21st Chess Olympiad

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Official logo of the Olympiad.

The 21st Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open[1] team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between June 6 and June 30, 1974, in Nice, France.

Bobby Fischer was still the reigning World Champion, but hadn't played a single game of tournament chess since he won the title in 1972 and wasn't present in Nice either. However, the American team still managed to secure 3rd place in his absence.

For the same reason, for the second time in a row, the Soviet team wasn't led by the current world champion. It did, however, feature three previous (Tal, Petrosian, and Spassky) as well as one future champion (Karpov). The team won by 8½ points, the biggest victory margin yet, and took home their twelfth consecutive gold medals, with Yugoslavia and the United States taking the silver and bronze, respectively.

With a complete lack of tension in the championship race, the tournament had more than its share of political tension. In Final B, the Tunisian team refused to play Israel, so the score was computed according to ELO ratings as a 3-1 win for the Israeli team.

Due to their apartheid policies, both South Africa and Rhodesia were expelled from FIDE with three rounds to go. The South African team withdrew from the tournament themselves, and their results in Final C weren't counted in the overall standings. FIDE president Max Euwe tried unsuccessfully to have Rhodesia thrown out as well, but in the end they were allowed to finish the tournament and won Final E - helped by default victories against Iraq and Algeria who refused to play them.

Results

Preliminaries

A total of 74 teams were divided into eight preliminary groups of nine or ten teams each, from which the top two advanced to Final A, no. 3-4 to Final B etc. Preliminary head-to-head results were carried over to the finals, so no team met any other team more than once. All preliminary groups and finals were played as round-robin tournaments. The results were as follows:

  • Group 1: 1. Soviet Union, 2. Wales, 3. Scotland, 4. Poland, 5. Brazil, 6. Mongolia, 7. Puerto Rico, 8. Jordan, 9. Netherlands Antilles.
  • Group 2: 1. United States, 2. England, 3. Denmark, 4. Canada, 5. Australia, 6. Ecuador, 7. Luxembourg, 8. Panama, 9. Rhodesia.
  • Group 3: 1. Yugoslavia, 2. Finland, 3. Cuba, 4. Italy, 5. Iran, 6. Venezuela, 7. Pakistan, 8. Uruguay, 9. Iraq.
  • Group 4: 1. Hungary, 2. Spain, 3. Belgium, 4. Tunisia, 5. Chile, 6. Syria, 7. Malta, 8. Malaysia, 9. Japan, 10. Nicaragua.
  • Group 5: 1. East Germany, 2. Sweden, 3. Iceland, 4. Portugal, 5. South Africa, 6. Ireland, 7. Hong Kong, 8. Guernsey, 9. Trinidad & Tobago.
  • Group 6: 1. Czechoslovakia, 2. Romania, 3. Norway, 4. Colombia, 5. New Zealand, 6. Singapore, 7. Lebanon, 8. Monaco, 9. Andorra.
  • Group 7: 1. Bulgaria, 2. Philippines, 3. Israel, 4. France, 5. Indonesia, 6. Turkey, 7. Dominican Republic, 8. Faroe Islands, 9. Cyprus, 10. British Virgin Islands.
  • Group 8: 1. Netherlands, 2. Argentina, 3. Austria, 4. Switzerland, 5. Greece, 6. Mexico, 7. Morocco, 8. U.S. Virgin Islands, 9. Bahamas.

Only two players from Nicaragua showed up in Nice, so the team had to forfeit their first match against Chile and subsequently withdrew from the tournament. Their single result was not counted in the group standings.

Finals

Final A
# Country Players Average
rating 		Points MP
1  Soviet Union Karpov, Korchnoi, Spassky, Petrosian, Tal, Kuzmin 2665 46
2  Yugoslavia Gligorić, Ljubojević, Ivkov, Planinc, Velimirović, Parma 2566 37½
3  United States Kavalek, Byrne, Browne, Reshevsky, Lombardy, Tarjan 2586 36½ 22
4  Bulgaria Radulov, Padevsky, Tringov, Popov, Spasov, Kirov 2475 36½ 21
5  Netherlands Timman, Donner, Sosonko, Ree, Enklaar, Kuijpers 2478 35½
6  Hungary Portisch, Bilek, Csom, Ribli, Forintos, Sax 2554 35
7  West Germany Schmid, Unzicker, Pfleger, Hecht, Dueball, Kestler 2534 32
8  Romania Gheorghiu, Ciocâltea, Ghiţescu, Ghizdavu, Partoş, Pavlov 2468 29½ 16
9  Czechoslovakia Hort, Jansa, Filip, Přibyl, Plachetka, Lechtýnský 2521 29½ 14
10  England Hartston, Keene, Penrose, Whiteley, Stean, Markland 2456 26
11  Philippines Torre, Cardoso, Naranja, Balinas, Lontoc, Bordonada 2358 25½ 12
12  Spain Pomar, Torán, Calvo, Bellón López, Visier Segovia, Sanz 2428 25½ 11
13  Sweden Andersson, Ornstein, Jansson, Liljedahl, Uddenfeldt, Kinnmark 2448 25
14  Argentina Quinteros, Sanguineti, Najdorf, Rubinetti, Szmetan, Debarnot 2491 23½
15  Finland Westerinen, Poutiainen, Rantanen, Hurme, Venäläinen, Raaste 2319 22
16  Wales Williams, Hutchings, Jones, Cooper, Sully, Trevelyan 2285 14½

Individual medals

References

  1. ↑ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
  2. ↑ The South African team was excluded with three rounds to go. Their matches were regarded as "friendlies" and didn't count in the overall standings.
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