38TH CHESS OLYMPIAD TO OPEN IN DRESDEN
By Robert Huntington
Associated Press
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Saturday November 15 2008
DRESDEN, Germany (AP) – The highly rated Russian team led by former
world champion Vladimir Kramnik will enter the 38th Chess Olympiad
in Dresden as the clear favorite, but one American grandmaster says
the U.S. is fielding its strongest ever team.
The 13-day tournament starting Thursday includes 154 teams in the
open division often referred to as the men’s division although it
includes a few women and 116 in a separate women’s division.
Ukraine is ranked second behind Russia in the open division, with China
third, Azerbaijan fourth and Hungary fifth. The next five teams are,
in order, Bulgaria, France, Israel, Armenia, and the United States.
Yet some believe the U.S.’s No. 10 ranking is misleading and the open
division team almost identical to the one that took the bronze behind
Armenia and China at the last Olympiad, in Turin, Italy, in 2006 is
actually much stronger.
American grandmaster Yasser Seirawan called the U.S. open team "the
strongest team that America has ever fielded."
While he did not favor them for a medal, Seirawan said that first board
Gata Kamsky of Brooklyn, New York, and second board 20-year-old Hikaru
Nakamura of White Plains, New York, "are brimming with confidence
and are dangerous players who ca n beat anyone on a given day."
American grandmaster Larry Christiansen said the "Americans are
underrated in general compared to the Europeans. If they avoid jet lag,
they can finish in the top five."
The Russian team is led by former world champion Kramnik and is the
highest-rated team ever to participate in an Olympiad.
Seirawan predicted that Russia would win the Olympiad, with Armenia
and Azerbaijan taking silver and bronze.
On the women’s side, Russia is also seeded first, and Ukraine and
China are tied for second and third place.
A number of changes have been introduced for this Olympiad. The number
of rounds has been reduced from 14 to 11; the number of reserves on
each team has been reduced from two to one; and it will be scored by
match points instead of game points.
The World Chess Federation will also hold its annual congress during
the Olympiad.