Chess Awareness Watch
Chess is one of the most-played sports in the world. We learned how many people know the name of the Champion and where he is from. This is the first official Chess Awareness Barometer.
7% of people know the name of the Champion
in 2022. 6% know that he was born in 
Norway.
Here’s a breakdown:
Here’s a breakdown:
June 2022 data
But what were the wrong answers? Glad you asked!
76 %
“Don’t know who”
US 72%, UK 80%
4 %
“Garry Kasparov”
World Champion between the years 1984...2000
3 %
“Vladimir Kramnik”
World Champion in 2006 and 2007
3 %
“Sergey Karjakin”
The youngest grandmaster in history
2 %
“Viswanathan Anand”
World Champion between the years 2007...2013
1 %
“Levon Aronian”
Three-time Olympic champion in the Armenian national team
1 %
“Fabiano Caruana”
Four-time Italian champion in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011
60 %
“Don’t know from where”
US 57%, UK 62%
15 %
“Russia”
7 World Champions in the last 50 years
5 %
“United States”
10% of Americans think so, only 3% of the UK citizen
4 %
“China”
Actually, there were no Chinese World Champions ever
2 %
“Armenia”
An Armenian was a World Champion as a citizen of the USSR
2 %
“United Kingdom”
The only British was a World Champion in the XIX century
2 %
“Georgia”
Actually, there were no Georgian World Champions ever
Here’s a formal report for the nerds:
| Answer | Total | US | UK | Men | Women | 18...24 | 25...34 | 35...44 | 45...54 | 55+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3366 | 1309 | 2057 | 1633 | 1733 | 405 | 544 | 584 | 506 | 1327 | |
| Which one, if any, of the following do you think is the current World Chess Champion? | ||||||||||
| “Garry Kasparov” | 4% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 3% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 3% | 4% |
| “Viswanathan Anand” | 2% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% |
| “Fabiano Caruana” | 1% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 4% | 2% | 2% | 0% | 0% |
| “Magnus Carlsen” | 7% | 9% | 7% | 12% | 3% | 14% | 12% | 8% | 5% | 4% |
| “Sergey Karjakin” | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 4% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 1% |
| “Vladimir Kramnik” | 3% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 3% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 1% | 2% |
| “Levon Aronian” | 1% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 5% | 3% | 2% | 0% | 0% |
| “None of these” | 3% | 4% | 3% | 3% | 4% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 2% | 1% |
| “Don’t know” | 77% | 72% | 80% | 71% | 82% | 57% | 64% | 72% | 85% | 87% |
| In which one, if any, of the following countries do you think the current World Chess Champion was born? | ||||||||||
| “Russia” | 15% | 13% | 16% | 17% | 13% | 9% | 14% | 16% | 19% | 15% |
| “India” | 2% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 3% | 2% |
| “United States” | 5% | 10% | 3% | 6% | 5% | 8% | 11% | 7% | 2% | 3% |
| “China” | 4% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 9% | 7% | 5% | 3% | 2% |
| “Norway” | 6% | 7% | 6% | 10% | 3% | 11% | 8% | 8% | 5% | 4% |
| “Armenia” | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% |
| “United Kingdom” | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 5% | 3% | 2% | 1% | 1% |
| “Georgia” | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 3% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 2% |
| “None of these” | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 4% | 3% | 0% | 0% |
| “Don’t know” | 60% | 57% | 62% | 54% | 66% | 48% | 47% | 53% | 64% | 71% |
The survey was conducted from 13 to 16 June 2022 in the UK and USA by YouGov on behalf of World Chess.