Sounds very much like Olympians re: income generating potential.
We know many players that were nationally strong when young, hit a wall for a few years, and eventually stopped playing because they couldn't get better.
This bit is sad- I’d hope they would continue to play for the love of the game, in whatever category fits. I imagine for the families you describe, mithawk, shame was a key factor in abandoning chess.
There’s so much more to competition than being #1.Hopefully those competitors find their way back to joy in the internal satisfaction of chess. “Failure” at that level still translates into an impressively high standing.
