World Champions come to London!
After the season ending London Junior Championships in December 2014, some of North Londons top juniors held the honour of meeting some former World Chess Champions who came to visit London.
Ethan and Leo Sanitt met Garry Kasparov at the London Chess Classic in December, which the boys described as a ‘real buzz’ to meet arguably the greatest ever chess player the grace the royal game. Kasparov was World Champion for over 15 years (1985-2000) and was known for his fierce presence at the board.
Garry Kasparov factfile: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov
Garry also visited Akiva School in North London, where Barnet Under 9 Champion Noah Shapiro was one of around 30 pupils to take Garry on in a chess simultaneous. Noah essayed his favourite Queens Gambit Declined Variation and lasted 38 moves before being checkmated by the former champion. What Noah probably didn’t know was Garry can call himself an expert in this line, having played it for white and black many times in his World Championship matches in the 1980s and 1990s against his big rival, Anatoly Karpov!
In early January 2015, Nicolai Woltery of Haberdashers Askes School met and played against the current World Champion, 24 year old Magnus Carlsen of Norway, also in a simultaneous he gave in central London. Magnus has raised the bar in recent years of top level chess, even breaking Garry Kasparovs record for the highest ever international (FIDE) rating ever achieved. Nicolai as black also put in his best effort, and Magnus sportingly analysed his game with Nicolai afterwards, a nice touch.
Magnus Carlsen factfile: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Carlsen
It is nice to see such chess profiles inspiring the children, and I hope the boys will remember their experiences which most chess