Prizes not subsidies

[Mike Scott]

Back in the 70's/80's there was a prize for the first English (or British?) GM which helped encourage Miles, Keene, Stean et al I have no idea how big a factor it really was nor what the prize was worth but it does make me wonder whether CS could do something similar. Rather than provide subsidies for specific events, it provides prizes to players achieving certain goals.

This could be quite socialist (lots of small prizes linked to easier goals), quite right wing (a few big prizes that will only be won occasionally) or something in between.

Thoughts?

[Alex McFarlane]

Jim Slater offered £5000 to the first British GM (£2500 to the next 4). This would be about £75000 in todays terms. THe award is credited with producing up to 20GMs.

The big difference at that time was that chess was very popular (just after Fischer became world Champion) and top British players could make a reasonable living as professionals. This is no longer the case.
Many congresses had a £200 first prize and some even £500 so winning a congress a month would give a reasonable annual salary.