Chess Olympiad

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For the 2022 Olympiad, see 44th Chess Olympiad.

Chess Olympiad
Sahovska olimpiada Bled 2002 1.JPG
35th Chess Olympiad in Bled in October 2002
StatusActive
GenreSports Event
FrequencyBiennial
Location(s)Various
Inaugurated1924 (1924)
Organised byFIDE

The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and 2021, with a rapid time control that affected players' online ratings.

The use of the name "Chess Olympiad" for FIDE's team championship is of historical origin and implies no connection with the Olympic Games.

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 41st Olympiad, 2014, there were 172 participating nations.
Bobby Fischer's score card from his round 3 game against Miguel Najdorf in the 1970 Chess Olympiad

Drug testing[]

As a sporting federation recognized by the IOC, and particularly as a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) conventions,[3] FIDE adheres to their rules, including a requirement for doping tests,[4][5] which they are obligated to take at the events such as the Olympiad. The tests were first introduced in 2002 under significant controversy,[6] with the widespread belief that it was impossible to dope in chess. Research carried out by the Dutch chess federation failed to find a single performance-enhancing substance for chess.[7] According to Dr Helmut Pfleger, who has been conducting experiments in the field for around twenty years, "Both mentally stimulating and mentally calming medication have too many negative side effects".[7] Players such as Artur Yusupov,[8] Jan Timman[9] and Robert Hübner[10] either refused to play for their national team or to participate in events such as the Chess Olympiad where drug tests were administered. All 802 tests administered at the 2002 Olympiad came back negative.[11] However, in the 36th Chess Olympiad in 2004, two players refused to provide urine samples and had their scores cancelled.[12][13] Four years later, Vassily Ivanchuk was not penalized for skipping a drug test at the 38th Chess Olympiad in 2008, with a procedural error being indicated instead.[14]

In 2010, a FIDE official commented that due to the work of the FIDE Medical Commission, the tests were now considered routine.[15] In November 2015, FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced they are working with WADA to define and identify doping in chess.[16]

Competition[]

Each FIDE recognized chess association can enter a team into the Olympiad.[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[17]).[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 is consigned to the next winner. The trophy for the winning women's team is known as the Vera Menchik Cup in honor of the first Women's World Chess Champion.

Results[]

Year Event Host 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  Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes 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  United States 39½  Poland 37
1930 3rd Chess Olympiad Hamburg, Germany  Poland 48½  Hungary 47  Germany 44½
1931 4th Chess Olympiad Prague, Czechoslovakia  United States 48  Poland 47  Czechoslovakia 46½
1933 5th Chess Olympiad Folkestone, United Kingdom  United States 39  Czechoslovakia 37½  Sweden 34
1935 6th Chess Olympiad Warsaw, Poland  United States 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  United States 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  West Germany 40½
1952 10th Chess Olympiad Helsinki, Finland  Soviet Union 21  Argentina 19½  Yugoslavia 19
1954 11th Chess Olympiad Amsterdam, Netherlands  Soviet Union 34  Argentina 27  Yugoslavia 26½
1956 12th Chess Olympiad Moscow, Soviet Union  Soviet Union 31  Yugoslavia 26½  Hungary 26½
1958 13th Chess Olympiad Munich, West Germany  Soviet Union 34½  Yugoslavia 29  Argentina 25½
1960 14th Chess Olympiad Leipzig, East Germany  Soviet Union 34  United States 29  Yugoslavia 27
1962 15th Chess Olympiad Varna, Bulgaria  Soviet Union 31½  Yugoslavia 28  Argentina 26
1964 16th Chess Olympiad Tel Aviv, Israel  Soviet Union 36½  Yugoslavia 32  West Germany 30½
1966 17th Chess Olympiad Havana, Cuba  Soviet Union 39½  United States 34½  Hungary 33½
1968 18th Chess Olympiad Lugano, Switzerland  Soviet Union 39½  Yugoslavia 31  Bulgaria 30
1970 19th Chess Olympiad Siegen, West Germany  Soviet Union 27½  Hungary 26½  Yugoslavia 26
1972 20th Chess Olympiad Skopje, Yugoslavia  Soviet Union 42  Hungary 40½  Yugoslavia 38
1974 21st Chess Olympiad Nice, France  Soviet Union 46  Yugoslavia 37½  United States 36½
1976 22nd Chess Olympiad * Haifa, Israel  United States 37  Netherlands 36½  England 35½
1976 Against Chess Olympiad Tripoli, Libya  El Salvador 38½  Tunisia 36  Pakistan 34½
1978 23rd Chess Olympiad Buenos Aires, Argentina  Hungary 37  Soviet Union 36  United States 35
1980 24th Chess Olympiad Valletta, Malta  Soviet Union 39  Hungary 39  Yugoslavia 35
1982 25th Chess Olympiad Lucerne, Switzerland  Soviet Union 42½  Czechoslovakia 36  United States 35
1984 26th Chess Olympiad Thessaloniki, Greece  Soviet Union 41  England 37  United States 35
1986 27th Chess Olympiad Dubai, United Arab Emirates  Soviet Union 40  England 39  United States 38
1988 28th Chess Olympiad Thessaloniki, Greece  Soviet Union 40½  England 34½  Netherlands 34½
1990 29th Chess Olympiad Novi Sad, Yugoslavia  Soviet Union 39  United States 35½  England 35½
1992 30th Chess Olympiad Manila, Philippines  Russia 39  Uzbekistan 35  Armenia 34½
1994 31st Chess Olympiad Moscow, Russia  Russia 37½  Bosnia and Herzegovina 35  Russia "B" 34½
1996 32nd Chess Olympiad Yerevan, Armenia  Russia 38½  Ukraine 35  United States 34
1998 33rd Chess Olympiad Elista, Russia  Russia 35½  United States 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 Calvià, Spain  Ukraine 39½  Russia 36½  Armenia 36½
2006 37th Chess Olympiad Turin, Italy  Armenia 36  China 34  United States 33
2008 38th Chess Olympiad Dresden, Germany  Armenia 19  Israel 18  United States 17
2010 39th Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia  Ukraine 19  Russia 18  Israel 17
2012 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul, Turkey  Armenia 19  Russia 19  Ukraine 18
2014 41st Chess Olympiad Tromsø, Norway  China 19  Hungary 17  India 17
2016 42nd Chess Olympiad Baku, Azerbaijan  United States 20  Ukraine 20  Russia 18
2018 43rd Chess Olympiad Batumi, Georgia  China 18  United States 18  Russia 18
2022 44th Chess Olympiad † Moscow, Russia
2024 Budapest, Hungary

* In 1976, the  Soviet Union, other communist countries and Arabic countries did not compete for political reasons.
† The 2022 event was originally planned to be held in Minsk, Belarus, but it was rescheduled to Moscow, which originally was host of the 2020 Olympiad, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. FIDE also organized an online olympiad.

Starting from 2008, the first criterion for determining ranking is match point instead of board point. Team scores 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss (that is, a 4-0 win or 2.5-1.5 win will get the same match point).

Total team ranking[]

Symbol of the 6th Chess Olympiad in Warsaw 1935 by Jerzy Steifer

The table contains the Open teams ranked by the medals won at the Chess Olympiad (not including the unofficial events), ranked by the number of first-place medals, ties broken by second-place medals, etc.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Soviet Union181019
2 United States66820
3 Russia63312
4 Hungary37212
5 Armenia3036
6 Ukraine2237
7 China2103
8 Yugoslavia16613
9 Poland1236
10 Germany1113
11 England0336
12 Argentina0325
13 Czechoslovakia0213
14 Israel0112
 Netherlands0112
 Sweden0112
17 Bosnia and Herzegovina0101
 Denmark0101
 Uzbekistan0101
20 West Germany0022
21 Bulgaria0011
 Estonia0011
 India0011
Totals (23 nations)434343129

Best individual results in the open section[]

The best individual results in order of overall percentage are:

Rank
 Player       Country       Ol. Gms.   +     =     –    %    Medals     Number
of medals
  1  Mikhail Tal  Soviet Union 8 101  65  34   2 81.2 5 – 2 – 0 7
  2  Anatoly Karpov  Soviet Union 6 68  43  23   2 80.1 3 – 2 – 0 5
  3  Tigran Petrosian  Soviet Union 10 129  78  50   1 79.8 6 – 0 – 0 6
  4  Isaac Kashdan  USA 5 79  52  22   5 79.7 2 – 1 – 2 5
  5  Vasily Smyslov  Soviet Union 9 113  69  42   2 79.6 4 – 2 – 2 8
  6  David Bronstein  Soviet Union 4 49  30  18   1 79.6 3 – 1 – 0 4
  7  Garry Kasparov  Soviet Union (4) /  Russia (4) 8 82  50  29   3 78.7 3 – 1 – 2 6
  8  Alexander Alekhine  France 5 72  43  27   2 78.5 2 – 2 – 0 4
  9  Milan Matulović  Yugoslavia 6 78  46  28   4 76.9 1 – 2 – 0 3
10  Paul Keres  Estonia (3) /  Soviet Union (7) 10 141  85  44  12 75.9 5 – 1 – 1 7
11  Efim Geller  Soviet Union 7 76  46  23   7 75.6 3 – 3 – 0 6
12  James Tarjan  USA 5 51  32  13   6 75.5 2 – 1 – 0 3
13  Bobby Fischer  USA 4 65  40  18   7 75.4 0 – 2 – 1 3
14  Mikhail Botvinnik  Soviet Union 6 73  39  31   3 74.7 2 – 1 – 2 5
15  Sergey Karjakin  Ukraine (3) /  Russia (5) 8 47  24  22   1 74.7 2 – 0 – 1 3
16  Salo Flohr  Czechoslovakia 7 82  46  28   8 73.2 2 – 1 – 1 4
Fischer and Tal at the 1960 Olympiad
Notes
  • Only players participating in at least four Olympiads are included in this table.
  • Medals indicated are only individual ones (not team), in the order gold - silver - bronze.
  • Garry Kasparov played his first four Olympiads for the Soviet Union, the rest for Russia. His four gold medals are one for best-rating performance (first introduced at Thessaloniki 1984) and three for best score on first board.
  • Paul Keres played his first three Olympiads for Estonia, the rest for the Soviet Union.
  • Sergey Karjakin played his first three Olympiads for Ukraine, the rest for Russia

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: 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. ^ "Code Signatories". World Anti-Doping Agency. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  4. ^ Complete FIDE Anti-Doping Documents FIDE official website. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  5. ^ AM. "Chess WADA – Anti-Doping Policy, Nutrition and Health". www.fide.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  6. ^ Open letter from 50 players on drug testing (Web Archive)
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b "Controversy over FIDE doping check". 27 October 2002. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  8. ^ "Controversy over FIDE doping check". 27 October 2002. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  9. ^ "Indian men beat U.S." The Hindu. 4 November 2002. Retrieved 16 October 2017.[dead link]
  10. ^ Grossekathöfer, Maik (11 December 2008). "Outrage Over Ivanchuk: The Great Chess Doping Scandal". Retrieved 16 October 2017 – via Spiegel Online.
  11. ^ "Top Chess Blogs - Chess.com". Chess.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  12. ^ "Decision of the FIDE Doping Hearing Panel (Miller)" (PDF). Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  13. ^ "Decision of the FIDE Doping Hearing Panel (Press)" (PDF). Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  14. ^ "Decision of the FIDE Doping Hearing Panel". www.fide.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  15. ^ Minutes of 2010 FIDE General Assembly (page 24)
  16. ^ "ФИДЕ и ВАДА будут совместно выявлять допинг в шахматах". 24 November 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  17. ^ FIDE submits regulation changes for Chess Olympiad Fide.com

External links[]

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