I agree about Aronian. As far as I understand, Nakamura - US #5 earlier this year - wasn't interested in board 5. He then overtook Dominguez (and now Caruana and Aronian "undertook" him in the live ratings), but at this stage he may have already made up his mind (or Shankland was already given a spot on the team). Of course with current rounded live ratings (So 2771, Nakamura and Aronian 2768, Caruana 2766), board order wouldn't have to be strictly by Elo.
In individual events, ceremonial board 1 was often given to Carlsen no matter whether it was "real". That's how India may have gotten the idea. At least now they don't give table 1 to Norway, currently ranked 56th, and maybe they would/will make an exception for another Indian team.
Nakamura mentioned that while streaming. I got the impression that he'd been invited and had been explicitly told board 5, and felt a bit insulted.
For Carlsen, wasn't it the world rapids & blitz where he had board 1 throughout, and wasn't the main explanation that there were TV cameras on him that were difficult or impossible to move around during the short time between rounds? Doesn't seem unreasonable.
I agree about Aronian. As far as I understand, Nakamura - US #5 earlier this year - wasn't interested in board 5. He then overtook Dominguez (and now Caruana and Aronian "undertook" him in the live ratings), but at this stage he may have already made up his mind (or Shankland was already given a spot on the team). Of course with current rounded live ratings (So 2771, Nakamura and Aronian 2768, Caruana 2766), board order wouldn't have to be strictly by Elo.
In individual events, ceremonial board 1 was often given to Carlsen no matter whether it was "real". That's how India may have gotten the idea. At least now they don't give table 1 to Norway, currently ranked 56th, and maybe they would/will make an exception for another Indian team.
Yes, I had immediately thought of the Carlsen precedent - which I loathed and blogged about at the time, too.
Thanks for the info about Nakamura.
Nakamura mentioned that while streaming. I got the impression that he'd been invited and had been explicitly told board 5, and felt a bit insulted.
For Carlsen, wasn't it the world rapids & blitz where he had board 1 throughout, and wasn't the main explanation that there were TV cameras on him that were difficult or impossible to move around during the short time between rounds? Doesn't seem unreasonable.