Match for the title of world chess champion as a factor of sport popularization in Russia

This article examines the positive impact of the world chess championship match between the reigning world champion Norwegian Magnus Carlsen and the challenger, Russian grandmaster Jan Nepomniachtchi, on the popularity of sports in the Russian Federation. The paper presents a retrospective of all nine world chess champions from Russia and the USSR (Alexander Alekhin, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosyan, Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik), describes them as players, and also a brief history of winning the title of world chess champion. The factors in the popularization of sports in Russia as a result of the competition in question will be the champion status of the match, the Russian citizenship of one of the opponents, the highest level of chess players' skill, and the personality of the opponents.