4 Income Sources for Titled Players Other than Coaching

Why titled player? Simply because they have more credibility and put a lot of hours into chess. They know different aspects of chess.
Still, I have seen many titled players approach me asking how to get more students, how to create courses, and basically a lot of questions about the creator economy. Then I decided why not write an entire article on it?
Most of the titled players are making money by coaching, playing, and opening their academies. Coaching is still the number one way for chess players to make money.
There are many players who are playing chess and want to do something apart from chess in order to generate sustainable income. Let’s discuss.

Opening PGNs

Most of the Grandmasters or aspiring Grandmasters work on the openings. I believe titled players put atleast 40% of their work into new openings. While studying, we find so many new ideas that we are never going to play but we still check them, and save those files. Now the question is why not monetize?
You can easily sell PGN files for $5-20.

Where to sell?

Gumroad is a website where you can easily set up your account. (I personally use this to sell my digital chess tracking sheet) Just upload the file, set the price and you are ready to go.

Examples

• I recently found that GM Boris Avrukh is selling his PGN files on his website askavrukh(dot)com.
• Modern Chess was started with selling PGN files and later they moved to full courses. (Shameless promotion - Use code NIKHIL45 to get a flat 45% discount on Modern Chess)

Courses

Everyone knows this income stream. Chess courses are one of the best ways to make money but it also involves a lot of effort. Also, you need to put a lot of time into it.

Where to sell?

• You can put your courses on Chessable and sell them. Chessable will do the quality checks and you will receive a commission on each sell. Chessable also keeps a big amount with themselves as you are using there platform.
• Other chess course-selling websites are always looking for titled players who can create courses for them. As far as I know, you get fix upfront amount. It’s a good start for those who want a fixed income.
• You can host your courses by creating your own website and selling it. For this, you need to have a very good social presence or atleast a GM or IM title. This option provides real benefit as you will get a full price if someone buys your course.

Some of the Chessable creators have made $100k+ by selling a single course. Even many non-famous players made $5-10k with a single course. If you create courses for other websites, they pay $500-3000 for a entire video course depending on topic, language and title.

Blogging

Blogging is another great way to make money. I am personally doing blogging and made a good amount of money (As per Indian Income standards). You can start your blog on lichess or on Chessdotcom. If you start on social sites, there will be always some limitations.
The best way is to start your website, write good articles, and promote it via social channels like X.

Examples

1. Personally writing changed my life and helped me to earn money through commissions, got lot of inquiries for chess coaching, get other opportunities, etc.
2. GM Noel Studer started the Next Level Chess blog and later created 2 courses that made him good money. He is blogging full-time. (Shameless promotion - Use code NIKHIL10 to get 10% off on Noel’s courses)

Membership Site

I am not sure why IMs and GMs are not doing this. Creating a membership site and collecting monthly fees is a business model. Somewhat like chesscom but on a much lower scale.
Running this business individually can make a lot of money. Provide users live classes + Opening files + some extra perks like community and charge them fees between $10-50 per month.

How to create?

There are many websites that help you to host your membership site. Usually, price ranges from $30-100 per month. Some of the websites are - Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkefic, LearnDash, Podia, etc.

Example

Chessmood is a membership site run by Armenian GMs. They charge a monthly subscription and provide a lot of courses + community + other benefits.

I usually hesitate to write such types of articles on chess social platforms but decided to go for it. Do let me know how you feel about this article.

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