<p>I am hoping for answers from non-players who do not actively follow chess news.</p>
<p>Do you know who is the World Chess Champion?</p>
<p>Can you name any chess players, past or present (other than Bobby Fischer)?</p>
<p>In particular, do you know of any US players? Do chess championships (such as US championship) make it into your field of news view?</p>
<p>Any other comments on your impression of chess or chess players?</p>
<p>First of all, I do not play chess. I know the basic moves (at least I think I remember them), but I haven’t played in years. </p>
<p>I do not know who the current World Chess champion is. I think I remember the name Topolov or something like that being in the news a few years ago. I do remember that Bobby Fischer played Boris Spassky.</p>
<p>I grew up in St. Louis. I know that they have a new Chess center that is spectacular. I went in for a quick tour as I was having lunch with a friend in the Central West End when I was in town. It really is wonderful. Here is a link.</p>
<p>[Chess</a> Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis](<a href=“http://saintlouischessclub.org/]Chess”>http://saintlouischessclub.org/)</p>
<p>The few serious chess players I know in the family tend to be intelligent. Though more of the family is becoming involved with the game because of the new center. I also know that a Chess Museum is opening up near the chess center. </p>
<p>I do think chess should be taught more – especially in elementary schools. It is a wonderful game that I wish I would take up again.</p>
<p>sorghum, I couldn’t answer any of your questions and do not follow chess news even though I played in my share of tournaments in my younger days and played on my team in high school. I spent a summer in Africa as a college student where I played daily because there wasn’t much else to do and there were some expert players among the expats. Both of my boys are solid players. The younger one, in particular is quite good because he was bedridden for a year at age 11 and played a lot online. The older one had a soccer injury that sidelined him for a year and he joined the high school chess club for that year. Both will play for fun once in awhile. </p>
<p>I think the fundamentals can be grasped by almost anybody. Memorizing a few favorite openings to control the center, not making an even trade unless it results in a clear-cut strategic advantage, and perhaps using a clock to practice some speed chess will quickly elevate anyones game. But the most important skill is an interest in thinking through the what-if scenarios of if I move here, he moves there, then I move here, and so forth…so the player sees the implications of multiple possible moves. I don’t think that level of play takes intelligence as much as patience and attention to detail. Careless mistakes differentiate winners and losers, in my experience, for the average player. Going beyond that level of play is of course far more difficult and time consuming.</p>
<p>The last chess world champion I knew for sure was Gary Kasparov, but I think he has retired now to go into politics. He keeps running for office.</p>
<p>I have heard of a few other grand champions - Nigel Short of England comes to mind. Victor Korchnoi. A few others. And I recall reading in Sports Illustrated about another US champion besides Bobby Fischer, but I can’t recall his name.</p>
<p>I am a non player. No, chess championships do not make it into my view of news, but neither do sports championships. (Apparently Dallas has a team called the Mavs who won something. Who knew?) I would have heard of Bobby Fischer and vaguely Gary Kasparov. My son did play and did some local tournament in elementary school but honestly I think chess comes across as pretty nerdy.</p>
<p>My kids all play(ed) chess. The name I can think of is Viswanathan Anand (sp?) I realize that I may be years off with this. Or not. 
Karpov, Kasparov, Irina Krush and the Polgar sisters</p>
<p>US Players? I know the name Joel Benjamin as well as Asa Hoffman. I think the World Champion one day may be Hikaru Nakamura (US). The latter is a “rigged” answer because I’ve known of him since he was 7 years old and lived in my neck of the woods.</p>
<p>I think chess is great and should be taught in the schools-it was taught in the elementary school which my kids attended. I have seen kids from all socio-economic strata excel at chess. I have seen kids who were considered to be mediocre students pick up chess and do very well with it.</p>
<p>I’m probably not the “sample size” you are looking for because I accompanied my kids to many tournaments in the past. However, I do not actively follow any chess news.</p>
<p>[World</a> Chess Championship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship]World”>World Chess Championship - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Sorghum, you specifically directed the question to non-players. What are you trying to understand - perceptions of chess among the general public?</p>
<p>I’m not a chess player and don’t follow it, so the only names I can think of off the top of my head are Spassky and Kasparov.</p>