Chess is a globally widespread game, but some countries are outstanding in terms of its devotion and achievements. Here is a list of 10 countries where chess is extremely popular:
Russia
Russia has a number of the world’s chess champions including Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov; hence it has a long history and high reputation for this game.
India
The Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu is one of many young talents being produced in India while Viswanathan Anand stands among the greatest ever chess players.
China
Hou Yifan among others has spearheaded China’s rise in world chess as shown by significant presence of both men and women’s top tier players.
USA
The country conducts numerous major tournaments like Sinquefield Cup with some of the best players including Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So located there.
Armenia
In Armenia, Chess is compulsory in schools so much that they have been known to win international competitions by their government too often.
Ukraine
Former World champion Vasyl Ivanchuk hails from Ukraine which also boasts other great players as well.
Azerbaijan
Besides ex-World champion Garry Kasparov, Azerbaijan has Shahriyar Mamedyarov among other top players on its soil.
Norway
Magnus Carlsen currently holds the world championship title coming from Norway where he raised the profile of chess through achieving these heights at an early age.
Hungary
Famous people who played from Hungary during last century were Judit Polgar along her sisters whereas Hungary had a strong culture in chess.
Israel
Israel may not be very famous but it can boast a strong tradition in chess having numerous high-ranking participants involved.
These countries don’t just have first-rate infrastructure to develop aspiring grandmasters , but they also consistently achieve high results at international championships thus proving how popular and devoted they are to the game.