Though I believe Naka will be the sole leader after Thurs.. it is amazing watching the mix of strong old and young players at Stavanger. In a decade probably none of them will be there with so many young players on the way. Former chess savants like Svidler have already dropped out of the top ten, as have so many others that people learning chess formerly admired for winning style.
It is difficult to imagine MC not moving on to other fields in life if he dominates chess the next decade. Gary Kasparov had a rather unique situation with the fall of the former Soviet Union and disruption of the Soviet chess school while the U.S. had no stars (until Naka). GK's highest world rating 23 years probably will never again be duplicated until players have computer chip augmented brains and cyber-thought. His was the last of the mostly pre-computer generation of chess greats who did not have to encounter younger players that trained since childhood with home computers.MC will have a horde of younger players that have studied his every game ahead, as will the other presently young adult players. The next clash of generations will be great chess indeed.
