Is It Possible To Become A Pro Chess Player?

nope. impossible! better to be a talking head............less stress, more $. being a pro chess player is undoubtedly harder than being a pro golfer ---- MUCH less money, intense competition, pay your own way --- - maybe you'll get free entry fees, but that's peanuts... you'll be struggling to stay afloat, wondering where your next paycheck might come, NOT what move to play against the ruy lopez.... what a picture.... so sad. i mean, it's not going to be like solving these captchas...

I'd just like to point out, that most of the things in life that are worth pursuing (including chess), are worth it not because they make you money. Don't let the negativity get you down, friend. Chess is a beautiful game.

Once again, facts = "negativity"...somehow or other.

Why would you want to be a pro chess player? Really. Chess is a beautiful game and adds pleasure and interest to your life. But it is a game on a board with 64 squares. You can find something equally absorbing that is more consequential for human life. My suggestion is: Take what you learned in chess, which is how to master an intricate and technical subject by self-study and see practical results from that study, to master that. Make a living doing something you will believe in and enjoy rather than just enjoy. Play chess well but engage with a job of consequence (and, more broadly, engage with life). and .... that is all completely aside from the difficulties of making a living in chess.

Uh-oh, another Life Coach looms on the horizon...

@sparowe14 I don't think that the situation of Euwe has much relevance on todays prospects of becoming a pro. Euwe was worldchampion in the 1930s, a time when there were only a relative few professionals in any sport. It would take decades for instance before the Olympic Games were open for professionals.

being a pro chess player is extremely glamorous, well paying, luxury abounds........ they keep this part secret. but i'm here to tell you all, prepare to be wined, dined, respected, admired, fawned over incessantly, women literally throwing themselves at you (a la yasser seirawan's tale at his hotel)..... paychecks literally falling from the ceiling for you whenever you appear. if you take a poisoned pawn, ninjas will appear, and kill each other around you, without a drop of blood hitting your armani.... you'll make james bond seem like a turnip truck rider.

yes, that is truly what it's like. don't ask me how i no all this.

You can only try it and find out!

I support anyone who wants to improve at chess.