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SAINT LOUIS -- The final field is set for the 2010 World Team Championship, and the United States will have to overcome some stiff opposition if it hopes to medal at this prestigious international event.
The 2010 World Team Championship, scheduled to be held Jan. 4 - 13 in Bursa, Turkey, will pit the top chess players from 10 different countries against one another in a round-robin tournament. Along with the organizing country, Turkey, continental champions Russia, Brazil, China and Egypt all earned an automatic bid to the tournament. China had a late withdrawal, however, so India is slated to take the place of the Asian continental champions as the second-place finisher in that event.
The top three finishers at the 2008 Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, which included Armenia, Israel and the U.S., will also compete on the international stage. Upon the World Chess Federation's (FIDE) approval, Turkey extended invitations to Azerbaijan and Greece to round out the field.
John Donaldson, U.S. team captain and chess director at the Mechanics' Chess Institute in San Francisco, said half of the teams will feature an average FIDE ranking of 2700, which represents an elite level of chess master.
"If you look at the rating list Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia ... have to be considered the favorites," Donaldson said. "I think the U.S. team definitey has the opportunity to medal if we play to our potential and take advantage of all our opportunities. We have a reputation of being a good finishing team, so I'm optimistic that we'll be able to perform well."
The U.S. team qualified for the World Team Championship with a third-place finish at the 2008 Olympiad. The team entered the Olympiad seeded ninth out of 146 teams and delivered a stunning last-round performance to upset the second-seeded and previously unbeaten Ukraine 3.5-0.5 in what Donaldson called "one of the greatest moments in American chess history."
The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL) has agreed to sponsor the U.S. team at the World Team Championship thanks to a generous donation from CCSCSL president and founder Rex Sinquefield. The team will consist of Grandmasters: Hikaru Nakamura, winner of the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship, Alexender Onischuk, Yury Schulman, Varuzhan Akobian, Robert Hess and Ray Robson. Their average age is only 25, making this the youngest team sent by the U.S. in more than 30 years.
Sinquefield has been an avid supporter of U.S. chess. CCSCSL hosted the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship in May and the 2009 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship in October. CCSCSL will also be hosting the 2010 U.S. Championship, which will feature an even larger prize fund than last year.
