When Is The USA Going To Have Another World Chess Champion? 

There has been through the centuries many important figures deeply connected to the history of chess as the entire World adopted it as a sport, some of these , just to name a few, include : Jose Raul Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Tal, Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen. 

Today we will focus on a name that brings a lot of attention for many different reasons, and of course this is the name that everyone seems to know about, even the people who don't follow  chess at all, and that is (you guessed it) : Bobby Fischer. 

Many things could be said about Bobby Fischer and I am sure that many have already been said before, and maybe in a different post I will continue to talk about him, in this entry however I mainly want to focus on the long lasting shadow that his presence and accomplishments still to this day seem to hang over the entire American chess ecosystem. 

In order to keep it short and simple I will simply mention that we are talking about a player that singlehandedly made chess relevant for an entire nation in a strange time, and also made the game more popular all over the World when he rose through the ranks , going from a super prodigy kid from Brooklyn, New York, to worldwide stardom and finally won that famous World Chess Champion  that was held in Iceland against Boris Spassky from the USSR in 1972. To give a little perspective, it is important to realize that back in those days the United States was involved in TWO major conflicts at the time, caught in the middle of the Vietnam War and also in the middle of the Cold War which was taking part against the USSR. Therefore, the famous match against Spassky was highlighted by all of the media around the World at the time, making headline after headline, being dubbed "The Match Of the Century"  because for some reason it wasn't just a game of chess that was being disputed, both political and historical backgrounds were in the balance, because for many decades the USSR had solely dominated the entire chess scene globally. 

   

Match of The Century between Fischer (left) and Spassky (right)

It has been more than 50 years since the United States was able to have their one and only  Chess World Champion, so the question remains : how is this possible? or,  why has it been this long?. In an age where technology has been improving for everyone around the globe and with so many resources available , anybody would've thought back then and through the years that another Champion would certainly rise, or is that asking too much?

It turns out that there is compelling evidence that the USA certainly remains hopeful that history will repeat itself and that the next Bobby Fischer is going to bring the Crown back to their homeland.

There has been real chances, of course, as we must remember that during the year 2018, Fabiano Caruana (who was the World's Number 2 ranked chess player at the time), became the first American to compete for the world title since Fischer in 1972, but ultimately ended up losing against Magnus Carlsen, who has been dominating the chess universe for the past 14 years. 

                                     

              Magnus Carlsen (left) vs Fabiano Caruana (right) , London 2018, World Chess Championship                             

                                                                    The BIG QUESTION IS : 

Where is the US talent, exactly? and what is the development?

Over the years, there has been a good number of prospects rising through the ranks and while some of them have made quite a big impact on the World rankings, most of them have disappeared, either into retiring or declining  and losing shape altogether, and here are a few examples: 

During 1973, The New York Times mentioned 13 year old Michael Wilder from Pennsylvania "the next Bobby Fischer" as he was a teenager with an impressive talent and future ahead of him, however, despite winning the US Championship in 1988, he retired shortly after that from chess completely and went on to become a tax attorney instead

At the age of just 10 years old, John Viloria, prodigy chess kid from White plains, NY, was referred according to the New York Times also as "the next Bobby Fischer" , having won the Under 10 Chess Championship in the USA, it seemed for a while that the entire nation was waiting for him to be the one who claimed the ultimate prize; however, despite showing a promising career, he eventually retired from Chess and curiously enough became a professional SCRABBLE player for a couple of years. 

Another great example is that of one name whose popularity and current standing amongst the best players in the World has been up there for a while, and it is worth noting that the spotlight has been on Hikaru Nakamura since the early days, way back in 2003 at the age of 15 he became the youngest Grand Master in American Chess History back then (that record was broken recently when in 2021, Abhimanyu Mishra became GM at 12 years old)  ; he also became the youngest person to win the US Chess Championship , a feat which he was able to claim again in 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2019.

 Known for his sharp tactics and his ability to move usually fast with great accuracy, he has been able to accomplish a well deserved spot among the chess elite of the World for the past 10 years; he has won multiple tournaments both domestically and abroad in different time formats,  and is definitely the top GM enjoying online content creation with millions of followers on social media, plus his  personality and manner when it comes to explaining chess to people is definitely enjoyable. 

Having said that, though, while he has also enjoyed the privilege of being dubbed "the next Bobby Fischer but without the quirks"  back in 2005, also according to The NY Times. 

During an interview he had on NPR news he was asked about this , and he was able to share that : " what Bobby Fischer did for Chess was great, because not only did he become the World Champion, he raised the game's profile to a level which hadn't been seen before and has never been done since". 

Nakamura,  however, has not been able to win a Candidates tournament therefore failing short of having a shot at bringing the World Chess Champion title back to the USA. Also, he has publicly stated that he plans to retire at age 40; so it seems that there could only be one or two more opportunities to secure the glory, given that he is currently almost 37 years old. 

Even though no one knows what the future holds, the present actually seems promising for young American Chess players and enthusiasts, super prodigies such as  Abhimanyu Mishra (15 years old), and Andy Woodward (14 years old) should have a great chance at fighting for the World Title one day if their hard work pays off and they are able to rise above the competition; it may be too early to tell, but there is solace in knowing that  there are reasons to remain hopeful. 

Of course, it is worth mentioning as well that American Grand Master Hans Niemann,  has made public his desire and promise of becoming the next US World Chess Champion in history. He is someone very young and very talented who impressed a lot of people when he ranked 16th amongst the best Chess player on the FIDE ratings, back in September 2024. So the talent is there but the task is going to be an uphill battle and meanwhile as the spectators, all that we can do is wait and watch. 

  

One thing remains for certain : The World has only known one Bobby Fischer so far....nobody has to fill the spot he left behind in order to repeat history, but it would certainly be nice if someone from his country could carry on his legacy, because he definitely achieved what was once thought unachievable, so, after more than half a century : could it happen again?.