On 1 Oct 2003 23:13:12 -0500, Alberich wrote:

In article ,
says...

I don't understand why Anna Hann isn't part of the US Women's Olympiad
team for 2004. Can anybody explain to me why she's not one of the team
members? Correct me if I'm wrong here...but didn't she beat Jennifer
Shahade AND Irina Krush during the tie break round to win the Women's
title? So, both Jennifer Shahade and Irina Krush are on the Olympiad
team but Anna Hahn isn't?


Irina Krush and Jennifer Shahade are on the Olympiad Training Squad, which
isn't the same as the Olympiad Team.

The Women's Olympiad team won't be selected until early in 2004. The criteria
for an invitation is based on an average of the players USCF and FIDE ratings
at the time of invitation plus peak USCF rating for the previous 24 months. The
2004 women's champion will also receive an invitation.

The USCF reserves the right to not issue an invitation, or to change the
criteria without advance notice.


Best,
Grant Perks

So the team hasn't been selected yet officially. Correct? If that's the
case, I must admit I've been bamboozled by the press photos showing the
likes of Jennifer Shahade, Irina Krush, Susan Polgar, Anna Zatonish and
Rusadan Goletiani. If you're correct, that means...one of them won't
make the team? How will we know who will comprise the official US
Women's Olympiad squad?

It is prudent to have more players on the training squad than will be
on the actual team. When the season starts in football, baseball or
any other sport, there are always more players than will comprise the
final team. Some will drop out due to sickness or injuries, for
example.

Right now, it looks like Rusudan Goletiani will soon go ahead of
Jennifer Shahade in rating. Their ratings are now very close. The
other three are far ahead. There are also several women players in
retirement or semi-retirement who could come back or might be coming
back. Anjelina Belakovskaia is starting to play again. Levatina might
decide to play again. Elena Akhmilovskaya might want to be on the team
again. There is also another lady, whose name I cannot spell either,
who is right up there near the top.

In addition, two 15-year-old girls are moving up very quickly. By next
year this time, if they continue to improve, they could be at the very
top of the list and then you can just about forget about this training
squad. They are Tatev Abrahamyan and Laura Ross.

I am afraid that your Anna Hahn is pretty much out of the running. Her
rating is 150 points lower than the others and it seems very unlikely
that she can catch up.

Finally, and most importantly, there is a legal question as to whether
Anna Zatonish will be allowed to play in the 2004 Olympiad, since she
played for Ukraine in 2002. This is why there need to be at least five
players in the training squad.

Take a look at
http://www.uschess.org/ratings/top50...t03_women.html

Sam Sloan