When the future history of chess is written, I believe that 2008 will be seen as a watershed year for the game. Not only in terms of the development of future world champions (ie Carlsen), but also in terms of format and structure of the tournament scene.
The birth of the Grand Prix series and the Grand Slam final sees a professional circuit that can be relied upon to keep the top 15 or 20 players in the world making a comfortable living from tournament chess. Combined with that is the relisation that the actual format of tournaments need to be changed to make it more attractive to spectators and sponsors. This has resulted in the wider acceptance of rules concerning agreed draws (eg Sophia rules) as well as further experimentation on scoring systems (ie 3/1/0). Even the conditions for the Olympiad is changing for the first time since 1976 (shorter event, change in scoring system) although I'm not in favour of this.
I'm optimistic enough to believe that these changes will be more or less permanent (and not collapse like the GMA World Cup) and that the next 20 years of chess will follow the lead of 2008.
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