The Chess Olympiad is a team competition for nations, first held in 1927 at London, England and held every 2 years since 1950. The event is sanctioned by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) (http://www.fide.com). In 2006 at Turin, Italy, there were teams from 143 countries. The 38th Chess Olympiad will be held at Dresden, Germany, from November 12-25, 2008 (http://www.dresden2008.org).

Canada first participated in the Olympiads in 1939 at Buenos Aires, Argentina, where 14-year old Abe Yanofsky of Winnipeg, Manitoba attracted the world's attention. In 1964 at Tel Aviv, Israel, Yanofsky secured the first Grandmaster title for a player raised in the Commonwealth. Canada has sent a team to every Olympiad since 1964. Canada's best finish at the Olympiad was tied for 7th in 1978 at Buenos Aires, Argentina. Canada finished tied for 8th in 1976 at Haifa, Israel and in 1980 at Valetta, Malta.

Canadians have won individual medals 10 times - Gold: D. Abraham Yanofsky, Board 2, 1939; Frank Anderson, Board 2, 1954, 1958; Silver: Peter Biyiasas, Board 2, 1978; Kevin Spraggett, Board 2, 2000; Bronze: Peter Biyiasas, Board 4, 1972; Jean Hébert, Board 3, 1982; Lawrence Day, Board 3, 1986; Deen Hergott, Alternate 1, 1990; Yan Teplitsky, Board 4, 2002. Lawrence Day has represented Canada at the Olympiads 13 times, followed by D. Abraham Yanofsky (11 times).

The Women's Olympiad was first held in 1957 at Emmen, Netherlands. Canada first participated in the Women's Olympiad in 1974 at Medellin, Columbia, and has sent a team every time since 2000. Canadians have won individual medals 4 times - Gold: Nava Starr, Board 2, 1976; Céline Roos, Board 2, 1984; Bronze: Smilja Vujosevic, Board 1, 1976; Nava Starr, Board 1, 1982. Nava Starr has represented Canada at the Olympiads 12 times.

I am the Chair of the Olympic Committee and so I had the pleasant task of sending out the official invitations to our prospective representatives. For my own first Olympic invitation back in 1968 the memorable communication was a registered letter from John Prentice the C.F.C. President, typed by a clunky Underwood typewriter on onionskin paper. It was a big thrill to receive it. Now I'm in charge of the invites myself and communications are by email which is certainly a lot faster. The invitees this year were chosen by a combination of a mathematical formula which averages National and International ratings for active players, plus each team having one player chosen by individual selection. That is a safeguard in case the numbers do not tell the full story; however this year the numbers and the human choice produced the same players: Thomas Roussel-Roozmon for the National Team and Irina Barron for the Women's. A pity is that FIDE has reduced the National Teams from six players to five. This cost us an invitation for young International Master Tomas Krnan. He played well at the Turin 2006 games and had an excellent performance in the 2007 Canadian Open at Ottawa where he shared second prize.

All of the participants invited for the Women's Team embraced their opportunity with enthusiasm and have agreed to play. For the National Team, Grandmaster Kevin Spraggett, who is now based in Portugal, declined. Luckily we had four eager acceptances. Grandmaster Pascal Charbonneau who now works in New York, is trying to arrange the time considerations to make his participation possible. A highlight of our experience at Turin 2006 was GM Charbonneau defeating current World Champion Vishy Anand in a dramatic Canada-India match.

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So let's hope Pascal can juggle his work schedule to play in Dresden.