There will be four major changes at the 2008 Dresden Chess Olympiad.

1. Each team will have four main players and one reserve player in both sections. In previous years, the Men’s Olympiads would have 4 players plus two reserves while the Women’s section would only have three players plus one reserve.

2. A new scoring system will be introduced at this Olympiad. Match points will be tallied instead of totalling up the individual scores of team members. A team will earn 2 points for a match win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 for a loss.

3. All players will need to be seated at their boards by 15:00 (Dresden time) on game days when Chess Olympiad Chief Arbiter Ignatius Leong sounds the “gong” at the start of each round. If a player is not present at his / her board at that time, he / she will lose the game by forfeit!

4. Last but not least, no draw agreement by the players will be allowed before move 30.

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Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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