Answers.Body: <p>Up until recently, that title would have gone to Teimour Radjabov without question in my mind. Since April of 2015 until last month, he has only played 149 games. That is not many for a top-flight GM over four and a half years. That said, he just won the right to play in the Candidate's, so he may becoming more active again.</p>
  
  <p>Quite a number of old GMs were musicians and engineers. GM Mark Taimanov was also famous as top concert pianist in the Soviet Union. Mikhail Botvinnik was famous for being an electrical engineer and computer scientist while also being the world champion at the same time. Dr. Ruben Fine was a Doctor of psychology. GM Helmut Pfleger of Germany is an MD.</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://en.chessbase.com/author/lars-bo-hansen" rel="noreferrer">GM Lars Bo Hansen is 2560, and is an Assistant Professor of Sport Management and Business Strategy at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida.</a></p>
  
  <p>As stated by Ian Bush, Luke McShane is considered the strongest with an outside full-time job, but I am not sure I would give him the title "of strongest non-professional GM" based solely on that as he plays a fair amount, and has played 182 games in the same time frame as I listed for Radjabov. Based on that, and the 100-point difference, I still have to go with Radjabov.</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/articles/doctors.htm" rel="noreferrer">Here is a cool list of chess players, who have doctorates.</a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-19T21:48:03.960Z
Answers.Text: I cannot find anything, but I have to imagine that Radjabov has been doing something with his time these past years that is a job of some sort.
Answers.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-20T11:12:47.157Z
Answers.Text: lol no, just married a wealthy lady from what I've heard from Azeri friends :D
Answers.UserDisplayName: Hamish
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-20T11:20:06.023Z
Answers.Text: @Hamish Did some digging, came across this: `Teimour Radjabov is a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO. He is married to the daughter of the vice-president of Azerbaijan’s state oil company Elnara Nasyrova and in 2013 they had a daughter. ` Here's the [source](https://ruchess.ru/en/persons_of_day/teimour_radjabov/index.php?month=12&year=2016&ELEMENT_CODE=teimour_radjabov&index_php%3Fmonth=03&bxajaxid=). Of course, how reliable the source is, is up for debate, lol.
Answers.UserDisplayName: John Hamilton
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-20T21:06:20.957Z
Answers.Text: With all respect, I very much doubt that Spassky is an engineer.
Answers.UserDisplayName: A. N. Other
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-20T21:23:47.077Z
Answers.Text: @A.N.Other It would appear that my source for that was, indeed, incorrect; however he did have a degree in journalism. https://www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/boris-spassky-2016-interview I edited my answer. Thank you.
Answers.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-20T21:25:11.280Z
Answers.Text: Sure, I always thought Spassky had a degree in journalism, too.
Answers.UserDisplayName: A. N. Other
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-20T21:27:58.797Z
Answers.Text: I am not sure where I got that when I was looking that stuff up yesterday. I might well have simply misread a couple of lines, interchanging them, and reading one part with a second part of the second line. No idea.
Answers.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-19T21:46:46.483Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-11-20T21:24:03.060Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2019-11-20T21:24:03.060Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
Answers.Body: <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_McShane" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Luke McShane</a> is one possibility. He is currently (19th Nov 2018) rated 2675, and works in the financial sector.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-19T20:36:51.447Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-11-20T15:18:37.837Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2019-11-20T15:18:37.837Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ian Bush
Answers.Body: <p>GM Tal Shaked is a Distinguished Engineer at Google, though he hasn't played organized chess in quite some time (but his rating puts him at #1423 in the world right now...).  I was going to mention Luke McShane as well (as mentioned in another answer to this question); I'm not sure what exactly he's doing right now, his LinkedIn profile hasn't been updated since 2014.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-20T21:01:48.053Z
Answers.Text: Shaked is no longer an active player, since 1999, however.
Answers.UserDisplayName: A. N. Other
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-19T20:46:54.510Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-11-19T20:46:54.510Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: patbarron
Answers.Body: <p>GM Michael Adams is often listed as a top non professional GM. His current rating is 2694. I am not sure if he is officially a non professional chess player anymore, but for many years he was competing in top tournaments while being a stock trader. At one point he was even number 4 in the world and has competed in some canditates tournaments. This was often commented on in tournaments he was taking part in.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-20T21:04:03.593Z
Answers.Text: I always thought of Adams as a professional chess player. He once also ironically answered a question about his greatest chess achievement, this being "Avoiding a real job".
Answers.UserDisplayName: A. N. Other
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-11-20T08:26:50.623Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-11-20T12:47:39.413Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2019-11-20T12:47:39.413Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Retrus
Body: <p>As title above states, who are currently the strongest non-professional chess players? By this, I mean players who have a full-time job outside of chess. For example, I remember German GM Georg Meier mentioning in an interview in 2018 that he has a full-time job in a bank.</p>
  
Tags: <grandmaster>
Title: Who are the strongest non-professional GMs?
ThreadText: # Who are the strongest non-professional GMs?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2019-11-19)
  
  As title above states, who are currently the strongest non-professional chess players? By this, I mean players who have a full-time job outside of chess. For example, I remember German GM Georg Meier mentioning in an interview in 2018 that he has a full-time job in a bank.
  
  **Tags:** grandmaster
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 4 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2019-11-19. Score: 15
  
  Up until recently, that title would have gone to Teimour Radjabov without question in my mind. Since April of 2015 until last month, he has only played 149 games. That is not many for a top-flight GM over four and a half years. That said, he just won the right to play in the Candidate's, so he may becoming more active again.
  
  Quite a number of old GMs were musicians and engineers. GM Mark Taimanov was also famous as top concert pianist in the Soviet Union. Mikhail Botvinnik was famous for being an electrical engineer and computer scientist while also being the world champion at the same time. Dr. Ruben Fine was a Doctor of psychology. GM Helmut Pfleger of Germany is an MD.
  
  [GM Lars Bo Hansen is 2560, and is an Assistant Professor of Sport Management and Business Strategy at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida.](https://en.chessbase.com/author/lars-bo-hansen)
  
  As stated by Ian username_4, Luke McShane is considered the strongest with an outside full-time job, but I am not sure I would give him the title "of strongest non-professional GM" based solely on that as he plays a fair amount, and has played 182 games in the same time frame as I listed for Radjabov. Based on that, and the 100-point difference, I still have to go with Radjabov.
  
  [Here is a cool list of chess players, who have doctorates.](http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/articles/doctors.htm)
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I cannot find anything, but I have to imagine that Radjabov has been doing something with his time these past years that is a job of some sort.  
  > **username_2**: lol no, just married a wealthy lady from what I've heard from Azeri friends :D  
  > **username_3**: @username_2 Did some digging, came across this: `Teimour Radjabov is a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO. He is married to the daughter of the vice-president of Azerbaijan’s state oil company Elnara Nasyrova and in 2013 they had a daughter. ` Here's the [source](https://ruchess.ru/en/persons_of_day/teimour_radjabov/index.php?month=12&year=2016&ELEMENT_CODE=teimour_radjabov&index_php%3Fmonth=03&bxajaxid=). Of course, how reliable the source is, is up for debate, lol.  
  > **username_0**: With all respect, I very much doubt that Spassky is an engineer.  
  > **username_1**: @username_0 It would appear that my source for that was, indeed, incorrect; however he did have a degree in journalism. https://www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/boris-spassky-2016-interview I edited my answer. Thank you.  
  > **username_0**: Sure, I always thought Spassky had a degree in journalism, too.  
  > **username_1**: I am not sure where I got that when I was looking that stuff up yesterday. I might well have simply misread a couple of lines, interchanging them, and reading one part with a second part of the second line. No idea.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2019-11-19. Score: 9
  
  [Luke McShane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_McShane) is one possibility. He is currently (19th Nov 2018) rated 2675, and works in the financial sector.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2019-11-19. Score: 4
  
  GM Tal Shaked is a Distinguished Engineer at Google, though he hasn't played organized chess in quite some time (but his rating puts him at #1423 in the world right now...). I was going to mention Luke McShane as well (as mentioned in another answer to this question); I'm not sure what exactly he's doing right now, his LinkedIn profile hasn't been updated since 2014.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Shaked is no longer an active player, since 1999, however.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2019-11-20. Score: 4
  
  GM Michael Adams is often listed as a top non professional GM. His current rating is 2694. I am not sure if he is officially a non professional chess player anymore, but for many years he was competing in top tournaments while being a stock trader. At one point he was even number 4 in the world and has competed in some canditates tournaments. This was often commented on in tournaments he was taking part in.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: I always thought of Adams as a professional chess player. He once also ironically answered a question about his greatest chess achievement, this being "Avoiding a real job".  
  
  ---
  
  