The first major fallout from FIDE's ever-changing World Championship cycles came today, as Magnus Carlsen has dropped out of the FIDE Grand Prix series. Originally, the Grand Prix champion was to play the World Cup winner in a Candidates Match for the right to play for the World Chess Championship. The new regulations would qualify multiple players (among with other qualifiers) from each into an 8-player Candidates Tournament instead.

As I mentioned in my last post on the subject, it's not so much that the new system is bad; it seems about as reasonable as any other. The real problem is the unpredictability and instability that comes with constant changes. If even the players can't be confident in knowing how they can qualify for the World Championship, how will they ensure they don't get left out? Not to mention the effect it has on sponsorship and public interest; it's impossible to give much prestige or hype to a qualifying event when the number of qualifiers (or the event these players are qualifying into) can change at a moment's notice.

In a move that can't really be called a surprise, FIDE has again changed the method they'll be using in the future for determining World Championship candidates. The new format calls for an eight-player Candidates Tournament (either a double round-robin or elimination matches, depending on what works for the organizer), with players qualifying in a variety of ways, such as through the World Cup or Grand Prix.

To be honest, the new format sounds just fine. It gives more players a chance to get into the penultimate event, where this small group can determine a challenger by playing amongst themselves, rather than just having two players qualify for a single Candidates Match.

The problem is the change itself. FIDE has changed the rules and format for the World Championship Cycle so many times, that it's hard to depend on any announced format actually holding up by the time the matches or tournaments are expected to be played. The world of chess could desperately use some stability -- hopefully this new format will stick around for at least a couple cycles.

After 11 exciting rounds of chess, Armenia successfully defended their Olympiad championship in the Open section, finishing one point ahead of Israel. The Armenians were led by Vladimir Akopian and Gabriel Sargissian, who were the top individual performers on boards 2 and 3 respectively. The United States won bronze after a stunning 3.5-0.5 defeat of Ukraine, whom they also beat on tiebreaks for the final medal. Interestingly, the three medal winners were the 9, 8 and 10th seeded teams - the favorites did not fare well, although (as already mentioned) Armenia were the defending champions.

In the Women's division, Georgia finished just ahead of Ukraine on tiebreaks to earn the gold. The United States again claimed the bronze medal, this time ahead of Russia and Poland on tiebreaks. The best performance by far in this section belonged to Georgia's GM Maia Chiburdanidze, who scored 7.5/9 on board 1 for the champions.

While some of the new rules (forfeits for players who don't arrive on time, no agreed draws before move 30) might get a second look, one change I hope will stay is the switch to match points determining the standings. Personally, it never made much sense for a team tournament to be determined by board points for me; it essentially made the individual match results meaningless, as a 2.5-1.5 split was only a very minor improvement over a 2-2 draw, and there was no match strategy involved for teammates. Allowing match results to determine the winners brings the Olympiad in line with most team chess events, and adds tension to games which otherwise might have no influence on the standings.

The 2008 Chess Olympiad has reached its final round, with several teams still in contention on the final day.

In the Open section, Armenia and Ukraine are tied for the lead with 17 points (teams receive 2 points for a won match, and 1 point for a draw), while several other teams remain in contention: China and Israel have 16 points each, while the United States, the Netherlands, Russia and Spain all have 15 and could factor into the medal picture. The leaders are all playing each other in the final round; China faces Armenia, the USA takes on Ukraine, Israel faces off with the Netherlands, and Russia takes on Spain. Everything is up for grabs -- although Armenia and Ukraine are clearly in the best position.

In the Women's division, Poland has surprised everyone and taken the clear lead going into the last day. Poland, the #9 seed, has 17 points -- one ahead of Ukraine, Georgia and Serbia. At 15 points, the United States and Russia are both still in contention as well. Poland takes on Ukraine, while Georgia battles Serbia.

The final round starts at 10 AM local time, and games can be seen on the official site. It's hard to predict who the favorites are over the course of a single day of matches, but with so much on the line, you can expect lots of interesting, hard fought chess on the top boards.

Earlier this week, FIDE annonuced that Gata Kamsky and Veselin Topalov have indeed agreed to play their candidates match in Sofia, Bulgaria, in late February. The agreement comes after months of speculation, doubt, and confusion as to when or where the match might be taking place.

Although Topalov will love having the match close to home, the real winners here are chess fans around the world. Some normalization of the World Championship process is desperately needed, and this is an excellent first step.

One interesting note in the FIDE press release: Kamsky is no longer being represented by Oleksandr Chernenko. Whether this had any bearing on the sudden agreement would be pure speculation, but it does seem like player representatives seem to get in the way of any actual chess being played fairly often these days.

It's rapidly becoming difficult to figure out when or where to expect the Kamsky-Topalov Candidates Match to occur. The match, which is intended to determine the next challenger to Viswanathan Anand for the World Chess Championship, was originally scheduled to begin later this month. At one point, the match appeared to be taking place in Lvov, Ukraine; the Bulgarian Chess Federation has also been involved in the bidding throughout the process.

ChessBase has a good rundown of the politics behind the match. Given FIDE's history, it's impossible to so much as venture a guess as to where the match will take place -- if it is going to take place at all -- although it's probably a safe bet that all parties are unlikely to agree to start a match before the end of the year, given how little preparation time remains. The fact that Gata Kamsky and Veselin Topalov are both playing for their respective nations in the Olympiad probably says something about their confidence in the match being played as scheduled.

Sadly, this sort of uncertainty is all too common in the chess world. While many chess players are used to it, it really is shocking to compare how the "professional" chess world operates when compared to other competitions around the world. It's hard to imagine that players, organizers and fans of any other sport would put up with similar issues. If the National Football League were anything like chess, ESPN would spend the next day speculating on whether Monday Night Football would be moved to a new site and played on Wednesday, whether the Cleveland Browns should be replaced by the Chicago Bears if they refused to agree to the new conditions, and if we should be worried about Buffalo forfeiting the game in the 2nd Quarter due to the scoreboard being slightly larger than regulation. Then, when the game was finally played between St. Louis and Oakland on Friday, and the television ratings were surprisingly low, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would propose that the long, 15-minute quarters were the problem, and that starting in Week 12, all games would be played at the new 5-minute quarter time control.

The scenario in the last paragraph was clearly ridiculous -- but only because it wasn't about chess. Shouldn't these sorts of things be impossible to imagine in the chess world too?

In ChessBase's latest Olympiad update, a brief mention was given to the blight of the Ugandan team, which was forfeited today in their match against Latvia when only one of their players arrived for the match. It seems that Uganda has had trouble obtaining visas for some of their players; in the first two rounds, they sent only two players to each match, forfeiting the two other boards. Today, one of the players who had been able to enter Germany visited the Ugandan embassy to attempt to secure passage for his teammates.

While Uganda is not a contender for the top prizes, they did manage to win 3 of the 4 individual games they had played so far (drawing the 4th), and managed a draw against San Marino in round two by winning the two boards on which they had players. Regardless of their team's chances, I hope the tournament organizers do everything in their power to allow the team to participate as soon as possible; it would be a shame to mar the Olympiad by excluding a team for bureaucratic reasons.

Russia brings the top-rated team to the festivities, led by the murderer's row of Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler, and Alexander Grishuck. They're followed by Ukraine and China. On the Women's side, the top teams are...Russia, Ukraine and China. It's no secret that Russia and Ukraine have taken up the mantle of the old Soviet teams, while China is the new superpower on the chess block. A quick glance at the teams and players in the competition shows that there will be a lot of competition at the top; among others, the United States, France, Hungary and Armenia are bringing strong teams in both divisions, while Georgia has a formidable Women's team and Azerbaijan will be a contender in the Open section.

Part of the charm of the Olympiad is the wide variety of teams; there are many awards for weaker teams, along with the top competitors. From Russia -- team average rating of 2756 -- to Madagascar (and several similar teams), who lacks a single FIDE-rated player, there are a total of 154 teams in the Open section, and 116 Women's teams. These teams represent not only a wealth of nations, but also teams of blind, deaf and correspondence players. Of all the world's great sporting events, the Chess Olympiad may be the most inclusive.

With most of the strongest players in the world participating (Anand is a notable exception), the Olympiad is a great event for all those who love top-flight chess, but it's also the one time where national pride is truly at stake on the chess board. Over the next two weeks, we can all cheer on our countrymen (and countrywomen) as they try to bring home the gold -- and enjoy some great chess to boot.

One final note: there are a couple of interesting rules worth mentioning this time around. Standings will be determined by match points this year, rather than by game points. There are also some rules of etiquette; players must arrive at the board on time for the game, or they may be forfeited. Also, don't expect any short draws -- draw offers before move 30 are prohibited.

If you haven't been following the US Chess League this season, tonight would be a great time to start. The first round of playoff matches happens tonight, with all games available for viewing on the Internet Chess Club.

In the Eastern Division, the Carolina Cobras take on the New York Knights, while the Boston Blitz face the Queens Pioneers. Out west, the Miami Sharks battle the Seattle Sluggers while the San Francisco Mechanics take on the defending champion Dallas Destiny.

These four-player teams feature a large number of titled players -- including 9 grandmasters -- which makes the quality of play very high. If you're tuning in tonight, keep in mind that the higher seeds (Carolina, Queens, Miami and San Francisco) have draw odds. If matches end with a 2-2 score, the team with draw odds will move on to their Division Finals next week.

The matches start at 7 PM Eastern time, with the Boston-Queens match. If you enjoy high quality team chess, I encourage you to sign on and watch!

As a young prodigy, Hikaru Nakamura was pointed to by many as a potential World Championship candidate. While he hasn't quite made it to that level yet, and is rarely seen in "super-GM" events, he has won a number of very strong tournaments over the last few years. He's also known -- at least to those who play online -- as one of the world's strongest blitz players.

With those two facts in mind, it shouldn't come as a shock that in an rapid chess tournament that featured names like Carlsen, Karpov, Ivanchuk and Radjabov, it was Nakamura who emerged as the winner. Nakamura defeated Vassily Ivanchuk in the final 1.5-0.5, capping off match victories over former World Champion Anatoly Karpov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

This victory is another line in Hikaru's increasingly impressive resume. In the last two years, he has won events in Barcelona, Corsica, and Gibraltar, while also pushing his rating over the 2700 barrier. Considering his great popularity and his improving credentials, it may only be a matter of time before we see Nakamura invited to some of the world's elite events. In the meantime, those looking for more Nakamura action can look forward to his games for the USA's Chess Olympiad team later this month.