The Olympiad was inaugurated late this evening and the final composition of the teams was not known as the captains' meeting was slated only for midnight local time. The official list will be released only after the meeting.

Despite the absence of world No 1 Garry Kasparov and world champion Anatoly Karpov, who may still make it to the team, the Russians are capable of winning the gold.

They have a group of super Grandmasters who can score on all four boards consistently, but their strength lies in fielding a team from which even the reserves could score as well as their eminent grandmasters. Vladimir Kramnik, Alexei Dreev and Peter Svidler are all well-established players.

Hungary may be the dark horses with Judit Polgar, Peter Leko and Zoltan Almasi in their ranks. Ukraine and the United States also have well-balanced sides. Vassily Ivanchukleads Ukraine's challenge. In the women's Olympiad, Georgia, Russia and China are strong contenders. Georgia, however, holds the edge having supllied a steady stream of world champions.

Maya Chiburdanidze, Nona Gaprindashvli and Nana Ioseliani are all experienced campaigners. Gaprindashvli has of late stopped playing in serious competitions but Georgia have a very strong team even in the absence of one or two key players.

China is led by former world champion Xie Jun. The Chinese have also a good reserve strength to test any side in the world.

Hungary, led by world champion Zsuzsa Polgar, is also capable of winning the gold, if their reserves do well.