An Essay: Chess Players and Poverty

     Poverty is a condition usually not far from a chess player’s life. Chess, unlike some popular sports out there, has little sponsors and therefore has little players that regularly play the game. Worse, once one starts to play the game at a regular basis and at some point strives to be a “professional chess player”, he will only find it disappointing that such status isn't usually enough to earn a living.

     It’s not that hard to realize why chess has so many wonderful ideas and teachings yet offers only little sponsors to go to compared to other sports. Chess is not a spectator sport where the audience’s visual and emotional senses suddenly come to life. Rather, such anticipated spectacles (e.g. sacrifices; combinations) come only after once a positional advantage is gained or, if the opponent had made a very terrible move.

     If life as a professional chess player looks so bleak, then why are there still some people who look forward in making chess a part of their lives? In my honest opinion, there are two factors that are a reason for this. The first one is enthusiasm, which in layman's term means liking someone or something so much that you'll do almost everything just to hold on to it, and the other one is passion which means loving someone or something so much that you're also willing to go to extremes just to cling to it. Such attitudes are enough to boost the human will to go to what is beyond. 

     Without enthusiasm and passion, a chess player will not even have the energy to lift pieces from the board. He will not even sacrifice a financially stable life for an obscure one. He will not even dare to compromise his social relationships outside the chess community, in favor of tournament points, pot money, or pride. Boundaries like these have been crossed and are continually being crossed up to this day in the chess world, simply because of enthusiasm and passion.

     I guess, chess players have already just learned to live with the poverty as long as they are still able to support their passion. Some are less passionate, some fairly passionate, and some are just too passionate that they don't finish their academic studies or strive for financial independence just for the sake of a few thousand pesos. 

     But who are we to judge the limits of one's passion and desire? I know that impoverishment is something chess players around the world are quite familiar with. But it doesn't mean that we should just "go with it" and hope things will eventually turn out to be fine for us. It only takes common sense to know, that we chess players have responsibilities outside chess. These responsibilities may range from  paying the bills, punctuality at workplaces, buying milk for the new baby and so on. 

     Bottom line, if one wants to stabilize his financial responsibilities alongside with his chess, he must be a responsible chess player. And that means being responsible in the real world first then "having" chess afterwards.