I am a bit obsessed with watching trivia shows, and I’ve noticed that in the less “high brow” games, any knowledge contestants display about chess and chess players is treated as esoteric, even obscure. Not that most contestants can actually answer the questions. But on the rare occasions they do, the hosts seem in awe. Somehow one guy knew the name Magnus Carlsen, which floored the host. But other questions about Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov were treated as … way out there knowledge. And that seems sort of weird, although I should not be remotely surprised.

“Chess diplomacy” and its role throughout the Cold War made chess players household names through much of the now-distant 20th century. And of course Bobby Fischer’s sad end was big news in Iceland, where I lived at the time.

I lament the lack of broad general knowledge that people carry around. It’s not that any of this is important stuff to know or remember, but somehow it feels sad that people don’t.