In terms of team selection, the intervening break up of the Soviet Union had precipitated some significant changes. This time it was Russia versus the Rest of the World and players from the remainder of the Union fulfilled the eligibility criteria for the Rest of the World squad. It seemed at first that this would facilitate an unstoppable World team, but on closer inspection, it was not so clear. Russian world champions (and 1984 USSR team survivors) Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov were to be joined by two more exclusive "K" club members—world champions Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Khalifman. With the further addition of three former champions of Russia (Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler and Alexander Motylev) and two more players with Elo ratings in excess of 2700 (Evgeny Bareev and Alexander Grischuk), things were looking decidedly brighter than might have been expected. Indeed, the average Elo ratings of the two sides were separated by only one point and so a close contest was in prospect.