Prize Money Top List

How much money can you make playing chess?

  • Magnus Carlsen tops the total with more than $2m in prize money since 2017  
  • Two women (Ju Wenjun and Alexandra Goryachkina) in the top three thanks to the Women's World Championship Match
  • The total prize pool for all 2019 tournaments was more than $8,622,047
  • The ranking includes most of the major tournaments each year. Non-USD prizes are converted with beginning of year exchange rates
  • Strong players have other sources of income in addition to prize money, and often get paid just to participate in tournaments
  • If you see any errors, please send us an email 😊
Player 2020 ($) 2019 ($) 2018 ($) 2017 ($) Total ($)
Magnus Carlsen 556,093 651,850 867,200 689,302 2,764,445
Ju Wenjun 347,368 13,080 60,000 12,000 432,448
Aleksandra Goryachkina 265,345 76,300 5,500 5,500 352,645
Hikaru Nakamura 246,587 347,800 428,894 273,150 1,296,431
Levon Aronian 142,844 328,131 293,560 336,178 1,100,713
Wesley So 137,375 418,005 154,570 258,067 968,017
Fabiano Caruana 115,498 284,050 815,300 245,740 1,460,588
Daniil Dubov 110,179 80,909 78,098 21,308 290,494
Ding Liren 108,500 433,343 110,830 211,780 864,453
Ian Nepomniachtchi 105,880 257,506 23,654 218,323 605,363
Alireza Firouzja 87,031 96,410 22,000 1,853 207,294
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 85,500 299,603 234,910 334,482 954,495
Anish Giri 72,852 139,508 91,625 96,978 400,963
Teimour Radjabov 69,000 127,985 4,360 43,600 244,945
Alexander Grischuk 65,000 227,238 93,874 163,690 549,802
Humpy Koneru 45,000 61,430 5,500 111,930
David Paravyan 41,698 12,308 1,308 280 55,594
Jan-Krzysztof Duda 38,187 152,806 56,830 4,988 252,811
Jeffery Xiong 35,000 56,500 8,500 5,000 105,000
Pentala Harikrishna 31,726 83,485 49,720 164,931
Mariya Muzychuk 30,038 35,305 20,000 85,343
Leinier Dominguez 27,000 139,214 7,500 50,000 223,714
Tan Zhongyi 26,530 58,800 5,500 60,000 150,830
Nana Dzagnidze 25,794 35,165 5,500 12,000 78,459
Peter Svidler 24,000 98,275 25,084 127,160 274,519
Alexandra Kosteniuk 23,359 68,555 20,000 20,000 131,914
Aydin Suleymanli 20,153 20,153
Aryan Tari 18,320 8,427 2,834 29,581
Guijarro David Anton 17,245 76,237 5,000 98,482
Mustafa Yilmaz 15,832 1,567 7,000 24,399
Dronavalli Harika 15,598 24,093 8,000 20,000 67,691
David Navara 15,428 73,620 1,635 21,578 112,261
Kateryna Lagno 15,000 87,065 30,000 132,065
Andrey Esipenko 13,928 11,090 25,018
Hao Wang 13,928 132,977 13,261 101,500 261,666
Daniil Yuffa 13,928 16,000 29,928
Lei Tingjie 13,265 36,400 12,000 61,665
Vladislav Artemiev 12,387 134,817 47,909 29,728 224,841
Rinat Jumabayev 11,196 16,000 763 27,959
Zhansaya Abdumalik 11,196 11,000 12,000 34,196
Sergey Karjakin 10,500 158,990 224,190 213,090 606,770
Radosław Wojtaszek 10,301 60,473 20,550 17,913 109,237
Vassily Ivanchuk 10,000 1,164 47,700 58,864
Gujrathi Vidit Santosh 9,700 69,302 24,113 103,115
Alina Kashlinskaya 8,957 6,735 5,500 21,192
Irina Krush 8,000 20,000 5,500 33,500
Vladimir Kramnik 8,000 40,000 55,567 62,125 165,692
Yu Yangyi 8,000 170,266 33,500 54,513 266,279
Rauf Mamedov 7,837 2,333 6,078 29,763 46,011
Liem Le Quang 7,573 85,183 4,880 30,000 127,636
Anna Muzychuk 7,557 89,558 12,000 30,000 139,115
Michael Adams 7,224 8,745 7,320 61,648 84,936
Samuel Shankland 7,200 55,450 50,000 9,000 121,650
Boris Gelfand 7,000 58,640 5,888 14,093 85,621
Yip Carissa 7,000 7,000
Antoaneta Stefanova 6,438 12,590 8,000 12,000 39,028
Vishy Anand 6,120 127,295 76,055 444,500 653,970
Valentina Gunina 6,000 77,393 8,000 5,500 96,893
Chithambaran V. R. Aravindh 4,478 11,600 545 818 17,441
Yi Wei 4,000 95,950 0 3,635 103,585
Peter Leko 4,000 5,150 3,560 12,710
Pia Cramling 3,919 8,175 8,000 20,094
Vladimir Fedoseev 3,646 36,105 5,800 185,155 230,706
Aleksej Aleksandrov 3,359 7,635 545 327 11,866
Vincent Keymer 3,090 0 16,350 19,440
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 3,000 170,793 239,635 64,380 477,808
Mikhail Kobalia 2,857 2,857
Marie Sebag 2,799 9,270 12,069
Parham Maghsoodloo 2,418 23,635 17,100 43,153
Jorden Van Foreest 2,239 232 1,723 4,195
Veselin Topalov 2,073 90,750 3,270 52,380 148,473
Chopra Aryan 2,073 0 2,073
Murali Karthikeyan 2,073 36,836 545 39,454
Jan Werle 2,073 2,073
Arkadij Naiditsch 2,060 6,000 1,000 3,830 12,890
Nikita Vitiugov 2,000 96,030 26,760 17,700 142,490
Manuel Petrosyan 1,903 545 1,635 4,083
Baskaran Adhiban 1,903 10,000 5,450 10,270 27,623
Vugar Asadli 1,903 1,903
Anton Korobov 1,750 52,794 26,800 21,353 102,697
Xiangzhi Bu 1,750 6,000 77,500 85,250
Markus Ragger 1,500 1,500
Pouya Idani 1,344 1,300 2,644
Bharathakoti Harsha 1,344 2,333 900 4,577
Sanan Sjugirov 1,344 15,308 3,000 210 19,862
Mikhail Al. Antipov 1,344 1,500 545 3,389
R Praggnanandhaa 1,344 444 900 2,687
Romain Édouard 1,030 1,030
Nils Grandelius 1,000 28,512 1,482 30,994
Nihal Sarin 821 11,680 5,000 17,501
Raunak Sadhwani 784 784
Gabriel Sargissian 784 6,853 7,637
S.P. Sethuraman 784 12,341 12,090 18,800 44,015
Aleksandr Rakhmanov 784 15,000 1,500 2,000 19,284
Nodirbek Abdusattorov 714 16,405 0 17,119
Alexander Riazantsev 560 15,805 16,365
Ilia Iljiushenok 560 6,000 6,560
Aleksandr Shimanov 560 560
Arjun Erigaisi 560 164 723
Evgeny Shtembuliak 560 560
Vladislav Kovalev 560 5,000 21,320 7,630 34,510
Vitaly Kunin 560 560
Bogdan-Daniel Deac 560 763 1,323
Rasmus Svane 560 1,635 2,195
Ilia Smirin 560 8,438 545 9,543
Noël Studer 515 515
Haik M. Martirosyan 385 10,900 11,285
Maksim Chigaev 0 10,582 10,582
Maxim Matlakov 0 44,667 10,763 23,568 78,998
Aleksey Goganov 0 545 545
Krishnan Sasikiran 7,630 545 8,175
Alessio Valsecchi 731 164 895
Artyom Timofeev 1,050 1,050
Etienne Bacrot 18,495 18,495
Krzysztof Jakubowski 164 164
Anastasia Bodnaruk 2,500 5,500 5,500 13,500
Richard Palliser 610 610
Andrew Tang 2,800 2,800
Minh Le Tuan 600 600
Sergio Duran Vega 6,000 6,000
Aleksei Pridorozhni 6,000 6,000
Wojciech Moranda 872 872
Huang Qian 5,500 5,500
Kirill Alekseenko 67,745 4,308 72,053
Gata Kamsky 5,808 12,190 17,998
Meilis Annaberdlev 2,180 2,180
Alexander Motylev 3,438 3,438
Pier Luigi Basso 259 259
Artur Gaifullin 210 210
Saveliy Golubov 1,500 490 1,990
Pavel Eljanov 13,000 1,998 18,920 33,918
Samvel Ter-Sahakyan 6,097 6,097
Shaun Press 6,000 6,000
Daniel Anwuli 6,000 6,000
Zhu Chen 5,500 5,500
Hovhannes Gabuzyan 4,000 4,000
Nikita Afanasiev 1,260 1,260
Anton Demchenko 10,336 10,336
Hoang Thanh 5,500 5,500
Dinira Saduakassova 5,500 5,500
Alisa Galliamova 8,000 8,000
Grzegorz Gajewski 164 164
Sabino Brunello 436 436
Mircea-Emilian Parligras 7,063 0 7,063
Essam El Gindy 6,000 6,000
Vadim Zvjaginesev 763 763
Danyyil Dvirnyy 109 109
Sundar M. Shyam 300 300
Alexandr Fier 1,700 1,700
Chakkravarthy Deepan 1,200 1,200
Vasily Usmanov 210 210
Gawain Jones 14,172 2,200 25,200 41,572
Kaido Kulaots 19,620 545 20,165
Laurent Fressinet 4,090 4,090
Pavel Ponkratov 4,938 3,000 1,254 9,192
Yuriy Kryvoruchko 12,000 6,000 5,000 23,000
Dmitry Jakovenko 47,620 8,000 30,248 85,868
Daniele Vocaturo 1,220 1,220
Alan Pichot 6,000 700 6,700
Ni Shiqun 5,500 12,000 17,500
Yang Wen 4,250 4,250
Ferenc Berkes 12,540 763 13,303
Alexei Shirov 8,222 8,222
Tamir Nabaty 15,000 4,620 19,620
Evgeny Alekseev 3,438 1,500 4,220 9,158
P V Nandhidhaa 336 336
Batkhuyag Munguntuul 2,000 2,000
Denis Khismatullin 763 2,023 2,786
Jennifer Yu 500 500
Zhu Jiner 5,500 5,500
Erwin I'Ami 580 580
Mikheil Mchedlishvili 1,300 800 2,100
Surya Shekhar Ganguly 7,000 2,500 9,500
Alexander Fishbein 2,000 2,000
Hrant Melkumyan 6,438 1,500 7,000 14,938
Nicolas Checa 4,000 4,000
Sergei Zhigalko 3,545 6,015 9,560
Gergely Antal 840 840
Timur Fakhrutdinov 280 280
Jon Ludvig Hammer 10,083 10,083
Evgeny Tomashevsky 17,500 15,260 32,760
Zviad Izoria 8,500 8,500
Ekaterina Atalik 30,000 5,500 35,500
Zahar Efimenko 1,200 1,200
Rout Padmini 8,000 8,000
Tamas Banusz 3,917 3,917
Emre Can 1,100 1,300 2,400
Mobina Alinasab 8,000 8,000
Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli 11,381 10,000 5,508 26,889
Mateusz Bartel 7,500 7,500
Jianchao Zhou 763 300 1,063
Larry Christiansen 5,500 5,500
Dmitry Khegay 210 210
Konstantin Kavutskiy 447 447
Dmitry Kokarev 420 1,780 2,200
Illya Nyzhnyk 4,000 4,000
Ernesto Inarkiev 36,520 4,045 12,590 53,155
Matthias Bluebaum 5,262 0 4,905 10,167
John Emms 1,220 1,220
Burak Firat 1,004 1,004
Yi Xu 881 200 1,081
Daniel Fridman 18,605 3,000 218 21,823
Joel Benjamin 4,000 4,000
Nikolai Shukh 490 490
Himal Gusain 210 210
Maciej Klekowski 327 327
Susanto Megaranto 6,200 6,200
Natalija Pogonina 8,600 8,000 8,000 24,600
Anna Zatonskih 8,000 8,000
Peter Michalik 1,072 1,072
Gabor Papp 314 314
Yue Wang 5,725 5,725
Aleksandr Lenderman 6,000 15,000 15,800 36,800
Ehsan Ghaem Maghami 6,000 6,000
Anna Ushenina 5,500 5,500 11,000
Vidal Gonzales 6,000 6,000
Anh Koi Nguyen 336 300 636
Francisco Vallejo Pons 0 24,518 24,518
Suri Vaibhav 1,308 444 1,752
Maksim Samusenko 910 910
Grigoriy Oparin 14,180 4,830 545 19,555
Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen 8,336 8,336
Nijat Abasov 18,800 18,800
Antonios Pavlidis 109 109
Nodirbek Yakubboev 4,545 4,545
Alexandr Predke 12,007 350 12,357
Mikhail Demidov 654 654
Yaroslav Zherebukh 6,000 10,000 16,000
Alexander Onischuk 4,000 47,800 51,800
Johan-Sebastian Christiansen 11,635 11,635
Bassem Amin 15,500 700 6,000 22,200
Jaan Ehlvest 2,000 2,000
Alexander Goldin 6,500 6,500
M. Amin Tabatabaei 13,121 763 13,884
Evgeny Postny 5,000 5,000
Sasa Martinovic 109 109
Dmitry Andreikin 35,825 18,222 3,815 57,862
Guanchu Liu 4,250 4,250
Garry Kasparov 20,000 7,500 27,500
Sugar Gan-Erdene 6,000 6,000
Zaven Andriasian 600 600
Yifan Hou 0 30,193 30,193
Evgeniy Najer 10,000 30,900 40,900
Sebastian Bogner 515 515
Eyal Grinberg 568 568
Emilio Cordova 6,000 545 6,545
Arash Tahbaz 800 800
Ivan Cheparinov 23,331 2,500 1,720 27,551
Atula Vaidya 600 600
Daniel Naroditsky 7,000 7,000
Elina Danielian 2,375 2,375
Ioan-Cristian Chirila 1,000 1,000
D Gukesh 9,366 9,366
Minh Tran Tuan 336 1,500 1,836
Andreas Heimann 7,950 513 8,464
Pawel Jaracz 164 164
Boris Grachev 2,045 2,100 4,145
Semen Lomasov 7,000 210 7,210
Sandro Mareco 9,200 763 1,900 11,863
Georg Meier 2,000 0 0 2,000
Nino Khurtsidze 8,000 8,000
Hans Niemann 1,000 1,000
Constantin Lupulescu 15,224 15,224
Anastasia Savina 5,500 5,500
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 20,360 0 2,725 23,085
Bilel Bellahcene 6,000 6,000
Jonathan Hawkins 610 610
Segey Fedorchuk 872 872
Eric Hansen 1,500 1,500
Sang Cao 336 336
Luke Mcshane 15,000 4,140 19,140
Vahap Sanai 2,200 2,200
Alexander Molseenko 218 218
Zhamsaran Tsydypov 140 140
Emil Sutovsky 2,440 2,440
Martyn Kravtsiv 10,000 10,000
Maxim Rodshtein 25,630 20,000 45,630
Nataliya Buksa 5,500 5,500
Elshan Moradiabadi 2,109 2,109
Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova 12,000 12,000
John Paul Gomez 250 250
Inna Gaponenko 5,500 5,500
Jolanta Zawadzka 8,000 8,000
Boris Savchenko 210 38,000 38,210
Dennis Wagner 164 164
Zdenko Kozul 5,450 5,450
Salome Melia 5,500 5,500
Ruslan Ponomariov 6,000 3,308 9,308
Dinara Saduakassova 5,500 250 5,750
Forero Escobar 6,000 6,000
Alexander Donchenko 5,153 5,153
P Iniyan 1,700 1,700
Alexander Khalifman 1,308 1,308
Alejandro Ramirez 444 444
Leon Luke Mendonca 200 200
Cristobal Henriquez Villagra 6,000 6,000
John Pigott 392 392
Nikita Petrov 7,090 7,090
Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko 1,200 1,200
Prasanna V. Vishnu 1,100 900 2,000
Irina Bulmaga 2,375 2,375
P Shyaamnikhil 250 250
Aleksey Dreev 3,833 3,000 4,000 10,833
Rahman Mohammad Fahad 6,000 6,000
Victor Bologan 1,308 1,308
Narayanan Sunilduth Lyna 16,545 1,308 17,853
Viktor Laznicka 1,090 1,090
Zoltan Almasi 392 392
Arman Pashikian 6,000 6,000
John M Burke 1,200 1,200
Ameet Ghasi 1,220 1,220
Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara 6,000 6,000
Evgeny Bareev 6,000 6,000
Anh Dung Nguyen 917 200 1,117
Jan Emmanuel Garcia 200 200
Marin Bosiocic 1,690 1,690
Ray Robson 8,000 15,000 6,000 29,000
N. R. Vignesh 1,300 0 1,300
Vasif Durarbayli 3,270 3,270
Vladimir Zakhartsov 560 560
David Howell 30,420 3,660 6,100 40,180
Timur Gareev 10,433 10,433
Maxim Dlugy 3,000 3,000
Maxime Lagarde 327 4,070 4,397
B Li Chao 30,378 30,378
Dmitrij Kollars 595 595
K. S. Mekhitarian 6,000 6,000
Viktor Gazik 763 763
Erik Blomqvist 392 392
Monika Socko 5,500 5,500
Diptayan Ghosh 200 200
Michal Krasenkow 327 327
Robert Hovhannisyan 6,382 1,500 7,882
Arturs Neiksans 4,000 4,000
Pham Le Thao Nguyen 8,000 8,000
Igor Lysyj 6,000 1,853 545 8,398
Craig Hilby 800 800
Babu Lalith 3,662 3,662
Vladimir Potkin 109 109
Shen Yang 8,000 8,000
Benjamin Gledura 7,090 7,090
Brandson Jacobson 3,000 3,000
Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera 6,000 6,000
Helgi Dam Ziska 6,000 6,000
Fy Antenaina Rakotomaharo 6,000 6,000
Jorge Cori 7,545 7,545
Minghui Xu 917 917
Stanislav Bogdanovich 4,250 300 4,550
Sergei Movesian 13,652 1,315 14,966
Niclas Huschenbeth 12,725 12,725
Ivan Saric 8,745 3,664 12,409
Abhimanyu Puranik 872 872
Vadim Zvjaginsev 1,220 1,220
Rustam Kasimdzhanov 11,000 11,000
Di Li 654 654
Gevorg Harutjunyan 350 350
Aleksandar Indjic 2,000 1,500 3,500
Awonder Liang 14,609 6,000 20,609
Richard Rapport 79,135 14,644 46,616 140,395
Frode Urkedal 6,000 6,000
Das Debashis 900 1,830 2,730
Elisabeth Paehtz 17,628 5,500 23,128
Joshua Sheng 3,000 3,000
Sergey Volkov 420 420
Paulius Pultinevicius 7,090 7,090
Klementy Sychev 763 1,500 2,263
Gadir Guseinov 1,500 18,000 19,500
Bela Khotenashvili 7,000 5,500 12,500
Vladimir Onischuk 8,273 8,273
Loek Van Wely 917 917
Nikita Matinian 210 210
Maksim Vavulin 2,100 4,570 6,670
Miguel Santos Ruiz 6,000 6,000
Eugene Perelshteyn 689 689
Boris Kharchenko 210 210
Levan Pantsulaia 6,600 6,600
Javokhir Sindarov 1,000 210 1,210
Daniel Sadzikowski 1,276 1,276
Craig Hanley 1,830 1,830
Maksat Atabayev 910 910
Benjamin Bok 11,000 11,000
Grzegorz Nasuta 109 109
Dariusz Swiercz 4,000 545 4,545
Gulnar Mammadova 2,500 2,500
Sopiko Guramishvili 8,000 8,000
Venkataraman Karthik 917 917
Dmitry Gordievsky 2,500 15,442 7,000 24,942
Alexander Shabalov 12,000 4,000 16,000
Eltaj Safarli 18,180 11,500 1,500 31,180
Xiangyu Xu 16,000 4,360 20,360
Salem Saleh 2,333 7,000 13,538 22,871
Xue Zhao 4,360 5,500 5,500 15,360
Ivan Yeletsky 210 210
Jaime Santos Latasa 0 622 622
Yuriy Kuzubov 6,500 12,800 19,300
Alexander Zubov 7,667 7,100 14,767
Abhijeet Gupta 7,844 2,440 1,614 11,898
Jun Zhao 4,500 4,500
Sergey Grigoriants 5,000 5,000
Sam Sevian 30,500 30,500
Nino Batsiashvili 5,500 5,500 11,000
John Marvin Miciano 200 200
Gregory Kaidanov 8,000 8,000
Ivan Rozum 1,755 1,755
Ramirez Delgado 6,000 6,000
Olga Girya 8,600 8,000 16,600
Daniel Quizon 336 336
Anton Kovalyov 12,800 12,800
Tigran Petrosian 1,526 11,270 30,000 42,796
Ivan Popov 917 917
Varuzhan Akobian 7,000 6,000 15,000 28,000
Olga Zimina 5,500 5,500
Diego Flores 6,000 13,000 19,000
Van Huy Nguyen 336 336
Yinglun Xu 400 400
Kacper Piorun 16,900 545 17,445
Baadur Jobova 1,500 1,500 31,770 34,770
Alex Yermolinsky 3,000 3,000
Polina Shuvalova 2,375 2,375
Kiril Georgiev 436 436
Ahmed Adly 9,218 6,500 8,500 24,218
Sarasadat Khademalsharieh 6,400 6,400
Meri Arabidze 6,400 6,400
Mikhail Mazharov 700 700
Alexander Morozevich 2,333 1,030 3,363
Igor Kovalenko 15,000 1,500 1,983 18,483
Igor Novikov 4,000 4,000
Ilja Schneider 109 109
Jacek Tomczak 818 818
Zhai Mo 8,000 8,000
Nico Georgiadis 1,030 0 1,545 2,575
Aram Hakobyan 4,308 545 4,853
Shanglei Lu 6,917 250 7,167
Alexey Sarana 9,912 9,912
Falko Bindrich 1,549 1,549