Anyone who regularly uses the fantastic Google News search to look for chess news might have noticed an interesting tendency. A majority of the stories are from India and there are an ever-increasing number from Africa. India has a remarkable number of newspapers and a well-known national and regional chess infrastructure. Africa is more of a surprise. News stories from Nigeria, Malawi and South Africa are currently in the results list.
Does this mean anything for the future of chess? Success at the highest level requires support for both youth and professional chess, unless you have a once-in-a-generation prodigy like Mecking or Fischer. Major media attention can result in both. Kids and parents are exposed to the game as a healthy sport and sponsors see it in the news and can imagine associating their company with it.
