Chess Olympiad Explained

Chess Olympiad
Status:Active
Genre:Sports Event
Frequency:Biennial
Location:Various
Organised:FIDE
Current:44th Chess Olympiad

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. 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.[1] FIDE organised the first Official Olympiad in 1927 which took place in London. The Olympiads were occasionally held annually and at irregular intervals until World War II; since 1950 they have been held regularly every two years.

Drug testing

As a sporting federation recognized by the IOC, and particularly as a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) conventions,[2] FIDE adheres to their rules, including a requirement for doping tests,[3] [4] which they are obligated to take at the events such as the Olympiad. The tests were first introduced in 2002 under significant controversy,[5] 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.[6] 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".[6] Players such as Artur Yusupov,[7] Jan Timman[8] and Robert Hübner[9] 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.[10] However, in the 36th Chess Olympiad in 2004, two players refused to provide urine samples and had their scores cancelled.[11] [12] 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.[13]

In 2010, a FIDE official commented that due to the work of the FIDE Medical Commission, the tests were now considered routine.[14] In November 2015, FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced they are working with WADA to define and identify doping in chess.[15]

Competition

Each FIDE-recognized chess association can enter a team into the Olympiad. 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[16]).

Initially each team played all other teams but as the event grew over the years this became impossible. At first team seeding took place before the competition, with teams playing in preliminary groups and then finals. Later certain drawbacks were recognized with seeding and in 1976 a Swiss tournament system was adopted. Starting from 2008, the first criterion for determining ranking has been match points instead of board points. Teams score 2 points for a match win, 1 point for a drawn match and 0 points for a match loss.

The trophy for the winning team in the open section is the Hamilton-Russell Cup, 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.

There is a separate women's competition. Since 1976 it has been held at the same time and venue as the open event, with the two competitions comprising the Chess Olympiad. 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)
31
Karel Hromádka, Jan Schulz, Karel Vaněk, Karel Skalička
Hungary 30
Árpád Vajda, Károly Sterk, Endre Steiner, Kornél Havasi
Switzerland 29
Erwin Voellmy, Otto Zimmermann, Hans Johner, Oskar Naegeli
1926 2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad
The Team Tournament
(part of FIDE summit)
Budapest, Hungary Hungary 9
Endre Steiner, Árpád Vajda, Károly Sterk, György Négyesy, Elek Bakonyi, Sándor Zinner
8
Boris Kostić, Lajos Asztalos, Stevan Ćirić, Imre György
5
János Balogh, Miklós Bródy, Alexandru Tyroler, Iosif Mendelssohn, Zeno Proca
1927 Hungary 40
Géza Maróczy, Géza Nagy, Árpád Vajda, Kornél Havasi, Endre Steiner
Denmark 38½
Orla Hermann Krause, Holger Norman-Hansen, Erik Andersen, Karl Ruben
36½
Henry Atkins, Fred Yates, George Thomas, Reginald Michell, Edmund Spencer
1928 Hungary 44
Géza Nagy, Endre Steiner, Árpád Vajda, Kornél Havasi
United States 39½
Isaac Kashdan, Herman Steiner, Samuel Factor, Erling Tholfsen, Milton Hanauer
Poland 37
Kazimierz Makarczyk, Paulin Frydman, Teodor Regedziński, Mieczysław Chwojnik, Abram Blass
1930 Hamburg, Germany Poland 48½
Akiba Rubinstein, Savielly Tartakower, Dawid Przepiórka, Kazimierz Makarczyk, Paulin Frydman
Hungary 47
Géza Maróczy, Sándor Takács, Árpád Vajda, Kornél Havasi, Endre Steiner
Germany 44½
Carl Ahues, Friedrich Sämisch, Carl Carls, Kurt Richter, Heinrich Wagner
1931 United States 48
Isaac Kashdan, Frank Marshall, Arthur Dake, Israel Horowitz, Herman Steiner
Poland 47
Akiba Rubinstein, Savielly Tartakower, Dawid Przepiórka, Kazimierz Makarczyk, Paulin Frydman
46½
Salo Flohr, Karl Gilg, Josef Rejfíř, Karel Opočenský, Karel Skalička
1933 United States 39
Isaac Kashdan, Frank Marshall, Reuben Fine, Arthur Dake, Albert Simonson
37½
Salo Flohr, Karel Treybal, Josef Rejfíř, Karel Opočenský, Karel Skalička
Sweden 34
Gideon Ståhlberg, Gösta Stoltz, Erik Lundin, Karl Berndtsson
1935 United States 54
Reuben Fine, Frank Marshall, Abraham Kupchik, Arthur Dake, Israel Horowitz
Sweden 52½
Gideon Ståhlberg, Gösta Stoltz, Erik Lundin, Gösta Danielsson, Ernst Larsson
Poland 52
Savielly Tartakower, Paulin Frydman, Mieczysław Najdorf, Henryk Friedman, Kazimierz Makarczyk
1936 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad
non-FIDE unofficial Chess Olympiad
Hungary 110½
Géza Maróczy, Lajos Steiner, Endre Steiner, Kornél Havasi, László Szabó, Gedeon Barcza, Árpád Vajda, Ernő Gereben, János Balogh, Imre Korody
Poland 108
Paulin Frydman, Mieczysław Najdorf, Teodor Regedziński, Kazimierz Makarczyk, Henryk Friedman, Leon Kremer, Henryk Pogorieły, Antoni Wojciechowski, Franciszek Sulik, Jerzy Jagielski
Germany 106½
Kurt Richter, Carl Ahues, Ludwig Engels, Carl Carls, Ludwig Rellstab, Friedrich Sämisch, Ludwig Rödl, Herbert Heinicke, Wilhelm Ernst, Paul Michel
1937 United States 54½
Samuel Reshevsky, Reuben Fine, Isaac Kashdan, Frank Marshall, Israel Horowitz
Hungary 48½
Andor Lilienthal, László Szabó, Endre Steiner, Kornél Havasi, Árpád Vajda
Poland 47
Savielly Tartakower, Mieczysław Najdorf, Paulin Frydman, Izaak Appel, Teodor Regedziński
1939 Germany 36
Erich Eliskases, Paul Michel, Ludwig Engels, Albert Becker, Heinrich Reinhardt
Poland 35½
Savielly Tartakower, Mieczysław Najdorf, Paulin Frydman, Teodor Regedziński, Franciszek Sulik
Estonia 33½
Paul Keres, Ilmar Raud, Paul Schmidt, Gunnar Friedemann, Johannes Türn
1950 45½
Svetozar Gligorić, Vasja Pirc, Petar Trifunović, Braslav Rabar, Milan Vidmar Jr., Stojan Puc
Argentina 43½
Miguel Najdorf, Julio Bolbochán, Carlos Guimard, Héctor Rossetto, Hermann Pilnik
40½
Wolfgang Unzicker, Lothar Schmid, Gerhard Pfeiffer, Ludwig Rellstab, Hans-Hilmar Staudte
1952 21
Paul Keres, Vasily Smyslov, David Bronstein, Efim Geller, Isaac Boleslavsky, Alexander Kotov
Argentina 19½
Miguel Najdorf, Julio Bolbochán, Erich Eliskases, Hermann Pilnik, Héctor Rossetto
19
Svetozar Gligorić, Braslav Rabar, Petar Trifunović, Vasja Pirc, Andrija Fuderer, Borislav Milić
1954 34
Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, David Bronstein, Paul Keres, Efim Geller, Alexander Kotov
Argentina 27
Miguel Najdorf, Julio Bolbochán, Oscar Panno, Carlos Guimard, Héctor Rossetto, Hermann Pilnik
26½
Vasja Pirc, Svetozar Gligorić, Petar Trifunović, Braslav Rabar, Andrija Fuderer, Aleksandar Matanović
1956 31
Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Paul Keres, David Bronstein, Mark Taimanov, Efim Geller
26½
Svetozar Gligorić, Aleksandar Matanović, Borislav Ivkov, Nikola Karaklajić, Borislav Milić, Božidar Đurašević
Hungary 26½
László Szabó, Gedeon Barcza, Pál Benkő, György Szilágyi, Miklós Bély, Lajos Portisch
1958 34½
Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Paul Keres, David Bronstein, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian
29
Svetozar Gligorić, Aleksandar Matanović, Borislav Ivkov, Petar Trifunović, Božidar Đurašević, Andrija Fuderer
Argentina 25½
Hermann Pilnik, Oscar Panno, Erich Eliskases, Rodolfo Redolfi, Raúl Sanguineti, Jaime Emma
1960 34
Mikhail Tal, Mikhail Botvinnik, Paul Keres, Viktor Korchnoi, Vasily Smyslov, Tigran Petrosian
United States 29
Bobby Fischer, William Lombardy, Robert Byrne, Arthur Bisguier, Nicolas Rossolimo, Raymond Weinstein
27
Svetozar Gligorić, Aleksandar Matanović, Borislav Ivkov, Mario Bertok, Mato Damjanović, Milan Vukčević
1962 Varna, Bulgaria 31½
Mikhail Botvinnik, Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Paul Keres, Efim Geller, Mikhail Tal
28
Svetozar Gligorić, Petar Trifunović, Aleksandar Matanović, Borislav Ivkov, Bruno Parma, Dragoljub Minić
Argentina 26
Miguel Najdorf, Julio Bolbochán, Oscar Panno, Raúl Sanguineti, Héctor Rossetto, Alberto Foguelman
1964 36½
Tigran Petrosian, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Paul Keres, Leonid Stein, Boris Spassky
32
Svetozar Gligorić, Borislav Ivkov, Aleksandar Matanović, Bruno Parma, Mijo Udovčić, Milan Matulović
30½
Wolfgang Unzicker, Klaus Darga, Lothar Schmid, Helmut Pfleger, Dieter Mohrlok, Wolfram Bialas
1966 39½
Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Tal, Leonid Stein, Viktor Korchnoi, Lev Polugaevsky
United States 34½
Bobby Fischer, Robert Byrne, Pal Benko, Larry Evans, William Addison, Nicolas Rossolimo
33½
Lajos Portisch, László Szabó, István Bilek, Levente Lengyel, Győző Forintos, László Bárczay
1968 39½
Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Viktor Korchnoi, Efim Geller, Lev Polugaevsky, Vasily Smyslov
31
Svetozar Gligorić, Borislav Ivkov, Aleksandar Matanović, Milan Matulović, Bruno Parma, Dragoljub Čirić
Bulgaria 30
Milko Bobotsov, Georgi Tringov, Nikola Padevsky, Atanas Kolarov, Ivan Radulov, Peicho Peev
1970 27½
Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Viktor Korchnoi, Lev Polugaevsky, Vasily Smyslov, Efim Geller
26½
Lajos Portisch, Levente Lengyel, István Bilek, Győző Forintos, István Csom, Zoltán Ribli
26
Svetozar Gligorić, Borislav Ivkov, Milan Matulović, Aleksandar Matanović, Bruno Parma, Dragoljub Minić
1972 42
Tigran Petrosian, Viktor Korchnoi, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Savon
40½
Lajos Portisch, István Bilek, Győző Forintos, Zoltán Ribli, István Csom, Gyula Sax
38
Svetozar Gligorić, Borislav Ivkov, Ljubomir Ljubojević, Aleksandar Matanović, Milan Matulović, Josip Rukavina
1974 46
Anatoly Karpov, Viktor Korchnoi, Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Mikhail Tal, Gennady Kuzmin
37½
Svetozar Gligorić, Ljubomir Ljubojević, Borislav Ivkov, Albin Planinc, Dragoljub Velimirović, Bruno Parma
United States 36½
Lubomir Kavalek, Robert Byrne, Walter Browne, Samuel Reshevsky, William Lombardy, James Tarjan
1976 22nd Chess Olympiad * United States 37
Robert Byrne, Lubomir Kavalek, Larry Evans, James Tarjan, William Lombardy, Kim Commons
Netherlands 36½
Jan Timman, Gennadi Sosonko, Jan Hein Donner, Hans Ree, Gert Ligterink, Franciscus Kuijpers
35½
Tony Miles, Raymond Keene, William Hartston, Michael Stean, Jonathan Mestel, John Nunn
1976 El Salvador 38½
Antonio Grimaldi, René Grimaldi, Salvador Infante, Roberto Camacho, Boris Pineda, Manuel Velásquez
Tunisia 36
Slim Bouaziz, Ridha Belkadi, Ahmed Drira, Sbia
Pakistan 34½
Zahiruddin Farooqui, Rahat Ali, Nazir Ahmad, Shahzad Mirza, Gholam Mohiuddin, Shaikh Mazhar Hussain
1978 37
Lajos Portisch, Zoltán Ribli, Gyula Sax, András Adorján, István Csom, László Vadász
36
Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Lev Polugaevsky, Boris Gulko, Oleg Romanishin, Rafael Vaganian
United States 35
Lubomir Kavalek, Walter Browne, Anatoly Lein, Robert Byrne, James Tarjan, William Lombardy
1980 39
Anatoly Karpov, Lev Polugaevsky, Mikhail Tal, Efim Geller, Yuri Balashov, Garry Kasparov
39
Lajos Portisch, Zoltán Ribli, Gyula Sax, István Csom, Iván Faragó, József Pintér
35
Ljubomir Ljubojević, Borislav Ivkov, Bruno Parma, Bojan Kurajica, Slavoljub Marjanović, Predrag Nikolić
1982 42½
Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Lev Polugaevsky, Alexander Beliavsky, Mikhail Tal, Artur Yusupov
36
Vlastimil Hort, Jan Smejkal, Ľubomír Ftáčnik, Vlastimil Jansa, Ján Plachetka, Jan Ambrož
United States 35½
Walter Browne, Yasser Seirawan, Lev Alburt, Lubomir Kavalek, James Tarjan, Larry Christiansen
1984 41
Alexander Beliavsky, Lev Polugaevsky, Rafael Vaganian, Vladimir Tukmakov, Artur Yusupov, Andrei Sokolov
37
Tony Miles, John Nunn, Jon Speelman, Murray Chandler, Jonathan Mestel, Nigel Short
United States 35
Roman Dzindzichashvili, Lubomir Kavalek, Larry Christiansen, Walter Browne, Lev Alburt, Nick de Firmian
1986 40
Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Andrei Sokolov, Artur Yusupov, Rafael Vaganian, Vitaly Tseshkovsky
39½
Tony Miles, John Nunn, Nigel Short, Murray Chandler, Jon Speelman, Glenn Flear
United States 38½
Yasser Seirawan, Larry Christiansen, Lubomir Kavalek, John Fedorowicz, Nick de Firmian, Maxim Dlugy
1988 40½
Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Artur Yusupov, Alexander Beliavsky, Jaan Ehlvest, Vassily Ivanchuk
34½
Nigel Short, Jon Speelman, John Nunn, Murray Chandler, Jonathan Mestel, William Watson
Netherlands 34½
John van der Wiel, Gennadi Sosonko, Paul van der Sterren, Jeroen Piket, Marinus Kuijf, Rudy Douven
1990 39
Vassily Ivanchuk, Boris Gelfand, Alexander Beliavsky, Artur Yusupov, Leonid Yudasin, Evgeny Bareev
United States 35½
Yasser Seirawan, Boris Gulko, Larry Christiansen, Joel Benjamin, John Fedorowicz, Nick de Firmian
35½
Nigel Short, Jon Speelman, John Nunn, Michael Adams, Murray Chandler, Julian Hodgson
1992 39
Garry Kasparov, Alexander Khalifman, Sergey Dolmatov, Alexey Dreev, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexey Vyzmanavin
Uzbekistan 35
Valery Loginov, Grigory Serper, Alexander Nenashev, Sergey Zagrebelny, Mihail Saltaev, Saidali Iuldachev
Armenia 34½
Rafael Vaganian, Vladimir Akopian, Smbat Lputian, Artashes Minasian, Arshak Petrosian, Ashot Anastasian
1994 37½
Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Evgeny Bareev, Alexey Dreev, Sergei Tiviakov, Peter Svidler
Bosnia and Herzegovina 35
Predrag Nikolić, Ivan Sokolov, Bojan Kurajica, Emir Dizdarević, Nebojša Nikolić, Rade Milovanović
34½
Alexander Morozevich, Vadim Zvjaginsev, Mikhail Ulibin, Sergei Rublevsky, Konstantin Sakaev, Vasily Yemelin
1996 38½
Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexey Dreev, Peter Svidler, Evgeny Bareev, Sergei Rublevsky
Ukraine 35
Vasyl Ivanchuk, Vladimir Malaniuk, Oleg Romanishin, Igor Novikov, Alexander Onischuk, Stanislav Savchenko
United States 34
Boris Gulko, Alex Yermolinsky, Nick de Firmian, Gregory Kaidanov, Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen
1998 35½
Peter Svidler, Sergei Rublevsky, Evgeny Bareev, Alexander Morozevich, Vadim Zvjaginsev, Konstantin Sakaev
United States 34½
Alex Yermolinsky, Alexander Shabalov, Yasser Seirawan, Boris Gulko, Nick de Firmian, Gregory Kaidanov
Ukraine 32½
Vasyl Ivanchuk, Alexander Onischuk, Oleg Romanishin, Vladimir Malaniuk, Stanislav Savchenko, Ruslan Ponomariov
2000 38
Alexander Khalifman, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler, Sergei Rublevsky, Konstantin Sakaev, Alexander Grischuk
Germany 37
Artur Yusupov, Robert Hübner, Rustem Dautov, Christopher Lutz, Klaus Bischoff, Thomas Luther
Ukraine 35½
Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomariov, Vladimir Baklan, Vereslav Eingorn, Oleg Romanishin, Vadim Malakhatko
2002 38½
Garry Kasparov, Alexander Grischuk, Alexander Khalifman, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler, Sergei Rublevsky
Hungary 37½
Péter Lékó, Judit Polgár, Zoltán Almási, Zoltán Gyimesi, Róbert Ruck, Péter Ács
Armenia 35
Vladimir Akopian, Smbat Lputian, Karen Asrian, Gabriel Sargissian, Artashes Minasian, Ashot Anastasian
2004 Ukraine 39½
Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomariov, Andrei Volokitin, Alexander Moiseenko, Pavel Eljanov, Sergey Karjakin
36½
Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, Alexey Dreev, Alexander Khalifman, Vadim Zvjaginsev
Armenia 36½
Vladimir Akopian, Levon Aronian, Rafael Vaganian, Smbat Lputian, Gabriel Sargissian, Artashes Minasian
2006 Armenia 36
Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Karen Asrian, Smbat Lputian, Gabriel Sargissian, Artashes Minasian
China 34
Bu Xiangzhi, Zhang Zhong, Zhang Pengxiang, Wang Yue, Ni Hua, Zhao Jun
United States 33
Gata Kamsky, Alexander Onischuk, Hikaru Nakamura, Ildar Ibragimov, Gregory Kaidanov, Varuzhan Akobian
2008 Armenia 19
Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, Tigran L. Petrosian, Artashes Minasian
Israel 18
Boris Gelfand, Michael Roiz, Boris Avrukh, Evgeny Postny, Maxim Rodshtein
United States 17
Gata Kamsky, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Onischuk, Yury Shulman, Varuzhan Akobian
2010 Ukraine 19
Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomariov, Pavel Eljanov, Zahar Efimenko, Alexander Moiseenko
18
Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Sergey Karjakin, Vladimir Malakhov
Israel 17
Boris Gelfand, Emil Sutovsky, Ilya Smirin, Maxim Rodshtein, Victor Mikhalevski
2012 Armenia 19
Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, Tigran L. Petrosian
19
Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Dmitry Jakovenko
Ukraine 18
Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomariov, Andrei Volokitin, Pavel Eljanov, Alexander Moiseenko
2014 China 19
Wang Yue, Ding Liren, Yu Yangyi, Ni Hua, Wei Yi
Hungary 17
Péter Lékó, Csaba Balogh, Zoltán Almási, Richárd Rapport, Judit Polgár
India 17
Parimarjan Negi, Panayappan Sethuraman, Krishnan Sasikiran, Adhiban Baskaran, Musunuri Rohit Lalit Babu
2016 United States 20
Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, Sam Shankland, Ray Robson
Ukraine 20
Pavel Eljanov, Ruslan Ponomariov, Yuriy Kryvoruchko, Anton Korobov, Andrei Volokitin
18
Sergey Karjakin, Vladimir Kramnik, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alexander Grischuk
2018 China 18
Ding Liren, Yu Yangyi, Wei Yi, Bu Xiangzhi, Li Chao
United States 18
Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura, Sam Shankland, Ray Robson
18
Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Dmitry Jakovenko, Vladimir Kramnik, Nikita Vitiugov
2020 Online Chess Olympiad (Virtual) India
Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna, Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Divya Deshmukh, Viswanathan Anand, Nihal Sarin, Vantika Agrawal, Aravindh Chithambaram, Bhakti Kulkarni, Rameshbabu Vaishali

Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vladislav Artemiev, Kateryna Lagno, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Alexey Sarana, Polina Shuvalova, Daniil Dubov, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Andrey Esipenko, Alexander Grischuk, Valentina Gunina, Margarita Potapova
- Poland
Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Radosław Wojtaszek, Monika Soćko, Karina Cyfka, Igor Janik, Alicja Śliwicka, Grzegorz Gajewski, Szymon Gumularz, Mateusz Bartel, Iweta Rajlich, Jolanta Zawadzka
United States
Wesley So, Sam Shankland, Anna Zatonskih, Tatev Abrahamyan, Jeffery Xiong, Annie Wang, Carissa Yip, Ray Robson
2021 Online Chess Olympiad China (Virtual)
Daniil Dubov, Vladislav Artemiev, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Andrey Esipenko, Polina Shuvalova, Kateryna Lagno, Leya Garifullina, Valentina Gunina, Alexander Grischuk, Vladimir Fedoseev, Volodar Murzin
United States
Jeffery Xiong, Ray Robson, Irina Krush, Nazí Paikidze, Awonder Liang, Thalia Cervantes Landeiro, Dariusz Świercz, Anna Zatonskih
China
Ding Liren, Yu Yangyi, Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, Wang Shixu B, Ning Kaiyu, Xu Zhihang, Wei Yi, Lei Tingjie, Bu Xiangzhi, Zhu Jiner, Huang Qian
India
Viswanathan Anand, Pentala Harikrishna, Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Nihal Sarin, Rameshbabu Vaishali, Vidit Gujrathi, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Adhiban Baskaran, Tania Sachdev, Bhakti Kulkarni, Savitha Shri B
2022 44th Chess Olympiad § Uzbekistan 19
Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Javokhir Sindarov, Jahongir Vakhidov, Shamsiddin Vokhidov
Armenia 19
Gabriel Sargissian, Hrant Melkumyan, Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, Manuel Petrosyan, Robert Hovhannisyan
India 18
Dommaraju Gukesh, Nihal Sarin, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Adhiban Baskaran, Raunak Sadhwani
2024 45th Chess Olympiad Budapest, Hungary
2026 46th Chess Olympiad Tashkent, Uzbekistan[17]
2028 47th Chess Olympiad Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates[18]
* In 1976, the, other Communist countries and Arabic countries did not compete for political reasons.
FIDE organized the online olympiads in 2020 and 2021 following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Russia and India were subsequently declared joint winners after several Indian team members experienced connectivity issues due to a global outage of Cloudflare servers in 2020 Online Chess Olympiad.
§ 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. However, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FIDE made a statement in February 2022 that the tournament will not take place in Russia and will be shifted to Chennai, India.

Gaprindashvili Trophy

The trophy, named after the former women's World Champion Nona Gaprindashvili (1961–1978) and it was created by FIDE in 1997. The Trophy is awarded to the nation that has the highest total number of match points in the open and women's divisions combined.

YearNation
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006 China
2008 Ukraine
2010
2012
2014 China
2016 Ukraine
2018 China
2022

Total team ranking

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

Most successful players

Boldface denotes active chess players and highest medal count among all players (including these who not included in these tables) per type.

Multiple team champions

RankPlayerCountryFromToGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 1958 1978 9 1 10
2 1952 1972 9 9
3
1980 2002 8 8
1958 1982 8 8
5
1939 1964 7 1 8
6 1952 1980 7 7
7 1966 1984 6 1 7
1962 1978 6 1 7
9 1954 1964 6 6
1972 1988 6 6
1960 1974 6 6

Multiple team medalists

The table shows players who have won at least 7 team medals in total at the Chess Olympiads.

RankPlayerCountryFromToGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 1950 1974 1 6 5 12
2 1958 1978 9 1 10
3 1956 1980 6 4 10
4 1952 1972 9 9
5 1954 1972 5 4 9
6
1980 2002 8 8
1958 1982 8 8
8
1939 1964 7 1 8
9 Vassily (Vasyl) Ivanchuk
1988 2012 4 1 3 8
10 1952 1980 7 7
11 1966 1984 6 1 7
1962 1978 6 1 7
13 1992 2018 3 2 2 7
14
1935 1962 4 3 7

Best individual results in the open section

The best individual results in order of overall percentage are:

Rank
Player       Country       Ol. Gms.   +    =     –    %   Individual
medals
  Number of
ind. medals
  Team medals   Number of
team medals
  1   8 101  65  34   2 81.2 5 – 2 – 0 7 8 – 0 – 0 8
  2   6 68  43  23   2 80.1 3 – 0 – 0 3 6 – 0 – 0 6
  3   10129  78  50   1 79.8 6 – 0 – 0 6 9 – 1 – 0 10
  4   5 79  52  22   5 79.7 2 – 1 – 2 53 – 1 – 0 4
  5   9 113  69  42   2 79.6 4 – 2 – 2 89 – 0 – 0 9
  6   4 49  30  18   1 79.6 3 – 1 – 0 44 – 0 – 0 4
  7   (4)
(4)
8 82  50  29   3 78.7 3 – 1 – 2 68 – 0 – 0 8
  8   572  43  27   2 78.5 2 – 2 – 0 40 – 0 – 0 0
  9   6 78  46  28   4 76.9 1 – 2 – 0 30 – 2 – 2 4
10   Estonia (3)
(7)
10141  85  44  12 75.9 5 – 1 – 1 77 – 0 – 1 8
11   776  46  23   7 75.7 3 – 3 – 0 67 – 0 – 0 7
12=   451  29  19   3 75.5 2 – 0 – 0 23 – 0 – 0 3
12=   551  32  13   6 75.5 2 – 0 – 1 31 – 0 – 3 4
14   4 65  40  18   7 75.4 0 – 2 – 1 30 – 2 – 0 2
15   4 38  20  17   1 75.0 0 – 2 – 2 40 – 0 – 2 2
16   6 73  39  31   3 74.7 2 – 1 – 2 5 6 – 0 – 0 6
17   4 37  23   9   5 74.3 0 – 1 – 0 1 0 – 0 – 0 0
18   4 35  20  12   3 74.3 1 – 0 – 0 1 1 – 1 – 0 2
19 4 38  19  18   1 73.7 1 – 0 – 1 22 – 0 – 0 2
20   5 82  46  28   8 73.2 2 – 1 – 1 4 0 – 1 – 1 2
Notes

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20041121043246/http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/fide.htm FIDE History
  2. Web site: Code Signatories. World Anti-Doping Agency. 16 October 2017.
  3. http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/4-tournaments/2760-1251-complete-fide-anti-doping-documents Complete FIDE Anti-Doping Documents
  4. Web site: Chess WADA – Anti-Doping Policy, Nutrition and Health. AM. www.fide.com. 16 October 2017. 16 May 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210516005653/https://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/7189-chess-wada-anti-doping-policy-nutrition-and-health.html. dead.
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20080517071533/http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/drugslet.html Open letter from 50 players on drug testing (Web Archive)
  6. Web site: Controversy over FIDE doping check. 27 October 2002. 16 October 2017.
  7. Web site: Controversy over FIDE doping check. 27 October 2002. 16 October 2017.
  8. Web site: Indian men beat U.S.. The Hindu. 2002-11-04. 16 October 2017.
  9. News: Outrage Over Ivanchuk: The Great Chess Doping Scandal. Maik. Grossekathöfer. Der Spiegel. 11 December 2008. 16 October 2017. Spiegel Online.
  10. Web site: Top Chess Blogs - Chess.com. Chess.com. 16 October 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20160310124931/http://www.chess.com/blog/billwall/drug-testing-and-chess. 2016-03-10. dead.
  11. Web site: Decision of the FIDE Doping Hearing Panel (Miller). 16 October 2017.
  12. Web site: Decision of the FIDE Doping Hearing Panel (Press). 16 October 2017.
  13. Web site: Decision of the FIDE Doping Hearing Panel. www.fide.com. 16 October 2017. 23 January 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090123144930/http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/3704-decision-of-the-fide-doping-hearing-panel. dead.
  14. https://www.fide.com/images/stories/NEWS_2011/fide_news/Annexes/Minutes_of_FIDE_GA_2010.pdf Minutes of 2010 FIDE General Assembly
  15. Web site: ФИДЕ и ВАДА будут совместно выявлять допинг в шахматах. 24 November 2015. 16 October 2017.
  16. http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/3005-fide-submitts-regulation-changes-for-chess-olympiad FIDE submits regulation changes for Chess Olympiad
  17. News: Barden . Leonard . 10 August 2022 . Chess: Uzbekistan win Olympiad while David Howell takes performance gold . . 10 August 2022.
  18. Web site: Abu Dhabi and FIDE Sign Agreement for 47th Chess Olympiad .