- Chess Olympiad
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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 There were 16 participating nations in the 1st Chess Olympiad, 1927.
By the 37th Chess Olympiad, 2006, there were 133 participating nations.
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, FranceCzechoslovakia 31 Hungary 30 Switzerland 29 1926 2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad
The Team Tournament
(part of FIDE summit)
Budapest, HungaryHungary 9 Yugoslavia 8 Romania 5 1927 1st Chess Olympiad
London, United KingdomHungary 40 Denmark 38½ England 36½ 1928 2nd Chess Olympiad
The Hague, NetherlandsHungary 44 USA 39½ Poland 37 1930 3rd Chess Olympiad
Hamburg, GermanyPoland 48½ Hungary 47 Germany 44½ 1931 4th Chess Olympiad
Prague, CzechoslovakiaUSA 48 Poland 47 Czechoslovakia 46½ 1933 5th Chess Olympiad
Folkestone, United KingdomUSA 39 Czechoslovakia 37½ Sweden 34 1935 6th Chess Olympiad
Warsaw, PolandUSA 54 Sweden 52½ Poland 52 1936 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad
non-FIDE unofficial Chess Olympiad
Munich, GermanyHungary 110½ Poland 108 Germany 106½ 1937 7th Chess Olympiad
Stockholm, SwedenUSA 54½ Hungary 48½ Poland 47 1939 8th Chess Olympiad
Buenos Aires, ArgentinaGermany 36 Poland 35½ Estonia 33½ 1950 9th Chess Olympiad
Dubrovnik, YugoslaviaYugoslavia 45½ Argentina 43½ W. Germany 40½ 1952 10th Chess Olympiad
Helsinki, FinlandUSSR 21 Argentina 19½ Yugoslavia 19 1954 11th Chess Olympiad
Amsterdam, NetherlandsUSSR 34 Argentina 27 Yugoslavia 26½ 1956 12th Chess Olympiad
Moscow, Soviet UnionUSSR 31 Yugoslavia 26½ Hungary 26½ 1958 13th Chess Olympiad
Munich, West GermanyUSSR 34½ Yugoslavia 29 Argentina 25½ 1960 14th Chess Olympiad
Leipzig, East GermanyUSSR 34 USA 29 Yugoslavia 27 1962 15th Chess Olympiad
Varna, BulgariaUSSR 31½ Yugoslavia 28 Argentina 26 1964 16th Chess Olympiad
Tel Aviv, IsraelUSSR 36½ Yugoslavia 32 W. Germany 30½ 1966 17th Chess Olympiad
La Habana, CubaUSSR 39½ USA 34½ Hungary 33½ 1968 18th Chess Olympiad
Lugano, SwitzerlandUSSR 39½ Yugoslavia 31 Bulgaria 30 1970 19th Chess Olympiad
Siegen, West GermanyUSSR 27½ Hungary 26½ Yugoslavia 26 1972 20th Chess Olympiad
Skopje, YugoslaviaUSSR 42 Hungary 40½ Yugoslavia 38 1974 21st Chess Olympiad
Nice, FranceUSSR 46 Yugoslavia 37½ USA 36½ 1976 22nd Chess Olympiad *
Haifa, IsraelUSA 37 Netherlands 36½ England 35½ 1978 23rd Chess Olympiad
Buenos Aires, ArgentinaHungary 37 USSR 36 USA 35 1980 24th Chess Olympiad
Valletta, MaltaUSSR 39 Hungary 39 USA 35 1982 25th Chess Olympiad
Lucerne, SwitzerlandUSSR 42½ Czechoslovakia 36 USA 35 1984 26th Chess Olympiad
Thessaloniki, GreeceUSSR 41 England 37 USA 35 1986 27th Chess Olympiad
Dubai, UAEUSSR 40 England 39 USA 38 1988 28th Chess Olympiad
Thessaloniki, GreeceUSSR 40½ England 34½ Netherlands 34½ 1990 29th Chess Olympiad
Novi Sad, YugoslaviaUSSR 39 USA 35½ England 35½ 1992 30th Chess Olympiad
Manila, PhilippinesRussia 39 Uzbekistan 35 Armenia 34½ 1994 31st Chess Olympiad
Moscow, RussiaRussia 37½ Bosnia/Herzegovina 35 Russia II 34½ 1996 32nd Chess Olympiad
Yerevan, ArmeniaRussia 38½ Ukraine 35 USA 34 1998 33rd Chess Olympiad
Elista, RussiaRussia 35½ USA 34½ Ukraine 32½ 2000 34th Chess Olympiad
Istanbul, TurkeyRussia 38 Germany 37 Ukraine 35½ 2002 35th Chess Olympiad
Bled, SloveniaRussia 38½ Hungary 37½ Armenia 35 2004 36th Chess Olympiad
Calviá, SpainUkraine 39½ Russia 36½ Armenia 36½ 2006 37th Chess Olympiad
Turin, ItalyArmenia 36 China 34 USA 33 2008 38th Chess Olympiad
Dresden, GermanyArmenia 19 Israel 18 USA 17 2010 39th Chess Olympiad
Khanty-Mansiysk, RussiaUkraine 19 Russia 18 Israel 17 2012 40th Chess Olympiad
Istanbul, Turkey2014 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
USSR18 1 0 19 2
Russia6 2 1 9 3
Hungary5 7 2 14 4
USA5 5 9 19 5
Ukraine2 1 2 5 6
Armenia2 0 3 5 7
Yugoslavia1 7 5 13 7
Poland1 3 3 7 7
Czechoslovakia1 2 1 4 7
Germany*1 1 4 6 11
England0 3 3 6 11
Argentina0 3 2 5 13
Netherlands0 1 1 2 13
Sweden0 1 1 2 13
Israel0 1 1 2 16
Bosnia0 1 0 1 16
China0 1 0 1 16
Denmark0 1 0 1 16
Uzbekistan0 1 0 1 20
Bulgaria0 0 1 1 20
Estonia0 0 1 1 20
Romania0 0 1 1 20
Switzerland0 0 1 1 - Includes the results of Germany and West Germany.
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 Mikhail Tal
Soviet Union8 101 65 34 2 81.2 5 - 2 - 0 2 Anatoly Karpov
Soviet Union6 68 43 23 2 80.1 3 - 2 - 0 3 Tigran Petrosian
Soviet Union10 129 78 50 1 79.8 6 - 0 - 0 4 Isaac Kashdan
United States5 79 52 22 5 79.7 2 - 1 - 2 5 Vassily Smyslov
Soviet Union9 113 69 42 2 79.6 4 - 2 - 2 6 David Bronstein
Soviet Union4 49 30 18 1 79.6 3 - 1 - 0 7 Garry Kasparov
Soviet Union (1)8 82 50 29 3 78.7 7 - 2 - 2 8 Alexander Alekhine
France5 72 43 27 2 78.5 2 - 2 - 0 9 Milan Matulovic
Yugoslavia6 78 46 28 4 76.9 1 - 2 - 0 10 Paul Keres
Soviet Union (2) 10 141 85 44 12 75.9 5 - 1 - 1 11 Efim Geller
Soviet Union7 76 46 23 7 75.6 3 - 3 - 0 12 James Tarjan
United States5 51 32 13 6 75.5 2 - 1 - 0 13 Bobby Fischer
United States4 65 40 18 7 75.4 0 - 2 - 1 14 Mikhail Botvinnik
Soviet Union6 73 39 31 3 74.7 2 - 1 - 2 15 Salo Flohr
Czechoslovakia7 82 46 28 8 73.2 2 - 1 - 1 NOTES:
- Only players participating to at least four Olympiads are considered in this table.
- Medals indicated are only individual ones (not team), in the order gold - silver - bronze.
- (1) Kasparov played his first four olympiads for the USSR, the rest for Russia. Four gold medals are for best-rating performance
(first introduced at Thessaloniki 1984) and three for best score on first board. - (2) Keres played his first three Olympiads for Estonia, the rest for the USSR.
See also
- European Team Championship
- Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World
- Women's Chess Olympiad
- World Chess Championship
- World Mind Sports Games
- Mind Sports Organisation
Notes
- ^ 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
- ^ FIDE History by Bill Wall. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
- ^ a b Recognized Sports of the International Olympic Committee International Olympic Committee official website. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
- ^ International Federation (IF) for chess. International Olympic Committee official website. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
- ^ FIDE - Uniting the Chess World FIDE Official website. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
- ^ ARISF Members Association of Recognized IOC International Sports Federation. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
- ^ Complete FIDE Anti-Doping Documents FIDE official website. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
- ^ Controversy over FIDE doping check ChessBase.com Retrieved 2 May 2008.
- ^ The Insanity of Drug Testing in Chess by Jeremy Silman Retrieved 2 May 2008.
- ^ Chess Olympiad in Dresden 2008 chinaorbit.com Retrieved 2 May 2008.
- ^ FIDE submits regulation changes for Chess Olympiad Fide.com
External links
- FIDE Official website:
- Complete data and results on OlimpBase:
- Olympiads Data and Trivia from Bill Wall
- Chess Olympiad 2010 details
Chess Olympiads See also: Blind Chess Olympiad Categories:- Chess Olympiads
- Recurring sporting events established in 1924
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