Chess Awareness Barometer
Chess is one of the most widely played sports globally. Last year, the world champion changed and we are now pleased to update our annual awareness barometer regarding the name and location of the current Champion. This report marks the second official Chess Awareness Barometer!
3% of Germans know the name of the Champion in 2023. 3% know
that he was born in 
China.
Here’s a breakdown:
Here’s a breakdown:
But what were the wrong answers? Glad you asked!
71 %
Don’t know who
Ger 65%, UK 77%
10 %
Magnus Carlsen
He declined to defend his title and didnt play in the last match
5 %
Garry Kasparov
World Champion between the years 1984...2000
2 %
Vladimir Kramnik
World Champion in 2006 and 2007
1 %
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
61 %
I don’t know where
Ger 64%, UK 59%
13 %
Russia
7 World Champions in the last 50 years
9 %
Norway
Home of the world champion from 2013 to 2023
2 %
United States
Home of the great world champion Bobby Fischer
2 %
India
It’s probably the home of the next world champions
1 %
Armenia
An Armenian was a World Champion as a citizen of the USSR
1 %
Georgia
Actually, there were no Georgian World Champions ever
Here’s a formal report for the nerds:
| Answer | Total | uk | ger | Men | Women | 18...24 | 25...34 | 35...44 | 45...54 | 55+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4402 | 2266 | 2136 | 2144 | 2258 | 445 | 672 | 722 | 770 | 1792 | |
| Which one, if any, of the following do you think is the current World Chess Champion? | ||||||||||
| Garry Kasparov | 5% | 3% | 7% | 5% | 5% | 2% | 3% | 5% | 6% | 6% |
| Viswanathan Anand | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% |
| Fabiano Caruana | 1% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 0% |
| Magnus Carlsen | 10% | 9% | 10% | 15% | 4% | 17% | 13% | 8% | 10% | 7% |
| Sergey Karjakin | 2% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 3% | 1% | 1% |
| Vladimir Kramnik | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 4% | 4% | 3% | 1% | 1% |
| Levon Aronian | 1% | 0% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 0% |
| Ding Liren | 3% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 2% | 7% | 4% | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| None of these | 4% | 3% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 8% | 6% | 4% | 4% | 2% |
| Don’t know | 72% | 77% | 65% | 64% | 79% | 56% | 63% | 68% | 73% | 79% |
| In which one, if any, of the following countries do you think the current World Chess Champion was born? | ||||||||||
| Russia | 14% | 16% | 11% | 13% | 14% | 14% | 12% | 13% | 15% | 14% |
| India | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 5% | 3% | 2% | 4% | 1% | 2% |
| United States | 2% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 5% | 4% | 2% | 2% |
| China | 5% | 7% | 3% | 5% | 5% | 8% | 7% | 5% | 6% | 3% |
| Norway | 9% | 8% | 10% | 14% | 4% | 14% | 12% | 9% | 9% | 7% |
| Armenia | 2% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 3% | 1% | 1% |
| United Kingdom | 2% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 5% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% |
| Georgia | 1% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% |
| None of these | 2% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 5% | 2% | 3% | 1% | 1% |
| Don’t know | 61% | 59% | 64% | 55% | 68% | 48% | 55% | 55% | 62% | 69% |
The survey was conducted between August 25th and September 3rd, 2023, in the UK and Germany by YouGov on behalf of World Chess.