Hikaru Nakamura couldn’t disguise his envy as he spoke about what he called the ‘Big 3’ of Indian chess — D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi.
The reason for this envy was not the pace at which their careers had taken off. No, the World No.3 was envious about all three players finding sponsors early on in their careers, which he linked to the trio “staying hungry”.
“When I came up in the USA, even once I had crossed the 2700 rating, I never had any kind of sponsorship that was on the level of what Arjun, Gukesh or Praggnanandhaa are getting right now. The goal for me was to maintain my ranking and just making sure I made an income. These three players can just play chess versus having to worry about making a living,” Nakamura told The Indian Express during the Global Chess League.
Over the past month, the spotlight has been firmly on how grandmasters make a living, especially after reports that at the age of 18, new world champion Gukesh had made $15,77,842 (approximately Rs 13.6 crore) from prize money alone in 2024. (For those wondering, the other two members of the ‘Big 3’ hit pay dirt as well: Praggnanandhaa’s prize money earnings were $2,02,136 or approx Rs 1.7 crore while Erigaisi raked up $1,19,767 or Rs 1.3 crore in 2024.)
These are eye-watering — and eye-opening — amounts. Especially considering that these three players have also been rewarded by state governments for their achievements and have lucrative sponsorship deals (Arjun’s deal, for example, is worth Rs.12.4 crore over five years).
But beyond these staggering numbers lies the stark reality: barring a handful of super-elite grandmasters, sponsorship in chess is hard to come by. For every Arjun, there is a Koneru Humpy and a Leon Luke Mendonca, both of whom currently have no private sponsors.
For chess players, tournament earnings are also not astronomical to begin with — a point that was at the centre of the recent public bickering between Nakamura and FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky.
Sutovsky claimed that “FIDE does provide a lot of income for top players”. Nakamura called this “complete horses**t”. He pointed out that players mostly made money in privately-organised events like the Grand Chess Tour, the German Bundesliga or the Global Chess League.
Not enough money
A look at the prize money structure of elite FIDE events explains why Nakamura has a point. While Gukesh did make around Rs 11 crore for winning the World Championship, there is a steep drop-off at other FIDE events. The World Rapid and World Blitz champions in December 2024, for example, made approximately Rs 77 lakh. For context, a first-round loser at tennis’ US Open would make approximately Rs 84 lakh with the champion pocketing Rs 31 crore.
Anyone finishing between the 31st and 40th spots in the World Blitz Championship — the last spots in the standings to be assured of prize money — earned approximately Rs 1.3 lakh. This prize money needs to be seen in context of the fact that the event was held in New York during the Christmas-New Year period when hotel tariffs are at their peak, and regulations for the event stating that only players rated 2750 in FIDE rating lists in 2024 were entitled to accommodation. So even finishing in the top 30 spots could have meant that a player lost money to compete.
The reality of other FIDE chess events is equally grim. Magnus Carlsen earned approximately Rs 94 lakh for winning last year’s FIDE World Cup, one of the most prestigious classical events organised by the global governing body of the sport. But players who lost in the first round took home about Rs 2.5 lakh. FIDE regulations for the event stated that all players paid their own cost of travel, accommodation and meals for the duration of their stay for the World Cup. The same regulations existed at the FIDE Grand Swiss event.
Away from FIDE events, being a grandmaster also means constantly travelling around the world to compete in open tournaments or invitational events. In both these categories, the organisers may opt to sweeten the pot and offer to take care of accommodation — and on rare occasions, even compensate for airfares. But more often than not, it’s the players who bear these expenses.
Of course, there are now plenty of online events that offer prize money without needing to leave the comfort of home. But for a grandmaster, physical events are still bread and butter. The lure of these events is that one gets to play strong players round after round. A good performance at one event will lead to a spike in ratings, which could maybe translate into an invitation to play at one of the super-elite events. Or at the very least, it could lead to more favourable terms, like an organiser sponsoring accommodation.
By invitation only
Invitations for big events like Norway Chess are like gold dust. All through 2024, Erigaisi barely got any invitations for elite events, with organisers preferring Gukesh or Praggnanandhaa. That’s changed in 2025 with Arjun breaking into the 2800 club, but it will mean someone else loses out on invitations since one can only have so many Indian players in the field. Not just Erigaisi, Vantika Agrawal, despite being one of the most exciting stars on the circuit, talks of having to play in open tournaments because she wasn’t receiving too many invitations.
“Most elite tournaments happen in Europe. So you end up spending around Rs two lakh on accommodation for just one event. Then, travel to the city of the event is about the same cost. If you play in closed tournaments, you also have to pay a hefty entry fee,” said Vantika.
Vantika added that she spent around Rs 1.5 lakh to compete at the President’s Cup in Uzbekistan, where she pulled out after an arbiter erroneously recorded her draw as a defeat. That stand actually cost her money as she could not make up the amount spent on flight and accommodation.
An Indian grandmaster’s father recently told The Indian Express that it cost them an annual average of around Rs 10-15 lakh to sustain the career. With there being no sponsors for the GM over the last few years, the father said “all our savings have been drained in this journey”.
Of course, tournament travel is only part of what grandmasters spend on.
Vantika told The Indian Express that a “strong grandmaster” will charge around Rs 10,000 per hour on average for coaching. Another parent had disclosed last year that some elite international trainers charged as much as $500 per hour for their services.
All of this highlights the point that away from the world of the Indian Big 3, there lies a world where even top grandmasters lose money competing in tournaments, struggle to attract sponsors or invitations, and sometimes worry about making a living.
While there is eye-catching money to be made at the World Chess Championship, players mostly made money in privately-organised events like the Grand Chess Tour, the German Bundesliga or the Global Chess League. 
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