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.