The game enjoys a calmer decade

After the turbulent 1990s, the world of chess needed a calmer period. Here are my reflections on the past decade and a few guesses about the future:

Bobby Fischer, probably the most famous player ever, died in 2008.Fischer had not played publicly since 1992, but he grabbed attention with vile anti-American statements and a long battle to avoid extradition from Japan. He eventually won the battle, sparing chess fans and the U.S. government more embarrassment, and spent his final years in exile in Iceland. His "improved" version of the game, Fischerrandom chess, has attracted few adherents.

Garry Kasparov, another colossal figure, retired in 2005. He quickly became the leader of opposition parties in Russian politics, displaying the energy and ambition so familiar to his chess fans. However, it's too early to assess his political impact.

The struggle for chess supremacy between humans and machines ended with the 2006 match between Vladimir Kramnik and a $50 program. We lost. Today's best programs still show poor judgment in certain types of positions, but no human can withstand their tremendous superiority in tactics.

Oddly, chess mastery has never been so highly esteemed. Many schools have hired masters as teachers, in the hope that students will improve at thinking logically and solving problems. All parties have prospered under the arrangement.Dutch grandmaster Hans Ree wrote memorably of the "trivialization of chess" when the game was used as a measuring stick for computer programmers in the 1990s. Now chess has become a fashionable educational tool. Those who regarded it as a worthy art or science regret its fall to subordinate status.

The most positive sign has been the stabilization of the world championship. The 2006 match between Kramnik and Veselin Topalov ended 13 years of dual champions. The World Chess Federation (FIDE), instigator of much of the chaos of the 1990s, undeservedly benefited by assuming full control of the championship. To its credit, FIDE has behaved more responsibly recently.

A new generation of grandmasters has emerged. The leader, Magnus Carlsen, 19, has reached the level of Kramnik, Topalov and current champion Viswanathan Anand. Will he surpass them? That question looks like the first hot topic of the next decade.

China became a chess superpower, but tiny Armenia was the team of the decade, winning two consecutive Olympiads. Armenia boosted Californian chess immeasurably by supplying GM Varuzhan Akobian, GM Melikset Khachiyan, IM Andranik Matikozyan, IM Levon Altounian (now living in Arizona) and renowned teacher IM Armen Ambartsoumian. The AAA Chess Club, founded by Nshan Keshishian, produced a stream of scholastic standouts. If not for IM Enrico Sevillano, winner of four consecutive state championships, Armenian-Americans would monopolize local tournaments.

Chess fared much worse at the national level, as the U.S. Chess Federation deteriorated. Adult tournament participation never recovered from flight to the Internet. The U.S. Championship, abandoned by the USCF in 2000, remains in precarious health, totally dependent on patron Rex Sinquefield. Yet there are reasons for optimism. Mike Nolan kept the federation afloat by modernizing the rating system, enabling ratings to be updated within hours of a tournament's finish. And the latest crop of American masters seems the most promising in many years.Hikaru Nakamura set a record as a 10-year old master in 1998. Now, at age 22, he has displaced Gata Kamsky, 35, as the top U.S. star. He should expect competition soon from two younger grandmasters, Robert Hess, 18, and Ray Robson, 15. Stay tuned!