Frank P. Samford, Jr.  Chess Fellowship is $82,000.