Serious money at top level chess

Thanks to Bobby Fischer, the first professional chess player who demanded "respectable" money for top level events more than 40 years ago, many of the top chess players today can make a good living as professionals.

The 8-player candidates' matches to select a challenger for World Chess Champion Vishy Anand are held right now in Kazan, Tatarstan. The prize funds are 500,000 euros, which is about $731,000. The World Championship match in 2012 is expected to have a purse of about $2 million to $3 million euros, which is around $3 million to $4 million. The prize funds for the recently concluded U.S. Championships were about $250,000.

Full article by Susan Polgar