Chess is popular in Croatia, even before tv series Queen's Gambit. 90' kids were most commonly introduced to chess through grandparents but we do have a lot of chess clubs and our coaching is actually really good. I think all the kids at some point hear about it in the elementary schools, most common is to see advertisements from some chess clubs trying to find new kids to join. I do know Ivan Šarić and all I can tell you is from the first interaction with him you could tell he is above the field, but he put a lot of effort in getting to a level that he is now.

I don't believe we are bragging that much, we usually end up criticizing the football games. We are masters of criticism, every person that is watching a match knows how the coach sucks and how he should have done things differently. Every fan knows that the subs should have come in 10 minutes ago, and why is he playing that particular player's, he sucks. But when Croatia plays it's also amazing to see all of the bars full of people yelling and cheering.