There is more to life than playing chess

Ever wonder why Vladimir Kramnik and Ruslan Ponomariov, two former world chess champion has been into a lot of criticism for the past years for not playing more regular, rated tournaments after becoming a world champion? For starters, Kramnik and Ponomariov plays an average of no more than 5 rated tournaments per year! Somehow you can't blame them. Kramnik, for instance, considers chess less as a sport and more as the art of carrying out a long-term plan. While Ponomariov obtain two degrees of higher education six years after he became a world champion.What is clear is that Vladimir Kramnik, Ruslan Ponomariov, among great personalities of chess is not solely fixated on chess. Simply put, their areas of interests are too diverse. You may also notice that many of your favorite players plays less and less tournaments lately.

This article by Frank Pestano from SunStar.com may greatly explain this. They too have "other" works to look and take after to earn a decent living.

Mikhael Botvinnik was a three-time world champion who was an electrical engineer. His famous pupils include world champions Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik.

Max Euwe was not only a world champion but was also a past president of Fide. He was a professor and had a doctorate in mathematics.

Paul Morphy was considered by Bobby Fischer to have been the greatest player of all time and an unofficial world champion. He was a lawyer by profession and was known to have memorized the complete Louisiana book of code and laws.

Miguel Najdorf was a Polish-born Argentine chess grandmaster of Jewish origin, famous for his Najdorf Variation. He was an insurance underwriter and once played communist revolutionary Che Guevara to a draw.

John Nunn is one of England’s strongest players and once belonged to the world’s top 10. He is also a college instructor in mathematics.

Reuben Fine was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the mid- 1930s through the 1940s and is a psychoanalyst.

The full article from SunStar, 'Occupations of Famous Chess Players' is re-posted at Pestano's chess blog, Chessmoso