Chess Olympiad

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Chess Olympiad Bled 2002
Chess Olympiad Bled 2002

The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess event in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE who selects the host nation.

Contents

[edit] Birth of the Olympiad

The first Olympiad was unofficial. For the 1924 Olympics an attempt was made to include chess in the Olympics Games but this failed because of problems with distinguishing between amateur and professional players.[1] While the 1924 Summer Olympics was taking place in Paris, the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad also took place in Paris. FIDE was formed on Sunday, July 20, 1924, the closing day of the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad.[2] FIDE organised the first Official Olympiad in 1927 which took place in London.[1] The Olympiads where occasionally held annually and irregular intervals until World War II; since 1950 they have been held regularly every two years.[1]

[edit] Recognised sport

Chess is a recognized sport by the International Olympic Committee[3] with FIDE being the recognized International Sports Federation for chess since June 1999.[3][4][5][6] As a member of the International Olympic Committee, FIDE adheres to its rules, including controversially having doping tests.[7][8][9][10] The prospects of chess becoming an Olympic sporting event at some future date remain unclear.

[edit] Competition

Each FIDE recognized chess association can enter a team into the Olympiad (for the UK one team for each of the four countries plus Guernsey can enter a team separately).[1] Each team is made of up to six players, four regular players and two reserves.[1] Initially each teams played all the teams but as the event grow over the years this became impossible.[1] At first team seeding took place before the competition.[1] Later certain drawbacks where recognized with seeding and in 1976 a Swiss tournament system was adopted.[1]

The trophy for winning the men's team is the Hamilton-Russell Cup,[1] which was offered by the English magnate Frederick Hamilton-Russell as a prize for the 1st Olympiad (London 1927). The cup is kept by the winning team until the next event, when it will be consigned to the next winner. The trophy for the winning women's team is known as the Vera Menchik Cup the first Women's World Chess Champion.

The 2008 Olympiad is scheduled to be held in Dresden, Germany.[11] The 2010 Olympiad is expected to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

Bobby Fischer's score card from his round 3 game against Miguel Najdorf in the 1970 Chess Olympiad.
Bobby Fischer's score card from his round 3 game against Miguel Najdorf in the 1970 Chess Olympiad.
Symbol of 6th Chess Olympiad in Warsaw 1935 by J.Steifer
Symbol of 6th Chess Olympiad in Warsaw 1935 by J.Steifer


[edit] Men's Olympiads

Year Event Location Gold Silver Bronze
1924 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad (individual)		 Flag of France Paris Czechoslovakia 31 Hungary 30 Switzerland 29
1926 2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad
The Team Tournament
(part of FIDE summit)		 Flag of Hungary Budapest Hungary 9 Yugoslavia 8 Romania 5
1927 1st Chess Olympiad Flag of the United Kingdom London Hungary 40 Denmark 38.5 England 36.5
1928 2nd Chess Olympiad Flag of the Netherlands The Hague Hungary 44 USA 39.5 Poland 37
1930 3rd Chess Olympiad Flag of Germany Hamburg Poland 48.5 Hungary 47 Germany 44.5
1931 4th Chess Olympiad Flag of Czechoslovakia Prague USA 48 Poland 47 Czechoslovakia 46.5
1933 5th Chess Olympiad Flag of the United Kingdom Folkestone USA 39 Czechoslovakia 37.5 Sweden 34
1935 6th Chess Olympiad Flag of Poland Warsaw USA 54 Sweden 52.5 Poland 52
1936 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad
non-FIDE unofficial Chess Olympiad		 Flag of Germany Munich Hungary 110.5 Poland 108 Germany 106.5
1937 7th Chess Olympiad Flag of Sweden Stockholm USA 54.5 Hungary 48.5 Poland 47
1939 8th Chess Olympiad Flag of Argentina Buenos Aires Germany 36 Poland 35.5 Estonia 33.5
1950 9th Chess Olympiad Flag of Yugoslavia Dubrovnik Yugoslavia 45.5 Argentina 43.5 W. Germany 40.5
1952 10th Chess Olympiad Flag of Finland Helsinki USSR 21 Argentina 19.5 Yugoslavia 19
1954 11th Chess Olympiad Flag of the Netherlands Amsterdam USSR 34 Argentina 27 Yugoslavia 26.5
1956 12th Chess Olympiad Flag of the Soviet Union Moscow USSR 31 Yugoslavia 26.5 Hungary 26.5
1958 13th Chess Olympiad Flag of West Germany Munich USSR 34.5 Yugoslavia 29 Argentina 25.5
1960 14th Chess Olympiad Flag of the German Democratic Republic Leipzig USSR 34 USA 29 Yugoslavia 27
1962 15th Chess Olympiad Flag of Bulgaria Varna USSR 31.5 Yugoslavia 28 Argentina 26
1964 16th Chess Olympiad Flag of Israel Tel Aviv USSR 36.5 Yugoslavia 32 W. Germany 30.5
1966 17th Chess Olympiad Flag of Cuba Havana USSR 39.5 USA 34.5 Hungary 33.5
1968 18th Chess Olympiad Flag of Switzerland Lugano USSR 39.5 Yugoslavia 31 Bulgaria 30
1970 19th Chess Olympiad Flag of West Germany Siegen USSR 27.5 Hungary 26.5 Yugoslavia 26
1972 20th Chess Olympiad Flag of Yugoslavia Skopje USSR 42 Hungary 40.5 Yugoslavia 38
1974 21st Chess Olympiad Flag of France Nice USSR 46 Yugoslavia 37.5 USA 36.5
1976 22nd Chess Olympiad * Flag of Israel Haifa USA 37 Netherlands 36.5 England 35.5
1976 Against-Israeli Chess Olympiad Flag of Egypt Tripoli El Salvador Tunisia Pakistan
1978 23rd Chess Olympiad Flag of Argentina Buenos Aires Hungary 37 USSR 36 USA 35
1980 24th Chess Olympiad Flag of Malta Valletta USSR 39 Hungary 39 USA 35
1982 25th Chess Olympiad Flag of Switzerland Lucerne USSR 42.5 Czechoslovakia 36 USA 35
1984 26th Chess Olympiad Flag of Greece Thessaloniki USSR 41 England 37 USA 35
1986 27th Chess Olympiad Flag of the United Arab Emirates Dubai USSR 40 England 39 USA 38
1988 28th Chess Olympiad Flag of Greece Thessaloniki USSR 40.5 England 34.5 Netherlands 34.5
1990 29th Chess Olympiad Flag of Yugoslavia Novi Sad USSR 39 USA 35.5 England 35.5
1992 30th Chess Olympiad Flag of the Philippines Manila Russia 39 Uzbekistan 35 Armenia 34.5
1994 31st Chess Olympiad Flag of Russia Moscow Russia 37.5 Bosnia/Herzogovina 35 Russia II 34.5
1996 32nd Chess Olympiad Flag of Armenia Yerevan Russia 38.5 Ukraine 35 USA 34
1998 33rd Chess Olympiad Flag of Russia Elista Russia 35.5 USA 34.5 Ukraine 32.5
2000 34th Chess Olympiad Flag of Turkey Istanbul Russia 38 Germany 37 Ukraine 35.5
2002 35th Chess Olympiad Flag of Slovenia Bled Russia 38.5 Hungary 37.5 Armenia 35
2004 36th Chess Olympiad Flag of Spain Calviá Ukraine 39.5 Russia 36.5 Armenia 36.5
2006 37th Chess Olympiad Flag of Italy Turin Armenia 36 China 34 USA 33
2008 38th Chess Olympiad Flag of Germany Dresden
2010 39th Chess Olympiad Flag of Russia Khanty-Mansiysk

* In 1976 the USSR and other communist countries did not compete for political reasons.

[edit] Best individual results in men's Olympiads

Fischer and Tal at the 1960 Olympiad
Fischer and Tal at the 1960 Olympiad


Player Country Nr. Games Won Drawn Lost  % Medals
Mikhail Tal URS 8 101 65 34 2 81.2 5 - 2 - 0
Anatoly Karpov URS 6 68 43 23 2 80.1 3 - 2 - 0
Tigran Petrosian URS 10 129 78 50 1 79.8 6 - 0 - 0
Isaac Kashdan USA 5 79 52 22 5 79.7 2 - 1 - 1
Vassily Smyslov URS 9 113 69 42 2 79.6 4 - 2 - 2
David Bronstein URS 4 49 30 18 1 79.6 3 - 1 - 0
Garry Kasparov URS 9 82 50 29 3 78.7 7 - 2 - 2
Alexander Alekhine FRA 5 72 43 27 2 78.5 2 - 2 - 0
Milan Matulovic YUG 6 78 46 28 4 76.9 1 - 2 - 0
Paul Keres (1) URS 10 141 85 44 12 75.9 5 - 1 - 1
Efim Geller URS 7 76 46 23 7 75.6 3 - 3 - 0
James Tarjan USA 5 51 32 13 6 75.5 2 - 1 - 0
Bobby Fischer USA 4 65 40 18 7 75.4 2 - 1 - 0
Mikhail Botvinnik URS 6 73 39 31 3 74.7 2 - 1 - 2
Salo Flohr CSR 7 82 46 28 8 73.2 2 - 1 - 1


  • Note: only players participating to at least four Olympiads are considered in this table.
  • Country names are given with the IOC three-letter codes.
  • Medals indicated are only individual ones (not team), in the order gold-silver-bronze.
  • (1) Keres played for Estonia in his first three Olympiads.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Brace, Edward R. (1977), An Illustrated Dictionary of Chess, Hamlyn Publishing Group, p. 64, ISBN 1-55521-394-4 
  2. ^ FIDE History by Bill Wall. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  3. ^ a b Recognized Sports of the International Olympic Committee International Olympic Committee official website. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  4. ^ International Federation (IF) for chess. International Olympic Committee official website. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  5. ^ FIDE - Uniting the Chess World FIDE Official website. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  6. ^ ARISF Members Association of Recognized IOC International Sports Federation. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  7. ^ Complete FIDE Anti-Doping Documents FIDE official website. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  8. ^ Controversy over FIDE doping check ChessBase.com Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  9. ^ The Insanity of Drug Testing in Chess by Jeremy Silman Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  10. ^ Chess Olympiad in Dresden 2008 chinaorbit.com Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  11. ^ Chess Olympiad Dresden 2008 dresden2008.de

[edit] External links