37th Chess Olympiad

The 37th Chess Olympiad, comprising an open [ Although commonly referred to as the "men's division", this division is open to both male and female players; several women, including Grandmaster Zhu Chen, the
2001 women's world champion, who represented Qatar, contested the division in 2006.] and women's tournament and the general assembly of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, took place between May 20 and 6 June, 2006, in Turin, Italy.

Human chess competition

Open tournament

The open division was contested by 148 teams representing 143 nations and territories; Italy, as hosts, fielded three teams, whilst the International Blind Chess Association, the International Physically Disabled Chess Association, International Silent Chess Committee each provided one squad; neither Somalia nor Sierra Leone, each of which had registered a team, participated.

Led by first board Grandmaster ("GM") Levon Aronian, the second highest-rated player at the Olympiad, and first reserve "GM" Gabriel Sargissian, who scored 10 points in 11 games, Armenia improved on their third place performance at the 36th Olympiad, claiming the gold medal by two full points over the silver medal-winning People's Republic of China, whose fourth board, "GM" Wang Yue, went undefeated, winning eight games and drawing four; Armenia ended the tournament without having lost a match, winning 10 and drawing three, including in the final round against Hungary, when four draws were cursorily recorded. Aronian was the only Armenian player to lose a game during the tournament, falling in the fifth round to Russian "GM" Vladimir Kramnik. Kramnik, playing internationally for the first time in six months, scored six-and-one-half points in his nine games, recording the best rating performance of any player. His Russian team, though, did not perform as expected; fielding six of the tournament's top 17 players by ranking [http://schach.wienerzeitung.at/tnr3410.aspx?tnr=3410&art=16&lan=1&
] , Russia stood in second place, just one point behind Armenia, through the seventh round but lost matches to France (2½-1½), the United States (2½-1½), and, in the final round, Israel (3-1), and ultimately finished sixth; the finish was the first non-podium finish for the side representing the Soviet Union or Russia since the 9th Chess Olympiad, played in 1950. Although they defeated the United States, 2½-1½, in the penultimate round, Israel settled for a tie for third place; the Americans claimed the bronze medal on Buchholz tiebreaks. Hungary, seeded 16th, finished fifth, getting strong performances from third board "GM" Ferenc Berkes and fourth board "GM" Csaba Balogh, while India, who entered the tournament seeded second, finished in 30th place, with first board "GM" Viswanathan Anand's and fourth board "GM" Shekhar Ganguly Surya's scoring just 50 per cent.

Team results

The teams finishing first through third overall receive medals, as do those finishing in the top three amongst teams organized by seed; overall medal winners are not eligible to receive group prizes.

Top ten overall finishers

Group C (from amongst teams seeded 60th to 89th)

Individual results

Individual medals are awarded to the three players to achieve the best [http://www.fide.com/ratings/calculator_rp.phtml rating performance] having played at least eight games. Medals are also awarded to the top three finishers, by percentage of points won from total points possible, from amongst those to have played primarily on each of boards one through four (having played at least eight games) as well as to those reserves who have otherwise played at least seven games across all boards, who are classified as playing on boards five and six. Teams typically feature their better players on the lower-numbered boards, but illness, fatigue, and absence often affect playing rotations. Ties are resolved in favor of the player who played more games; where ties remain, the player with a better rating performance is awarded the superior placing.

Best rating performance

Third board

Sixth (second reserve) board

Group B (from amongst teams seeded 21st to 42nd)

Group E (from amongst teams seeded 87th to 108th)

Second board

Overall title

The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is awarded to the entity the average place of finish of which in the open and women's division is the best (where two or more teams are tied, they are ordered by single-best finish in either division and then by total points scored); with an average finish of two-and-one-half, the People's Republic of China won the 2006 trophy.

Top ten finishers

Participating teams

Squads representing 133 nations, three international organizations, three constituent countries, two autonomous entities, two crown dependencies, two special administrative regions, two insular areas, and one associated state were entered into the Olympiad, comprising 1307 players (some registered players, though, did not play).

Entering teams in the open and women's division were
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* International Blind Chess Association
* International Physically Disabled Chess Association
* International Silent Chess Association
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* Registered in each division but participated in neither the open nor the women's tournament.
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* Registered in each division but participated only in the men's tournament.
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Entering teams only in the open division were
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* Registered but did not participate
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FIDE Congress

Concomitant to the chess competition was the 77th FIDE Congress, in which delegates from national chess federations met to transact business. Incumbent FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov faced criticisms for alleged mismanagement and corruption, primarily from Western federations, including those of the United States, England, France, and Canada, but, with the support of most Asian and African delegates, notably those representing Russia and Singapore, staved off a challenge from Dutch businessman Bessel Kok to retain his position through 2010, winning 96 votes (to Kok's 54). [http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=1022]

The general assembly also awarded the 38th Chess Olympiad, to be held in 2010, to Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the site of the 2005 World Chess Cup and one of five locales that made bids. The city led after every round of the exhaustive ballot runoff voting, eventually winning, 71-64, over Budva, Montenegro.

Associated events

Held in conjunction with the Olympiad, though not officially sponsored by FIDE, were two computer chess events: the 14th World Computer Chess Championship, played at classical time controls, and the 14th World Computer Speed Chess Championship. Junior won its fifth championship and third in five years in the slower event, while newcomer Ikarus defeated four-time defending champion Shredder to win the blitz chess event.

External links

* [http://www.chessolympiad-torino2006.org/index.php Olympiad official homepage]
* [http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=1025 FIDE press release on Olympiad results]
* [http://schach.wienerzeitung.at/tnr3410.aspx?tnr=3410&art=2&rd=1&lan=1&
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* [http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/event/turin06/ "This Week in Chess" round-by-round Olympiad summaries]

Notes