By Frank ‘Boy’ Pestaño
Chessmoso
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Most GMs do not rely on chess alone to support themselves and their families although there are some exceptions. That is the reason why the parents of Wesley So do not approve his decision to quit school at Webster University, where he is a scholar and already on third year taking up business administration, to devote full time to chess.
Those who are engineers are world champion Mikhael Botvinnik, who has a doctorate degree in Electrical Engineering; like myself, Edmar Mednis, who played a simul among Cepca members in 1996, is a chemical engineer; Alex Yermolisnky is also a chemical engineer, while Alexander Kotov and Edward Lasker are mechanical engineers.
Cepca engineers are Jerry Maratas, Marvynne Gurdiana, Jimmy Ty, Loy Miñoza, Bombi Aznar, my brother Danny, Jeffrey Solis, Jun Olis, Butchie Abaya, Pablito Argamosa, Ben Dimaano, Bob Inocian, John Velarde, Ronald Galindo, Maggie Dionson and Ogie Reyes.
Among the GMs, the accountants were Henry Bird and Samuel Rehevsky, while in Cepca, the CPAs are Felxberto Balbona, Carlo Maraat, Sonny Sollano, Jun Ortiz.
Among the Pinoy players, the lawyers Rosendo Balinas and Samuel Estimo. Another lawyer who is considered the greatest player of all time is Paul Morphy, who reportedly memorized the Louisiana Code. Fridrik Olaffson, Savielly Tartakower, Josef Noa, who became a judge, Sidney Bernstein, and Michael Wilder were all successful lawyers.
Cepca lawyers are Alex Tolentino, Sisinio and his brother Andales, Manuel Iway, Damaso Uy, Migs Enriquez, former mayor Alvin Garcia and of course Mayor Mike Rama.
William Lombardy was a priest and Ruy Lopez, who is famous for the opening that bears his name, was a monk.
Karl Burger, Helmut Pfleger and Siegbert Tarrasch are both doctors and Vincenzo Castaldi is a dentist. Kevitz is a pharmacist. Darcy Tabotabo is an eye specialist. El Labunog is a Med Tech.
Those who have unique occupations are Max Harmonist, who is a ballet dancer, Robert Huebner, who is classified as a papyrologist, and Reuben Fine a psychoanalyst.
Professors were Max Euwe, who at one time was boxing heavyweight champion in Europe, and Robert Byrne, John Nunn and William Formanek, who are all mathematicians.
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph
this time is different.. if you are in elite level you can make a good money.. chess player like this author has to find another job cause he sux at chess
In modern times, did any of these world champions pursue professional degrees ?
Carlsen
Anand
Kramnik
Kasparov
Karpov
Fischer
They seemed to have all become amongst the world’s strongest at an early age.
Wow chess is really sport for professionals, there are really many out there who are professionals who are maybe lower rated or who are not rated at all (like me) but are enjoying playing chess just for fun. One thing is for sure, “Chess is a game of the mind….it is everlasting”. Physical sports will soon be a thing of the past when one grows older, because the body can not take it anymore. Chess when one grows older helps sharpen memory or slows down deterioration of memory (at least for me).