Norwegian sports stars Erling Haaland, a leading soccer goal-scorer, and Magnus Carlsen, the highest-rated chess grandmaster in history, exemplify their country’s broad athletic success. Though from very different disciplines — Haaland in fast-paced soccer and Carlsen in the contemplative world of chess — both display Norway’s dominance in global sports. Haaland has recently invested in the Norway Chess organization, helping to fund the pioneering Total Chess World Championship, while Carlsen is a known soccer fan who excelled in the Fantasy Premier League game. This reflects a growing crossover between soccer and chess, with other top players like Mo Salah and Gerard Pique showing interest in chess for its mental challenges.

This newfound attention around chess among soccer players mirrors a larger global surge in the game’s popularity. Online platforms such as Chess.com have expanded chess’s reach dramatically, with the U.S. alone hosting around 44 million players on Chess.com. Streaming personalities like U.S. grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura and Sweden’s Anna Cramling have boosted chess’s appeal on platforms like Twitch and YouTube. The success of Netflix’s "The Queen’s Gambit" also helped bring chess to mainstream audiences. These developments come alongside innovations in chess formats, embracing faster-paced rapid and blitz games, which contrast with the traditionally long classical matches and appeal to wider modern audiences.

The world of competitive chess now formally recognizes three main disciplines: classical, rapid, and blitz — differing in time controls available for players, from multiple hours per game to just minutes. The Total Chess World Championship unites these formats to crown an overall champion, a competition supported financially by Haaland and others. This approach disproves earlier chess purists’ fears that faster games would degrade classical play quality. World-class players like Carlsen and Nakamura have proven top results in all disciplines, demonstrating the high skill level maintained despite quicker pacing. This shift has enabled chess to grow with digital clocks and online exposure, attracting new fans and investors.

The United States, led by players like Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, and Hikaru Nakamura, ranks among the global leaders in chess, boasting several top-ranked competitors in all disciplines and a strong showing in the recent Chess Olympiad. The U.S. men’s team, silver medalists behind India in 2024, enter the upcoming Olympiad as the top-ranked team, while the women’s team enjoys a top-five seed with emerging stars such as Carissa Yip. With more soccer players like Haaland and Pique investing in chess, financial support is growing as the sport aims for integration into mainstream sports venues and media, potentially transforming its cultural standing and expanding its audience even further.