AJuly 07 1931
Kansas City Journal, Kansas City, Missouri, Tuesday, July 07, 1931
NO MONEY IN CHESS
It's Not Get-Rich-Quick Pursuit
Chess as a means of making a living is not to be compared with other major sports, and lest the facetious should sarcastically say it is not a sport, it may be recorded here that the way it is generally played is more like a sport than a scientific demonstration of the way that pawns, knights and bishops should be handled. The question of remuneration for chess players was under discussion recently and in the gathering was John Brunnemer, a former champion of the state of New Jersey, and the winner of many tournaments against the elite of the chess world.
“The first money I ever earned at chess,” he said rather sorrowfully, “was a prize of fifty dollars for winning a correspondence tournament.”
“How long did that take?” inquired one of his listeners.
“Five years,” replied Mr. Brunnemer.
“That's a long time to work for fifty dollars?” some one remarked.
“A long time and hard work,” Mr. Brunnemer said. “I was writing to people from all over the United States from north to south and even down in Cuba. I would call up my home from the office to see if my opponent's move had been received and what it was. It was a tedious process. And anyhow I got fifty dollars.”
“How many games did you play?” came the cautious question from an accountant.
“There were seven groups of seven players each. Forty-nine in all.”
“And every time you made a move you had to mail a letter to your opponent?”
“Yes.”
“And the average number of moves would be at least forty, wouldn't it?”
“That's a fair average,” replied Mr. Brunnemer.
“That,” said the accountant, “makes one thousand nine hundred and sixty letters you wrote and an equal number of two-cent stamps that you used. That works out to $39.20 postage and when you deduct that amount from the fifty dollars it leaves a net revenue of $10.80 or $2.16 a year to cover the cost of paper, envelopes and energy. That's almost as bad as buying stocks in a bear market.”
“I never looked at it in that light,” replied Mr. Brunnemer, “but then I never expected to make a fortune out of the game.”—New York Sun.
