FIDE has just announced the tentative rosters for the upcoming Olympiad in Turin, Italy. It seems that many countries are not bringing their Women’s A teams. There will be no Xie Jun, Xu Yuhua, Chiburdanidze, Sebag, etc. Zhu Chen will be playing for Qatar and I expect her to win the individual Gold medal on board 1.

The Russians are the heavy favorite in both Overall and Women’s Olympiad. It would be a huge disappointment and failure if the Russians do not come home with double Gold medals and the Gaprindashvili Trophy for best combined score.

After Russia, there are a number of other women’s teams with chances for Silver and Bronze. On the men’s side, Silver and Bronze are also wide open.

For the U.S. Teams to have a chance, the captains (Donaldson and Shulman) MUST make very tough decisions and create the right board order. This is a team competition. Ratings mean very little. All personal ego must be checked at the door. It should only be about what is best for the team and which board order would give the team the best chance to win.

Both US teams are ranked 6th.

Here are the top 12 Women’s Team:

1 Russia 2500 (Average 59 points ahead of the #2 team)
2
Ukraine 2441
3
Poland 2431
4
Georgia
2430
5
Hungary 2426
6
USA 2414
7
China 2408
8
Armenia 2402
9
Germany 2399
10
India 2389
11
Bulgaria 2378
12
Romania 2375

Here are the top 12 overal teams:

1 Russia 2730 (Average 48 points ahead of the #2 team)
2
Armenia 2682
3
Ukraine 2680
4
France 2665
5
Israel 2663
6
USA 2656
7
Netherlands 2646
8
Spain 2628
9
England 2626
10
China 2625
11
India 2624
12
Germany 2621
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Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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