Magnus Carlson is treated like a celebrity, even in the United States he make appearances on talk shows and news programs. In other countries he is even more well known. He makes well over a million dollars a year and has sponsors.

But the reason Bobby Fischer was so much more popular than Chess players in the United States today has to do with the cold war. Americans at that time did not beat the Soviets often in Chess. Bobby Fischer was the first naturalized citizen of the United States to be world champion. His world Championship matches were against the #1 ranked chess player at the time who happened to be a Soviet.

The fame of Bobby Fischer is the same reason many people know the name Mike Eruzione. For those who don't know him he was the captain of USA ice hockey team from the 1980 olympic games that beat the Soviets.

My source is a book titled "Bobby Fischer: The Wandering King". It investigates Fischer's FBI files and talks in depth about the importance of Fischer beating the Soviets to the USA.

I also recommend the movie "Pawn Sacrifice"