 Former Women's World Champions Alexandra Kosteniuk, Anna Ushenina and Mariya Muzychuk were part of their national teams, while Antoaneta Stefanova did not play because of the controversy with the Bulgarian Chess Federation.Sweden's Pia Cramling, who first played at the Chess Olympiads, was also not playing because of a row about captaincy.The team with highest average pre-tournament rating of 2523 was Russia, who were playing with the same line-up from the Baku Chess Olympiad, including former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, Alexandra Goryachkina, Valentina Gunina, Natalia Pogonina and Olga Girya.