18th Chess Olympiad
The 18th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open[1] team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 17 and November 7, 1968, in Lugano, Switzerland.
The Soviet team with six GMs, led by world champion Petrosian, lived up to expectations and won their ninth consecutive gold medals, with Yugoslavia and Bulgaria taking the silver and bronze, respectively.
Results
Preliminaries
A total of 53 teams entered the competition and were divided into seven preliminary groups of seven or eight teams each. The top two from each group advanced to Final A, the teams placed third-fourth to Final B, no. 5-6 to Final C, and the rest to Final D. Preliminary head-to-head results were carried over to the finals, so no teams met more than once. All preliminary groups and finals were played as round-robin tournaments. The results were as follows:
- Group 1: 1. Soviet Union, 2. Philippines, 3. England, 4. Israel, 5. Italy, 6. Portugal, 7. Mexico, 8. Cyprus.
- Group 2: 1. Denmark, 2. United States, 3. Mongolia, 4. Austria, 5. Australia, 6. Venezuela, 7. France.
- Group 3: 1. Yugoslavia, 2. Poland, 3. Spain, 4. Scotland, 5. South Africa, 6. Luxembourg, 7. Dominican Republic.
- Group 4: 1. Hungary, 2. Canada, 3. Netherlands, 4. Belgium, 5. Monaco, 6. Ireland, 7. Paraguay, 8. Costa Rica.
- Group 5: 1. West Germany, 2. Romania, 3. Switzerland, 4. Brazil, 5. Norway, 6. Puerto Rico, 7. Hong Kong, 8. Lebanon.
- Group 6: 1. Argentina, 2. East Germany, 3. Finland, 4. Sweden, 5. Greece, 6. Morocco, 7. British Virgin Islands.
- Group 7: 1. Bulgaria, 2. Czechoslovakia, 3. Iceland, 4. Cuba, 5. Tunisia, 6. Turkey, 7. Singapore, 8. Andorra.
Final
Final B # Country Points MP 15 Netherlands 33½ 16 England 33 17 Austria 30½ 18 Israel 30 19 Spain 28½ 20 Cuba 27 14 21 Switzerland 27 12 22 Iceland 26 23 Finland 24½ 24 Sweden 22½ 25 Brazil 21½ 26 Belgium 20½ 27 Mongolia 20 28 Scotland 19½ Final C # Country Points MP 29 Australia 38 30 Norway 36 31 Italy 31½ 32 Venezuela 30 33 Turkey 29½ 34 Greece 28½ 35 Portugal 27½ 16 36 South Africa 27½ 14 37 Tunisia 26 38 Ireland 21 39 Luxembourg 20½ 40 Puerto Rico 19½ 41 Morocco 16 42 Monaco 12½ Final D # Country Points MP 43 Singapore 32 44 France 30 45 Paraguay 27½ 46 Mexico 23½ 13 47 Dominican Republic 23½ 12 48 Hong Kong 22½ 49 Costa Rica 14½ 50 Lebanon 13½ 51 Cyprus 13 52 British Virgin Islands 11 53 Andorra 9
Individual medals
- Board 1: Tigran Petrosian 10½ / 12 = 87.5%
- Board 2: Georgi Tringov 11 / 14 = 78.6%
- Board 3: Viktor Korchnoi 11 / 13 = 84.6%
- Board 4: Shimon Kagan 10½ / 13 = 80.8%
- 1st reserve: Glicerio Badilles 11½ / 14 = 82.1%
- 2nd reserve: Vassily Smyslov 11 / 12 = 91.7%
References
- ↑ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
- 18th Chess Olympiad: Lugano 1968 OlimpBase