Magnus Carlsen is in no hurry to return to the fight for the world title, but remains the "champion" in terms of prize money // Photo: kingdomofchess.com
Despite his refusal to fight for the formal world title, the 35-year-old Carlsen still earns considerably more than other chess players. Last year, the amount of prize money he earned broke the $1 million mark.
He won representative tournaments in Doha (Qatar), Karlsruhe (Germany), Paris (France), Stavanger (Norway), St. Louis (USA) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). Winning these tournaments and less successful participation in others allowed him to earn $1.365 million, with the vast majority of his prize money coming from tournaments in the traditional face-to-face format (94%).
The wealthiest grandmaster in history
Carlsen earned more than $12 million during his career. The second place on the all-time list is occupied by the 15th world champion Viswanathan Anand. The Indian grandmaster has earned about $9.5 million. The top three is rounded out by the 13th world champion, Russian Garry Kasparov. The amount of his prize money reaches $8 million.
The Americans are advancing
American Fabiano Caruana took second place in the ranking, earning $1 million in a year for the first time in his career. The US champion and participant in the Candidates Tournament earned almost all of his prize money (99%) by participating in face-to-face tournaments. Last year, the 33-year-old chess player can clearly credit himself with winning the Grand Chess Tour finals and a number of other representative tournaments.
Another representative of the USA, 43-year-old Levon Aronian, completed the top three. His evolution over the year is astonishing – at the end of 2024 he was in the top ten, but his successful performance in the Grand Chess Tour and a number of tournaments allowed him not only to increase his fortune by $832,000, but also to radically change the ranking at the top of the table of ranks.
In different directions
Among the other chess players in the TOP-10 (see table) we should mention 38-year-old Hikaru Nakamura, who earned almost three times as much in 2025 as he did in 2024. His share of prize money from participation in face-to-face tournaments is less than that of the other participants in the rating – 85%. A comparable increase in prize money was demonstrated by 21-year-old Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov, ranked ninth in the rating.
The owner of the sixth ranking Alireza Firuzdja, representing France, showed a significant decline. Over the year, the size of his prize money decreased by almost $200 thousand and amounted to $474.7 thousand.
Young and promising
Two young grandmasters from Uzbekistan – 21-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov and 20-year-old Zhavokhir Sindarov – round out the top ten. For both of them, getting into the TOP-10 of the highest paid chess players was the debut in their careers. Abdusattorov’s income almost tripled after winning the prestigious London Chess Classic tournament, as well as successful participation in the Grand Chess Tour and Freestyle Chess.
Sindarov, in turn, won an unexpected victory at the FIDE World Cup. After this event, the world chess community began to talk seriously about the young talent from Central Asia.
|
TOP-10 highest paid chess players in 2025* |
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|
№ |
Chess player / Country | Prize money |
Offline / Online** |
|
1 |
Magnus Carlsen (Norway) |
$1,365 mln |
94% / 6% |
|
2 |
Fabiano Caruana (USA) |
$1,047 mln |
99% / 1% |
|
3 |
Levon Aronian (USA) |
$832 thousand |
99% / 1% |
|
4 |
Hikaru Nakamura (USA) |
$738 th. |
85% / 15% |
|
5 |
Arjun Erigaysi (India) |
$497 th. |
94% / 6% |
|
6 |
Alireza Fizrudja (France) |
$474 th. |
91% / 9% |
|
7 |
Vincent Kaymer (Germany) |
$470 th. |
99% / 1% |
|
8 |
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) |
$461 th. |
95% / 5% |
|
9 |
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) |
$371 th. |
97% / 3% |
|
10 |
Zhavohir Sindarov (Uzbekistan) |
$360 th. |
95% / 5% |
| * According to “Forbes” (USA)
** Ratio of prize money earned in in-person and absentee tournaments |
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