Chess Olympiad

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

Contents

Birth of the Olympiad

The first Olympiad was unofficial. For the 1924 Olympics an attempt was made to include chess in the Olympic 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 were occasionally held annually and at irregular intervals until World War II; since 1950 they have been held regularly every two years.[1]

Growth of Chess Olympiads

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. The naming of FIDE's team championship as the "Chess Olympiad" is of historical origin and implies no connection between this event and the Olympic Games.

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 and Jersey can enter a team separately).[1] Each team is made of up to five players, four regular players and one reserve (prior to the tournament in Dresden 2008 there were two reserves[11]).[1] Initially each team played all other teams but as the event grew over the years this became impossible.[1] At first team seeding took place before the competition.[1] Later certain drawbacks were recognized with seeding and in 1976 a Swiss tournament system was adopted.[1]

The trophy for the winning team in the open section 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 2010 Olympiad was held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The 2012 Olympiad is going to be held in Istanbul, Turkey and the 2014 Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway.


Olympiads and top results in the open section

Year Event Location Gold Silver Bronze
1924 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad (individual)		 Paris, France Czechoslovakia 31 Hungary 30 Switzerland 29
1926 2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad
The Team Tournament
(part of FIDE summit)		 Budapest, Hungary Hungary 9 Yugoslavia 8 Romania 5
1927 1st Chess Olympiad London, United Kingdom Hungary 40 Denmark 38½ England 36½
1928 2nd Chess Olympiad The Hague, Netherlands Hungary 44 USA 39½ Poland 37
1930 3rd Chess Olympiad Hamburg, Germany Poland 48½ Hungary 47 Germany 44½
1931 4th Chess Olympiad Prague, Czechoslovakia USA 48 Poland 47 Czechoslovakia 46½
1933 5th Chess Olympiad Folkestone, United Kingdom USA 39 Czechoslovakia 37½ Sweden 34
1935 6th Chess Olympiad Warsaw, Poland USA 54 Sweden 52½ Poland 52
1936 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad
non-FIDE unofficial Chess Olympiad		 Munich, Germany Hungary 110½ Poland 108 Germany 106½
1937 7th Chess Olympiad Stockholm, Sweden USA 54½ Hungary 48½ Poland 47
1939 8th Chess Olympiad Buenos Aires, Argentina Germany 36 Poland 35½ Estonia 33½
1950 9th Chess Olympiad Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 45½ Argentina 43½ W. Germany 40½
1952 10th Chess Olympiad Helsinki, Finland USSR 21 Argentina 19½ Yugoslavia 19
1954 11th Chess Olympiad Amsterdam, Netherlands USSR 34 Argentina 27 Yugoslavia 26½
1956 12th Chess Olympiad Moscow, Soviet Union USSR 31 Yugoslavia 26½ Hungary 26½
1958 13th Chess Olympiad Munich, West Germany USSR 34½ Yugoslavia 29 Argentina 25½
1960 14th Chess Olympiad Leipzig, East Germany USSR 34 USA 29 Yugoslavia 27
1962 15th Chess Olympiad Varna, Bulgaria USSR 31½ Yugoslavia 28 Argentina 26
1964 16th Chess Olympiad Tel Aviv, Israel USSR 36½ Yugoslavia 32 W. Germany 30½
1966 17th Chess Olympiad La Habana, Cuba USSR 39½ USA 34½ Hungary 33½
1968 18th Chess Olympiad Lugano, Switzerland USSR 39½ Yugoslavia 31 Bulgaria 30
1970 19th Chess Olympiad Siegen, West Germany USSR 27½ Hungary 26½ Yugoslavia 26
1972 20th Chess Olympiad Skopje, Yugoslavia USSR 42 Hungary 40½ Yugoslavia 38
1974 21st Chess Olympiad Nice, France USSR 46 Yugoslavia 37½ USA 36½
1976 22nd Chess Olympiad * Haifa, Israel USA 37 Netherlands 36½ England 35½
1978 23rd Chess Olympiad Buenos Aires, Argentina Hungary 37 USSR 36 USA 35
1980 24th Chess Olympiad Valletta, Malta USSR 39 Hungary 39 USA 35
1982 25th Chess Olympiad Lucerne, Switzerland USSR 42½ Czechoslovakia 36 USA 35
1984 26th Chess Olympiad Thessaloniki, Greece USSR 41 England 37 USA 35
1986 27th Chess Olympiad Dubai, UAE USSR 40 England 39 USA 38
1988 28th Chess Olympiad Thessaloniki, Greece USSR 40½ England 34½ Netherlands 34½
1990 29th Chess Olympiad Novi Sad, Yugoslavia USSR 39 USA 35½ England 35½
1992 30th Chess Olympiad Manila, Philippines Russia 39 Uzbekistan 35 Armenia 34½
1994 31st Chess Olympiad Moscow, Russia Russia 37½ Bosnia/Herzegovina 35 Russia II 34½
1996 32nd Chess Olympiad Yerevan, Armenia Russia 38½ Ukraine 35 USA 34
1998 33rd Chess Olympiad Elista, Russia Russia 35½ USA 34½ Ukraine 32½
2000 34th Chess Olympiad Istanbul, Turkey Russia 38 Germany 37 Ukraine 35½
2002 35th Chess Olympiad Bled, Slovenia Russia 38½ Hungary 37½ Armenia 35
2004 36th Chess Olympiad Calviá, Spain Ukraine 39½ Russia 36½ Armenia 36½
2006 37th Chess Olympiad Turin, Italy Armenia 36 China 34 USA 33
2008 38th Chess Olympiad Dresden, Germany Armenia 19 Israel 18 USA 17
2010 39th Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia Ukraine 19 Russia 18 Israel 17
2012 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul, Turkey
2014 41st Chess Olympiad Tromsø, Norway

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

Total team ranking

The table contains the men's teams ranked by the medals won at the Chess Olympiad, including the unofficial events, ranked by the number of first place medals, ties broken by second-place medals, etc.

Rank Country 1st place 2nd place 3rd place Total
1  USSR 18 1 0 19
2  Russia 6 2 1 9
3  Hungary 5 7 2 14
4  USA 5 5 9 19
5  Ukraine 2 1 2 5
6  Armenia 2 0 3 5
7  Yugoslavia 1 7 5 13
7  Poland 1 3 3 7
7  Czechoslovakia 1 2 1 4
7  Germany* 1 1 4 6
11  England 0 3 3 6
11  Argentina 0 3 2 5
13  Netherlands 0 1 1 2
13  Sweden 0 1 1 2
13  Israel 0 1 1 2
16  Bosnia 0 1 0 1
16  China 0 1 0 1
16  Denmark 0 1 0 1
16  Uzbekistan 0 1 0 1
20  Bulgaria 0 0 1 1
20  Estonia 0 0 1 1
20  Romania 0 0 1 1
20  Switzerland 0 0 1 1

Best individual results in the open section

The best individual results in order of overall percentage are:

# Player Country Olymp. Games Won Drawn Lost  %   Medals 
1 Tal, MikhailMikhail Tal   Soviet Union
8
 101 65 34 2 81.2 5 - 2 - 0
2 Karpov, AnatolyAnatoly Karpov   Soviet Union
6
 68 43 23 2 80.1 3 - 2 - 0
3 Petrosian, TigranTigran Petrosian   Soviet Union
10
 129 78 50 1 79.8 6 - 0 - 0
4 Kashdan, IsaacIsaac Kashdan   United States
5
 79 52 22 5 79.7 2 - 1 - 2
5 Smyslov, VassilyVassily Smyslov   Soviet Union
9
 113 69 42 2 79.6 4 - 2 - 2
6 Bronstein, DavidDavid Bronstein   Soviet Union
4
 49 30 18 1 79.6 3 - 1 - 0
7 Kasparov, GarryGarry Kasparov   Soviet Union (1)
8
 82 50 29 3 78.7 7 - 2 - 2
8 Alekhine, AlexanderAlexander Alekhine   France
5
 72 43 27 2 78.5 2 - 2 - 0
9 Matulovic, MilanMilan Matulovic   Yugoslavia
6
 78 46 28 4 76.9 1 - 2 - 0
10 Keres, PaulPaul Keres   Soviet Union (2) 
10
 141 85 44 12 75.9 5 - 1 - 1
11 Geller, EfimEfim Geller   Soviet Union
7
 76 46 23 7 75.6 3 - 3 - 0
12 Tarjan, JamesJames Tarjan   United States
5
 51 32 13 6 75.5 2 - 1 - 0
13 Fischer, BobbyBobby Fischer   United States
4
 65 40 18 7 75.4 0 - 2 - 1
14 Botvinnik, MikhailMikhail Botvinnik   Soviet Union
6
 73 39 31 3 74.7 2 - 1 - 2
15 Flohr, SaloSalo Flohr   Czechoslovakia
7
 82 46 28 8 73.2 2 - 1 - 1

NOTES:

See also

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. ^ FIDE submits regulation changes for Chess Olympiad Fide.com

External links

Chess Olympiads