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Comment by maaaats | Hacker News Reader

I'd wager 20% of Norway or more has been actively following these games. Everyone has been talking about it, the last few weeks the lunch at work has been mostly discussing the game the night before. All over the media. Biggest tv channel (NRK) showed the 15 games live, same for the biggest news page (VG) .

And this is nothing new, ever since the first time Carlsen was in a WC match Norway has been obsessed with chess. Some joke it's because we're so fond of slow-tv here. Both NRK and VG has made it like a panel/talk-show with a mix of chess experts and entertainers. The format works well.

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I expected it to be the same in America, unfortunately this was not the case. I don't know what it is but nobody in my social circles seemed to even know that this was going on.

Wow, that's shocking. How could you expect it to be that way in America? Have you looked around at actual Americans and what they watch??

Just sort of baseless optimism on my part I guess.

Chess is just not that popular outside of a few niches here. I used to be really into it when I was a kid, but it's a struggle to find anyone to play against; I don't think I've played more than a couple games in the past five years.

It's making a real comeback as the online options and apps have gotten better. Check out LiChess or chess.com. You can find a live match in seconds for shorter time controls or play 1 day per move if you don't want blitz. It makes it easy to play a quick game while waiting for a bus, or similar.

I suspect it would have gotten more press coverage if caruana hadn't switched from playing for Italy just a couple years ago and if he'd been favored. Without an "all American boy" or "next Bobby Fischer" in the lede, I imagine it's harder to sell the story to general audiences.

There is nothing else happening in Norway (except that naval frigate that sank), that's why. It's literally been glued to the front-page of the top online newspapers for weeks now. We have no history or culture of chess and we will not see another Carlsen for another millennium, dessverre.

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