I was re-reading a book about the Spassky-Fischer title match, and I was amazed at the difference in "hype" level for that match as compared to current matches. No offence intended toward Gelfand at all, but I have trouble seeing a ton of people getting excited about this match.

I recognize that excitement levels and amount of media coverage will always vary from country to country based on where the challenger is from, so it's not exactly fair to compare matches, because different geographical locations will have different perspectives.

Nevertheless, in large part due to the Cold War, I think it would be fair to say that the 1972 match had a lot more media coverage than 2012 will have.

All that to lead to my question: what do you think it would take for the chess world title match to get that sort of international media attention again?  For example, would a youthful Carlsen be an intriguing enough story for the media, or would it take something more?

Unfortunately, I think it would take an American to capture the international media's attention.  I'm not happy to have to say this, but I do feel it is true.  Something a bit more politically charged (not politically charged from the standpoint of the players themselves, but one that could be spun by the spin-meisters).  Either way, I'm past caring, since I know I'm interested.

     Chess is not for everyone, so I don't think that you can get the level of excitement up to where you are talking about.  The excitement level of the Fischer-Spassky match had not so much to do with chess as it was a political confrontation disguised as a chess match. As the last poster said, if you could add some political intrigue (like an Israelite GM vs. a Palestinian GM or an American GM vs. a Iranian GM, etc.).

     But even if you could generate publicity, what's the point? I'm not sure that interest like that will translate to more interest in chess. Look at the US and soccer. There is a lot of hype about the World Cup, especially when the US does well, but that doesn't really translate into more kids playing soccer and the MLS is still struggling with publicity.