The Dresden was underway Thursday evening. Kramnik is surprisingly enough, playing. The Russians want "their" gold medal back after two cycles of missing out. A team with Kramnik, Moro, Svidler, Grischuk and Jakovenko is certainly favourite.
Defending champions Armenia don't have much chance of pulling off a repeat. The tragic death of GM Karen Asrian has seriously weakened a squad of one top player in Aronyan and several hard-bitten veterans like Vladimir Akopjan and Tigran L. Petrosian. Armenia is seeded ninth.
The Chinese who took silver last time (Turin 2006) must be hoping for gold. They are third seeds behind the Ukraine with Ivanchuk, Karjakin and Eljanov. Russia and the Ukraine both went medal-less in Turin. The Azerbaijanis (no:4) with Radjabov, Mamedaryov, Gashimov could be strong contenders as well.
India (no:13) is missing Anand, Humpy (who has opted out of both teams), Parimarjan Negi (now rated 2598 after brilliant performances in the past four months) and Abhijeet Gupta, the reigning world junior champion. Even so, Sasikiran, Harikrishna, Ganguly, Gopal and Chanda can produce some upsets.
The women are seeded 11th but in the absence of Humpy, may lack the strength to make a medal challenge. Defending champions China are hot favourites with Georgia, Russia and the Ukraine major contenders. The Russia-Georgia match will have plenty of needle attached in the current circumstances.
There are several changes to the format. The number of boards has been evened. Instead of two reserves, each team has one. Matches in the women's section will also be played over four boards. Early draw offers are banned.
The other major change is that the score-keeping will be via match results with match margins considered only in tie-breaks. That means a win by 4-0 is the same as a win by 2.5-1.5 with both converted into one point.
It should even out last round pairing luck but it also devalues efforts to generate shut outs or last-ditch defences that save half points in lost matches. Bridge uses a Victory Point conversion system, which allows big wins to receive more credit than wins by narrow margins. That may be better.
The diagram, BLACK TO PLAY, (Nakamura Vs Invanchuk, Cap D'Agde shows that positional considerations still matter in speed chess. Black traded rooks leading to a "vanilla" Bishop Vs Knight endgame. His choices were limited since 37. -Rd8 38. Nc6 is strong. But the minor endgame is lost due to the weakness of the a5 pawn. A rare case of a bishop being dominated on an open board. Play went 37...Rxc4 38.Nxc4 Bb4 39.Ne5 Bc3 40.Nc6 f5 41.Kd3 Be1 42.f3 Kf6 43.Kc4 fxe4 44.fxe4 Bd2 45.e5+ Kf7 46.Kc5 Ke8 47.Kd6 Kf7 48.Nd8+ Ke8 49.Nxe6 Bb4+ 50.Kd5 Bd2 51.Ke4 Ke7 1-0.
