This week TIME magazine published its annual list of “the 100 most influential people in the world,” and guess who was on it? Oh, I guess the title of this post gave it away. Magnus Carlsen made the list, and got a nice one-paragraph bio from Garry Kasparov, who wrote, “his intuitive style conserves the mystique of chess at a time when every CPU-enhanced fan thinks the game is easy.”
I thought it was interesting that TIME divided the list into Titans, Pioneers, Icons, Leaders, and Artists. What a puzzling list. What is the difference between a Titan, a Pioneer, and an Icon? Can they not be one and the same? Why include Artists but not Scientists? I guess scientists aren’t influential enough.
Anyway, Magnus was listed as a Titan. Last I heard, the Titans were a race of old gods that came in second in a war against the Olympians. I hope this isn’t a bad omen for him. Congratulations on the recognition, Magnus … now go back to getting ready for Viswanathan Anand!
