Maximizing Your Earnings on Chess.com: A Comprehensive Guide

Are you passionate about chess and looking to make some money out of it? Chess.com offers various opportunities for chess enthusiasts to earn some extra cash.

From participating in tournaments to offering chess lessons, there are multiple ways to monetize your love for the game. In this article, we will discuss ten different strategies for making money on Chess.com, along with tips for maximizing your earnings and things to consider before diving into the world of online chess entrepreneurship.

Let’s explore how you can turn your chess skills into a profitable venture!

How to Make Money on Chess.com?

You can make money on Chess.com via the Chess.com Affiliate Program. A special hyperlink code is provided to you, which you include in your Chess.com social media posts, blogs, or forums. If new users click this code, you receive payment for their membership fees. Actually, the term “make money” is misleading. As of 2021, Chess.com no longer provides full details or promotes them as the program seems to be defunct.

Participate in Tournaments

Participation is free and to win cash prizes in chess.com tournaments, you have to do well in events that have prize pools. These events are typically online qualifiers for closed over-the-board (OTB) events and their online only counterparts (such as Title Tuesday), though other types of events can be fundraisers or series held by streamers. These are split by rating, with higher rated sections having bigger prizes.

Become a Chess.com Streamer

If you can create educational and engaging content for a chess audience, you can become a Chess.com streamer and earn money that can be significant. You will not earn money directly from Chess.com, but you can via superchats on Chess.com’s Twitch account or YouTube links to your related content. Thousands of chess streamers make money in this way. They earn money from superchats, sponsors, advertisements, YouTube videos, and membership subscriptions. There are further opportunities. For example, Charity Chess gives you a direct donation link, while the platform CashApp offers a chess payment request feature that you can use in association with providing content. This CashApp platform includes marketing tools such as a chess payment QR code.’

Offer Chess Lessons

Many members have offered chess tutoring services on the site and been successful. If you believe you can offer instruction to others on how to climb the ladder, there is a form on the How it works section under the Talents Page at Jobs.chess.com to get certification, but it does not seem like it comes with an official relationship like the ability to advertise through the certification site. The system for offering lessons is very informal but still effective. There are people around the world who are interested in learning chess for various reasons including to improve their abilities and compete for titles.

Offering chess lessons does not require previous accreditation or resume although it cannot harm your standing as a tutor. The first step is to set up a rate for your lessons which can be anywhere from around $5/hour to $100/hour, depending on your experience level and the market demand for your services. Make sure you are honest about your qualifications and specify what you will be teaching. If you are going to concentrate your lessons on children under a certain age, for instance, make sure the potential students or parents know that.

If you decide to offer chess lessons on Chess.com, here are a few ways to let members know of your services. Send friend requests to other players and let them know you offer lessons. Join Chess.com club forums and mention that you offer lessons. Post comments in chess forums which is likely more of a long-term approach than a direct mention to some.

Sell Chess-related Merchandise

You can sell chess-related merchandise through Print on Demand (POD) websites to earn money on your chess channel. Print on Demand sites are websites that handle all of the printing, shipping, and order processing for products like t-shirts, hoodies, and mugs. Some popular print on demand companies that you can use include:

1. Zazzle
2. Redbubble
3. Society6
4. Cafepress

You can choose from a variety of chess-inspired designs, or if you are creative, create your designs that market yourself or your unique look on the world of chess. Print your designs on products and post them on your social media platforms or in your video descriptions for an easy way to add extra revenue stream.

The process is very simple. Idealize a design that will appeal to the chess fanbase, upload it to one of the sites listed above, pick the products you would like the design to be on, apply it, set your prices, and voilà! The items listed go out to the world with extremely minimal effort on your part. If you make any sales, the POD company will take care of the shipping and printing before you receive a royalty sum once per month or whenever you set up.

Create and Sell Chess Courses

One of the more lucrative ways to monetize Chess.com is to create and sell Chess courses. To start, you need to become an expert. Take some of the videos courses offered by Chess.com to see the best ways to design a chess course.

Then think about the next level to take it to. This could be going into areas that have never previously been covered by chess instruction, introducing new software programs or virtual reality options to help players get better, or simply presenting it better than your competitors.

Once you have developed a curriculum, you need to decide on the best means of selling it. Chess.com’s Marketplace is a good option, letting them handle the headaches of the payment processor, but you might prefer self-marketing if the fees are too high or you believe it will expand your revenue streams.

Write Articles or Blogs About Chess

Chess.com has a Blogs section where you can write and publish articles. These articles can range from writing about current events, reviewing certain games or books, advising on how to improve your rating, or anything else that has to do with chess. At Chess.com, those who actively write and maintain blogs can be invited to join the official writers’ team to help provide interesting and helpful chess content to the community. Writers receive 50% CFP earnings and a minimum guaranteed payment of 5 CFP for every article. If a writer wants to develop this as a revenue stream, they should focus on writing intriguing content, as they will then earn from the influx of users to their blog (who provide ad revenue). Currently, users who blog do not directly earn from the readership of their blog (all CFP is turned off for the writer themself).

Offer Chess Coaching Services

Chess coaching is a high-income opportunity in chess. Chess trainers will have already demonstrated good chess skills, possess good communication skills, and will have worked with at least one trainee. Chess.com’s claim that they have the best chess trainers on the platform is accurate. Good quality chess trainers like Vidit Gujrathi (FIDE Longlist Candidate Master) will share insights from professional games to help students improve their positional understanding and decision-making. Chess.com members can find coaches through the Teach tab on the chess.com website.

Become a Chess.com Affiliate

To earn money in Chess.com beyond playing and coaching, you can become an affiliate. Affiliates help promote Chess.com’s Diamond Membership and are paid commissions. Affiliate payments are negotiated with Chess.com based on the affiliate and estimated volume, and the affiliate commits to producing the content and ad spread.

Payments are made monthly based on the number of members brought in by a Chess.com affiliate. You can apply to become a Chess.com partner by filling out the following affiliated application form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSew4tQXKv_O9MH5-bn48JqLDElZoF3Q2Vr1zFJnYGmfdX7Q2g/viewform.

Organize Chess Events or Tournaments

You can earn money in Chess.com by organizing and hosting chess events or tournaments as a Clubs Feature Option. This provides many tools to leverage the features of the real-world Club Event Manager (CEM).

The key Club Event Manager feature tools you use to organize and run chess tournaments include:

1. Events Dashboard
2. Multiple layout options for published upcoming events and past events in the past event section
3. Edit Event Details tool clicking pencil icon for any event
4. Clubs Rewind for when you forget to set the r the event to “in progress”
5. Set up your brackets for events like Swiss, Double Round Robin, etc
6. Communicate with participants to remind about schedules, or provide links to games or PGN files

Chess.com includes these tools to enable you to promote your physical or digital chess club with a dedicated space for club news and community-building.

Partner with Chess-related Brands

Partnering with Chess-related Businesses can help you earn some residual income or sponsorship funds without much effort provided you have a large social media audience. Many people have commercialized their hobbies using this method, and with the growing number of pawn shops and chess-related start-ups, the opportunities are endless.

Though challenging for the newbie, the business can grow rapidly if promoted via influencer partnerships who have the audience. This method of earning on chess.com is a more sophisticated method compared to others we have demonstrated but can be very fruitful at every level of life from a college student to a retiree. Remember, when striking partnerships, chess streaming and social media content related to chess generate more business through EU/US audience advertising on Twitch streamer, YouTube, and Tiktok.

Tips for Maximizing Your Earnings on Chess.com

Maximize Your Earnings on Chess.com through the following tips:

1. Focus on member milestones for Titled Player Cash Reward eligibility
2. Play titled player Cash Reward eligible tournaments to maximize returns
3. Play puzzles every day to maximize daily earnings on the Chess.com mobile app

Things to Consider Before Making Money on Chess.com

Consider is the average chess.com rating for players with memberships is 1284 and is the average equity for players above 2000? Whatever your ultimate goal is when you go on Chess.com does it pay off economically relative to pursuing other opportunities with the same amount of time or money? Here are some pros and cons:

1. Learning chess: If the objective is to learn chess or to find enjoyment in the game itself, then Chess.com is a wonderful tool…
2. Retired athlete: This service indeed makes the journey of hundreds of thousands of people into better chess players possible…
3. Pursuit of a junior competitive chess player: Overall, Chess.com would be a recommendable service for a junior chess player seeking to improve…
4. Part-time professional or strong competitive player: Chess.com can still be productive…
5. Professional career chess player: These are the debris of what are otherwise stellar earnings…
6. Homework or project help: Beyond the top earners…
7. Networking: Aggressive networking on site for student development and branding purposes…
8. Streamers: There is no going back…

These table results were consistent with a initial view of the economics of playing on Chess.com. The actual returns for how and when best to earn money from Chess.com must be calculated via actual chess playing experience.

Invest in Improving Your Chess Skills

Money earned in chess.com can come both indirectly and directly. Indirectly, money can be earned by investing in improving one’s chess skills. Improved skills can be used in various ways including in playing more and higher-stakes online tournaments, having a stronger stream or channel, earning sponsorships, teaching higher-rated students, and association with stronger clubs that offer financial opportunities. Direct earnings in chess.com are mainly from earned prizes from online tournaments and competition returns.

Build a Strong Online Presence

Building a strong online presence in chess.com can earn money through sponsorships, commercials, grants, teaching opportunities, Amazon Associates, and external directing fees. If you are looking to earn money through chess.com, capitalizing on the emergence of the Internet and doing your best to be an online influencer for the game is becoming an increasingly viable method to make money.

Myth: Chess Champions are only made through success in tournament play. Reality: Many champions today have gained tens of thousands of followers and fans on social media before they won a major tournament.

Even traditional champions like Magnus Carlsen, Garry Kasparov, and Judit Polgar have been able to capitalize on their fame through their social media strategy on chess.com. Whether you are a coach or a player, a general manager for a club or league, a chess video streamer, content producer, host for a podcast or TV show, or a writer, before starting to monetize from an online presence you need to tap into the internet’s potential. Begin building your presence on social media outlets like YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and push your own website or chess blogs to get as many public followers as possible. It is your followers who will provide the monetization opportunities, because today’s money from advertisements and sponsors are generated on the basis of your ability to reach potential customers and you can get an affiliate marketing commission for your opinions.

Understand the Platform’s Rules and Guidelines

It is important to familiarize yourself with chess.com’s rules and understand the guidelines of how things work on the site so you can maximize your earnings. You will find your games are less likely to be disrupted, you are less likely to find yourself into any discord with other users, and you are more equipped to understand the levels of service as well as features. Here are some key points to understand in order to maximize earnings on the platform:

1. Become a Premium member to maximize earning potential. Chess.com offers multiple premium memberships that unlock earning capabilities of the platform. If users choose to make their time on chess.com a profitable experience, the paid membership is a must (see above).
2. Familiarize yourself with chess.com fair-play rules. Make sure to be aware of how fair play works there so you do not lose time or money that you have earned through good chess play or giving any other benefits by violating the fair-play rules.
3. Use the best time control for your earning goal depending on the amount of time and effort you want to put and your skill level. The time control used will directly impact your earnings
4. Understand points and ratings Turn points into earnings through the Milestone System.
5. Know tournament rules and descriptions when deciding which ones to participate in to maximize your chances of winning and expected prize winning.

Be Consistent and Dedicated

As with any endeavor, improvement in chess requires both consistency and dedication. Consistency in studying and analyzing games will undoubtedly assist one in advancing their skills. Chess research shows that it is not quite clear what practice goal will yield the desired result for the specific goal.

A common opinion among international experts interviewed was that 4-5 hours per day for more than 10 years will grant a player the title of Grandmaster. Other specifics are varied, but current research shows that a few thousand to 10,000 hours of effort are most typical. Given these figures, professional improvement could thus be subject to an almost full-time pursuit.

Players can benefit by finding the most frequently occurring mistakes that are the most substantial in their losing games. Additionally, Page and Goldschmied concluded based on a model of 72,000 tournament games that there is a correspondence between time spent on decision factors and chess performance. With newer players needing more time to research their options, proper workout with chess.com apps can yield a rich return.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Earn Money in Chess.com?

1. Can I make money playing chess on Chess.com?

Yes, you can make money playing chess on Chess.com through various means such as tournaments, streaming, and coaching.

2. How do I participate in tournaments on Chess.com to earn money?

To participate in tournaments, you must have a premium membership. You can then join the tournaments listed in the “Tournaments” section and compete for cash prizes.

3. Is streaming my chess games on Chess.com a viable way to earn money?

Yes, streaming your games on Chess.com can be a lucrative way to earn money through viewer donations, sponsorships, and subscriptions.

4. Can I earn money by coaching on Chess.com?

Yes, you can offer coaching services on Chess.com and set your own rates for private lessons or group sessions. This is a great way to earn money while sharing your knowledge and skills with others.

5. Are there any other ways to earn money on Chess.com?

Apart from tournaments, streaming, and coaching, you can also earn money on Chess.com through affiliate programs, writing articles, and creating chess-related content.

6. Is it easy to earn money on Chess.com?

Earning money on Chess.com requires dedication, skill, and a good understanding of the platform and its features. However, with consistent effort and a bit of luck, it is definitely possible to make a decent income from chess on Chess.com.