Vladimir Kramnik to lead Russian team at the Chess Olympiad

12-25th November in Dresden, Germany

Russian Chess Federation has announced its five-men lineup for the Chess Olympiads, which will be held from 12th to 25th November in Dresden, Sport Telekanal reported. The selected players are Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk and Dmitry Yakovenko, basically top rated Russians from the July rating list.

Having in mind that Dresden Chess Olympiad starts only twelve days after the end of the World Championship match between Kramnik and Anand, it is obvious that Russia wants to reclaim their dominance after losing the last two Olympiads to Ukraine and Armenia respectively. Russia took their last team gold at the 2002 Bled Olympiad when Garry Kasparov played on board one. Their powerful charge at the European Team Chess Championship on last November justifies the ambition.