The London Chess Classic

I went to the last day of the London Chess Classic on Wednesday...... 4 English players +

Magnus Carlsen (20yo Norwegian prodigy, world nr 1 by Elo rating),

Vishy Anand (current world champion),

Vladimir Kramnik (previous world champion, beat Kasparov for title, world nr 4 by Elo rating),

Hikaru Nakamura (American, former world blitz champion).

These men are like demi-gods to a patzer like me. Entering the antechamber I almost bumped into Kramnik and then stood close to Anand, the world champion, as he gave an interview having drawn with Kramnik. I was slackjawed as I clicked away.


Carlsen won despite a poor start. Garry Kasparov was there, the strongest player of all time (tho Fischer was sui generis).


But best of all Kasparov signed his book on Fischer for me with a dedication to 2 of

Huh?

"Whatever" is the most irritating word of the year, tho a friend had the effrontery to write "whatev" at me the other day.

But note "for younger Americans, aged 18 to 29, "like" was the word that annoyed them most."

Huh?