AVRO

Alekhine-Fine, AVRO 1938

Does anyone know the prize monies awarded at AVRO, 1938?

First four: 1000, 750, 500 and 400 guilders

Thanks! I greatly appreciate that.

The 1940 exchange rate was 1 dollar for 2.652 guilders. That would make the dollar equivalents about $380, $200, $190, $150, give or take?

Does anyone know how this $380 first prize would compare to a $1000 first prize in 1945?

batgirl <---- math idiot.

With inflation about 3% per year it would be about $470.

BTW 750 guilders would be about $280 (not $200)

Yes on all except 200 should be about 280 (like hamerkop-cat says)

Thanks hamekop and Mr. Binary. I'm out of my element here.

Between 1938 and 1945, a world war intervened. Would that have any effect upon inflation duing that time, or is inflation a straight-line calulation... or is such a thing impossible to take into account.

I'm trying to compare prizes in a 1945 tourney to a somewhat contemporary, preferably earlier, major international tournament and  AVRO seems to fit the bill, only 7 years apart. However WWII seems like a wild card.

Inflation is variable year to year. WW2 definitely increased the rate of inflation in Europe, but you'd have to look up a chart or table or something to calculate it. I'm out of my element on that as well.

edited again...

The first link I gave was for United States.

This one seems better:

edited again... this can't go back for the Netherlands further than 1961 

http://fxtop.com/en/inflation-calculator.php

And again I don't know if this is the best fit for what you're asking. Knowing nothing about economics this seems pretty good to me 

Thanks again, one and all.

interesting thread... I suspected that prize money was about that back then... maybe a bit more, but now i know.

Not that it has all that much to do with the subject, but today appearance money is probably more important than actual prize money. No one ever mentions exactly what the players get, but this month Aronian said something interesting on the Grand Prix series:

"I found it quite insulting to compete in a tournament with the first prize half as large as my participation fee at almost any other tournament"

That means his appearance fee should be around $50 000, just to turn up. Probably the same level for some other top players and maybe higher for Carlsen, if Aronian is to be believed.

No, fabelhaft, that has little to do with the purpose of this thread but it's totally fascinating nonetheless.  I wonder who comes up with all this extraneous money and how it affects professional chess. When the great (winning, that is) USA teams traveled to the olympiads in the 1930s, they paid their own fees, travel expenses, meals, everything.  How times have changed.

Thanks.

"I wonder who comes up with all this extraneous money and how it affects professional chess. When the great (winning, that is) USA teams traveled to the olympiads in the 1930s, they paid their own fees, travel expenses, meals, everything. How times have changed"

The difference is enormous. Today Aronian can feel insulted about only winning $25 000 in one event, while Alekhine had to constantly play exhibitions, write articles and books, look for the next rich 20 years older woman to marry, etc etc, to make ends meet :-) Still he died in poverty in spite of even being reigning World Champion. Times have certainly changed.

More astonishing to me is the difference between federative authorities then and nowadays (in terms of how much they earn).

Most of the Old Chess Champions
died poor: Steinitz, Lasker, Alekhine, 
and maybe Capablanca and Fischer.

Same destiny for other great players,
Schelechter died from starvation He was found in a room without any money, heat or food. 
Rotlevi died in an asylum of fools!!
Lionel Kieseritzky (1806-1853), died penniless at a charity hospital 
Curt von Bardeleben -> poverty
Nezhmetdinov -> homeless

http://www.chess.com/blog/billwall/deaths-of-chess-players