Chess Olympiads

Chess Olympiads

The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. The use of the name "Chess Olympiad" for FIDE's team championship is of historical origin and implies no connection with the Olympic Games.

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.



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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 Yugoslavia Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 45½
Argentina 43½
West Germany 40½
1952 10th Chess Olympiad
Helsinki, Finland
Sovjet Union Soviet Union 21
Argentina 19½
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 19
1954 11th Chess Olympiad
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Sovjet Union Soviet Union 34
Argentina 27
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 26½
1956 12th Chess Olympiad sovjet union Moscow, Soviet Union sovjet union Soviet Union 31 Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 26½
Hungary 26½
1958 13th Chess Olympiad
Munich, West Germany
sovjet union Soviet Union 34½ Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 29
Argentina 25½
1960 14th Chess Olympiad Leipzig, East Germany sovjet union Soviet Union 34
United States 29
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 27
1962 15th Chess Olympiad
Varna, Bulgaria
sovjet union Soviet Union 31½ Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 28
Argentina 26
1964 16th Chess Olympiad
Tel Aviv, Israel
sovjet union Soviet Union 36½ Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 32
West Germany 30½
1966 17th Chess Olympiad
Havana, Cuba
sovjet union Soviet Union 39½
United States 34½
Hungary 33½
1968 18th Chess Olympiad
Lugano, Switzerland
sovjet union Soviet Union 39½ Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 31
Bulgaria 30
1970 19th Chess Olympiad
Siegen, West Germany
sovjet union Soviet Union 27½
Hungary 26½
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 26
1972 20th Chess Olympiad Yugoslavia Skopje, Yugoslavia sovjet union Soviet Union 42
Hungary 40½
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 38
1974 21st Chess Olympiad
Nice, France
sovjet union Soviet Union 46 Yugoslavia 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
sovjet union Soviet Union 36
United States 35
1980 24th Chess Olympiad Valletta, Malta sovjet union Soviet Union 39
Hungary 39
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 35
1982 25th Chess Olympiad
Lucerne, Switzerland
sovjet union Soviet Union 42½
Czechoslovakia 36
United States 35
1984 26th Chess Olympiad
Thessaloniki, Greece
sovjet union Soviet Union 41
England 37
United States 35
1986 27th Chess Olympiad
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
sovjet union Soviet Union 40
England 39
United States 38
1988 28th Chess Olympiad
Thessaloniki, Greece
sovjet union Soviet Union 40½
England 34½
Netherlands 34½
1990 29th Chess Olympiad Yugoslavia Novi Sad, Yugoslavia sovjet union Soviet Union 39
United States 35½
England 35½
1992 30th Chess Olympiad
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

* In 1976, the sovjet union Soviet Union and other communist countries did not compete for political reasons.

Starting from 2008, the first criteria 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
1sovjet union Soviet Union181019
2
United States
66820
3
Russia
63312
4
Hungary
37212
5
Armenia
3036
6
Ukraine
2237
7
China
2103
8Yugoslavia Yugoslavia16613
9
Poland
1236
10
Germany
1135
11
England
0336
12
Argentina
0325
13
Czechoslovakia
0213
14
Israel
0112
Netherlands
0112
Sweden
0112
17
Bosnia and Herzegovina
0101
Denmark
0101
Uzbekistan
0101
20
Bulgaria
0011
Estonia
0011
India
0011
Totals (22 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 sovjet union Soviet Union 8 101 65 34 2 81.2 5 – 2 – 0 7
2 Anatoly Karpov sovjet union Soviet Union 6 68 43 23 2 80.1 3 – 2 – 0 5
3 Tigran Petrosian sovjet union 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 sovjet union Soviet Union 9 113 69 42 2 79.6 4 – 2 – 2 8
6 David Bronstein sovjet union Soviet Union 4 49 30 18 1 79.6 3 – 1 – 0 4
7 Garry Kasparov sovjet union Soviet Union (4) /
Russia (4)
8 82 50 29 3 78.7 7 – 2 – 2 11
8 Alexander Alekhine
France
5 72 43 27 2 78.5 2 – 2 – 0 4
9 Milan Matulović Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 6 78 46 28 4 76.9 1 – 2 – 0 3
10 Paul Keres
Estonia (3) / sovjet union Soviet Union (7)
10 141 85 44 12 75.9 5 – 1 – 1 7
11 Efim Geller sovjet union 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 sovjet union Soviet Union 6 73 39 31 3 74.7 2 – 1 – 2 5
15 Sergey Karjakin
Ukraine (3) /
Russia (2)
5 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




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