The 2002-2003 German Bundesliga (BL) season starts on the 18th October 2002 with 16 teams (no late withdrawals this year) battling it out in the strongest chess league in the world. Good luck to all teams taking part!

All the teams and players have been announced with 110 GMs and 52 IMs registered. The countries represented the most, apart from Germany, are: CZE - 6 , DEN - 8, ENG - 9, FRA - 8, NED - 13, POL - 7, RUS - 6, SWE - 7.

There is a very interesting selection of new players this year including former FIDE World Champion Anand (IND) and top rated female player Polgar (HUN). The top players include:

Anand (IND - Baden Oos) 2755
Adams (ENG - Luebeck) 2752
Grischuk (RUS - Luebeck) 2702
Shirov (ESP - Luebeck) 2697
Svidler (RUS - Baden Oos) 2690
Polgar (HUN - Emsdetten) 2681
Almasi (HUN - Kreuzberg) 2672

There are seven women players registered including: WGM Skripchenko-Lautier (FRA - Baden Oos), WIM Nil (GER - Baden Oos), WGM Polgar (HUN - Emsdetten), Cramling (SWE - Emsdetten), Peng (NED - Emsdetten), WGM Paehtz (GER -Erfurt) and Kachiani-Gersinska (GER - Tegernsee).

Most interesting this season is that a new strong team has emerged, Baden Oos, who will fight for the top honours, thus replacing Solingen who have recently been unable to field the elite players they normally have. So we have a new triumverate from which the champion will most likely emerge:

• Luebeck
• Porz
• Baden Oos

The Champions, Luebeck, again have a squad totally made up of non-Germans and will be pushing for their hat-trick of titles. They maintain a strong English flavour with: Adams, Speelman, Hodgson, Nunn and Conquest. Grischuk (RUS) replaces Bareev (RUS) at the top, while Lautier (FRA) and Fressinet (FRA) have been brought in for good measure.

Porz have replaced Bacrot (FRA) with Gurevich (BEL) so in effect the team has been weakened but have incredble strength in depth. Sokolov (NED) is now a Dutch player rather than Bosnian and this enables Porz to field another foreigner. Newly promoted Baden Oos are strong at the top with Anand (IND) and Svidler (RUS) but they tail off quite quickly and a lot will depend on how often they can get their stars to appear.

Solingen have also lost several top players and can 'only' field seven GMs but they are strong GMs so should be up there as with last season - the youngsters Sandipan (IND), Stellwagen (NED) and Werle (NED) have been added and it will be interesting to see how they play. Emsdetten, promoted from last year, stand out since they have three female GMs in the team which must be a record for a BL team: Polgar (HUN), Cramling (SWE) and Peng (NED). In addition, they have a selection of fighting GMs: Vallejo Pons (ESP), Neilsen (SWE) and Tiviakov (NED) so will provide a firm test for any team. Hamburg retain the team from last year while adding Bezold (GER) and with both Gustafsson (GER) and Berg (SWE) playing at GM strength have a strong and solid unit. Tegernsee have no real changes and with 10 GMs should have no problem achieving a second-quartile placing. Bremen have added to their team with the popular Gallagher (SUI) and will be hoping to repeat their excellent fourth place from last season.

Stuttgart stayed in the top-flight which was a good result for any promoted team but this year have lost several players including their top-board and will therefore struggle a bit this year. Kreuzberg were promoted but have a solid squad after picking up a few GMs from other teams.

Wattensheid have gained the European Champion Macieja (POL), De Vreugt (NED) and Johannessen (NOR) and only lost Nielsen (DEN), so have a fairly solid and cosmopolitan squad on offer. Neukoelln have brought in Rogozenko (ROM) and Slobodjan (GER) to replace Kallai (HUN) but they tail off around the middle-order and must take care.

Koenig Plauen have a weaker team than last year which struggled somewhat however they survived due to other teams dropping out, this year will also be tricky for them. Erfurt have added Fontaine (FRA) but still remain comparitively weak. Godesberg have lost all their top players and will struggle to survive at best. Forchheim were promoted and have a weak squad with no chance of staying up.