English Chess Forum

I was watching the GRENKE classic the other day and something came up, courtesy of GM Gustafsson, there was a brief discussion on who the most famous chess player is. What he had to say was both interesting and surprising...depending on how you look at it.

So who do you think the most famous chess player in the world is? The answer is, perhaps, not as obvious as you might think.

OK, what parameters are we using here? Real person, fame is at least strongly linked to their chess skills rather than something unrelated?

Fischer is quite possibly the most famous player, having had movies made about him and his prowess over the board still being talked about to this day.

But if it were someone famous who also happened to play chess I'm sure there are many many big names throughout history who would qualify.

I'm referring to the modern day. The most famous, according to Jan, are not famous for their chess skill.

Even in 2024 the names of Spasski and Fischer are still well known amongst many adults.

Amongst Tok Tickers and You Tubers I really have no idea and probably care even less. It will vary from month to month no doubt.

Well there are lots of famous people who play chess (even if not very well in some cases)

Yes but I mean those who are current chess players. Well anyway GM Gustafsson believed that Revy Rosman, the Gotham chess guy, and the botel sisters were the most popular now that streaming has kinda taken over in terms of popularity.

I wouldn't say they are "popular" as such - if you go on their channels and read the comments most of their fans recognise them as very mediocre players who are only good at abusing the algorithms to get their content pushed up to the top of the searches and spam it out like so much diarrhea to keep themselves relevent.

To some degree yes but they have popular channels and the Botez sisters have started branching out beyond chess thus have a wider audience.

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 31, 2024 10:05 pm

Yes but I mean those who are current chess players. Well anyway GM Gustafsson believed that Revy Rosman, the Gotham chess guy, and the botel sisters were the most popular now that streaming has kinda taken over in terms of popularity.

Otherwise known as Levy Rozman and the Botez sisters.

Yep and perhaps other names or aliases too. The times are a changing, the most publicized chess player was always the world champion, hence their notoriety. Just not the case anymore it seems. But as usual there are always geo-political considerations in play. In the same stream Trent Lawrence claimed Magnus is more popular than Ding Liren but I have my doubts. China has about a quarter of the world's population. It might have been better to say Magnus is known more widely.

I suppose if today you asked a non-player in the street they would reply Beth Harmon. I'd also guess a few would say Hans Niemann. (if they could recall his name - '...that American guy who cheated!')

I watch a lot of TV quizzes, Fischer and Spassky still pops up and the question gets answered correctly. At the time these two were the most famous there has ever been. It all depends on where you ask the question. Go to India and you will get millions saying Vishy Anand.

If you put the question into a chess computer it would say 'Deep Blue' and it is because of that match Kasparov is quite well known, he would be in the top five.