help bot wrote:
Perhaps GM Adorjan is suggesting that a GM likely could make *better
money* at some other occupation than chess. The idea that they
can't "make money" is ridiculous; fly here and I'll show you a guy
who charges $35 per hour for lessons, and three of him would barely
make one GM!

I think Adorjan more likely means that only the top thirty or so GMs
can make a living from just playing chess in tournaments and simuls.
The rest of them make most of their money from giving lessons and so
on.

I keep using the term "fly there", because I think this in itself
refutes the assertion that GMs don't make any money; if that were
true, they would all ride the bus (or hitchhike, as one local USCF
master used to do).

The plane is a no-brainer. To pick a random example, Chicago to Las
Vegas and back by Greyhound takes 36-40 hours each way and costs about
$150 if you buy your ticket two weeks in advance (and about $300 if
you don't). Flying takes four hours each way and costs about $200.
So, if you give a $25 chess lesson on each of the two days of
travelling you save, you break even. And you don't have to spend
72-80 hours on a bus.


Dave.

--
David Richerby Erotic Pickled Sword (TM): it's like
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ a razor-sharp blade but it's preserved
in vinegar and genuinely erotic!