[Sleeping in EQ]

Chess in the U.S. has a problem. Chess is more popular almost everywhere else (In Germany they even show the national tournament and major international tournaments on TV). The highest ranked U.S. player--Gata Kamsky, an immigrant from the U.S.S.R.--is ranked 17th in the world, behind a slew of Russians, Ukranians, Bulgarians, Western Euros and players from Black Sea and Baltic states. The top player in the world, ratings wise, is Anand, who is Indian.

Chess is most popular in the U.S. in New England and the mid-Atlantic states. New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania have chess clubs everywhere. Maryland and Mass have plenty of chess going too. Florida has a decent chess scene, in no small part due to Cuban immigrants. In the west, California and Nevada (specifically Las Vegas) have a pretty healthy chess scene. Chess has a solid collegiate presence in Texas, but not much more than that.

Many of the top U.S. players are immigrants or the children of immigrants: Hikaru Nakamura, the second best American player behind Kamsky (Nakamura is ranked #31), has always been a U.S. citizen (because his mother was), but his father was a Japanese citizen. Alexander Onischuck, the 3rd best U.S. player, is an immigrant from Ukraine. The 4th best U.S. player, Yasser Seirawan (#96), is also an immigrant whose parents were Syrian and British.

You get the idea.

It's also true that many of the top players in the world and the U.S. are and have been Jewish. Fisher's mom was Jewish (even though Fisher went paranoid and rabidly anti-Jewish in his later years). Kasparov is Jewish. Former World Champions Botvinik, Lasker, and Spassky are Jewish. The reigning Women's Champion, Judit Polgar, is a Hungarian Jew. The list of Jewish standouts in Chess is very, very long. Even Israel, with it's comparatively small population, has produced Boris Gelfand, who is ranked #18 in the world.

There are also quite a few world class Arab, Persian, and Islamic chess players. Azerbaijan has two players in the top ten.

Chess just doesn't quite match with Norman Rockwell's America, and that's too bad.