“I never gave serious consideration to being a professional chess player,” Wilder said. “I kind of had the sense that I would play chess for a while and then do something else.”

Image Michael Wilder playing Anatoly Lein at age 13 in 1976. After winning the 1988 United States title, Wilder went to law school. Credit... Jack Manning/The New York Times

Money was an issue for Wilder, who is married and has two daughters. “I knew that I wanted to be a family man,” he said, “and I thought there are other things that I find interesting that might be a more stable career.”

Wolff, 42, who also is a grandmaster, was the champion in 1992 and again in 1995, when he tied for first. He is managing director of Clarium Capital, a hedge fund started by Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal, and he lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children.

Unlike Wilder, Wolff spent several years as a professional player. He had enrolled at Yale, but after being awarded a Samford Fellowship in 1989  which is usually given to one top young player each year and comes with a $32,000 annual stipend for two years  he took time off to purse chess full time.

“I never expected to be a professional indefinitely,” he said. “But it was fantastic fun.”

A turning point came in 1992, when he was hired to help Viswanathan Anand, the current world champion, to prepare for a match. The experience tipped him over the edge, he said.