20th Chess Olympiad
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The 20th 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 September 18 and October 13, 1972, in Skopje, Yugoslavia (present-day Macedonia).
For the first time, the Soviet team only comprised 5 GMs and one IM (Savon). Since Bobby Fischer had beaten Spassky earlier in the year, the team wasn't led by the current world champion - also a first. It did, however, feature three previous (Smyslov, Tal, and Petrosian) as well as one future champion (Karpov). The team still lived up to expectations, though, and won their eleventh consecutive gold medal, with Hungary and Yugoslavia taking the silver and bronze, respectively.
Before the Soviet team could achieve a victory, there was some controversy. In the 4th round of Final Group A, the Soviets played a match against the team from Bulgaria. A game between Victor Korchnoi and Georgi Tringov was adjourned after 41 moves with Tringov to seal his next move. At this Olympiad, sealed moves were written on a separate piece of paper, not the player's score sheet. Tringov rejected this way of sealing his move and instead wrote it on his score sheet.
When the game was resumed, the arbiter opened the envelope. In the envelope was Korchnoi's score sheet but not the one belonging to Tringov. The arbiter ruled the game a forfeit win for Korchnoi. The Bulgarian team captain instituted protest proceedings but an arbitration committee upheld the arbiter's ruling.
After the Olympiad was over, it was learned that Tringov had absentmindedly placed his score sheet in his pocket. Tringov discovered his mistake several days after his forfeit but was too ashamed to admit his mistake to the organizers of the Olympiad.[2]
In Final B, the Albanian team refused to play Israel and withdrew after round 11. Their matches were regarded as "friendlies" and didn't count in the overall standings.
Jens Enevoldsen represented Denmark at his 11th and final Olympiad, 39 years after his first appearance at Folkestone 1933. Both records at the time (although both have since been beaten by Lajos Portisch).
This Olympiad was the first major success for the Benko Gambit, named after Hungarian-American master Pal Benko. In sixteen games, Black players scored ten wins and six draws with the opening.
Results
Preliminaries
A total of 63 teams were divided into eight preliminary groups of seven or eight teams each, from which the top two advanced to Final A, no. 3-4 to Final B etc. Unlike the last few tournaments, preliminary head-to-head results were not carried over to the finals, so each teams met one other team twice. All preliminary groups and finals were played as round-robin tournaments. The results were as follows:
- Group 1: 1. Soviet Union, 2. Denmark, 3. Belgium, 4. Cuba, 5. Finland, 6. Dominican Republic, 7. Luxembourg.
- Group 2: 1. Yugoslavia, 2. Switzerland, 3. Peru, 4. England, 5. Brazil, 6. Japan, 7. Syria, 8. Cyprus.
- Group 3: 1. Hungary, 2. Poland, 3. Norway, 4. Indonesia, 5. Scotland, 6. Bolivia, 7. Morocco, 8. Lebanon.
- Group 4: 1. West Germany, 2. Argentina, 3. Iceland, 4. Greece, 5. New Zealand, 6. Mexico, 7. France, 8. Guernsey.
- Group 5: 1. Czechoslovakia, 2. Spain, 3. Mongolia, 4. Israel, 5. Portugal, 6. Ireland, 7. Hong Kong, 8. Malaysia.
- Group 6: 1. East Germany, 2. Sweden, 3. Canada, 4. Italy, 5. Wales, 6. Turkey, 7. Singapore, 8. Malta.
- Group 7: 1. Bulgaria, 2. Netherlands, 3. Albania, 4. Colombia, 5. Australia, 6. Puerto Rico, 7. Iraq, 8. Andorra.
- Group 8: 1. United States, 2. Romania, 3. The Philippines, 4. Austria, 5. Tunisia, 6. Iran, 7. Faroe Islands, 8. British Virgin Islands.
Finals
Final A # Country Players Average
rating[3]Points MP Head-
to-head1 Soviet Union
Petrosian, Korchnoi, Smyslov, Tal, Karpov, Savon 2635 42 2 Hungary
Portisch, Bilek, Forintos, Ribli, Csom, Sax 2531 40½ 3 Yugoslavia
Gligorić, Ivkov, Ljubojević, Matanović, Matulović, Rukavina 2543 38 4 Czechoslovakia
Hort, Smejkal, Filip, Jansa, Přibyl, Trapl 2534 35½ 5 West Germany
Hübner, Darga, Pfleger, Hecht, Kestler, Dueball 2540 35 6 Bulgaria
Bobotsov, Tringov, Radulov, Padevsky, Peev, Bohosjan 2459 32 7 Romania
Gheorghiu, Ciocâltea, Ghiţescu, Ungureanu, Ghizdavu, Partoş 2466 31½ 8 Netherlands
Donner, Ree, Zuidema, Timman, Hartoch, Enklaar 2465 29 13 2½ 9 United States
Kavalek, Byrne, Benko, Bisguier, Martz, Kane 2515 29 13 1½ 10 East Germany
Uhlmann, Malich, Knaak, Liebert, Schöneberg, Vogt 2490 27½ 11 Spain
Pomar, Díez del Corral, Medina, Torán, Bellón López, Visier Segovia 2434 26 12 Poland
Schmidt, Bednarski, Pytel, Sznapik, Filipowicz, Sydor 2410 24½ 13 Denmark
Hamann, Jakobsen, Sloth, Holm, Enevoldsen, Pedersen 2428 23 14 Argentina
Rossetto, García, Rubinetti, Emma, Debarnot, Hase 2418 22½ 9 15 Sweden
Andersson, Jansson, Ornstein, Liljedahl, Olsson, Uddenfeldt 2399 22½ 8 16 Switzerland
Hug, Lombard, Bhend, Schaufelberger, Wirthensohn, Gereben 2383 21½ Final B # Country Average
ratingPoints MP 17 England
2413 37 18 Israel
2353 36½ 19 Canada
2443 33 20 Philippines
2365 31½ 21 Norway
2404 30½ 22 Cuba
2383 30 16 23 Austria
2360 30 15 24 Iceland
2419 29 25 Colombia
2361 27 26 Indonesia
2318 25½ 27 Italy
2358 25 28 Mongolia
2330 24½ 29 Greece
2273 21 30 Belgium
2298 20½ 31 Peru
2303 19 - Albania
2245 - Final C # Country Average
ratingPoints MP Head-
to-head32 Australia
2370 45 33 Finland
2288 42½ 34 Scotland
2273 39 35 Iran
2250 37½ 36 Brazil
2236 25½ 37 Portugal
2285 32½ 38 Turkey
2261 31 39 Ireland
2200 28½ 15 40 Puerto Rico
2280 28½ 12 41 Mexico
2213 26½ 12 3 42 Tunisia
2225 26½ 12 1 43 Wales
2248 26½ 10 44 New Zealand
2235 25 45 Dominican Republic
2200 21½ 46 Bolivia
2200 19 47 Japan
2220 15½ Final D # Country Rating Points MP 48 France
2276 46½ 49 Singapore
2263 42½ 50 Malta
2213 32½ 51 Hong Kong
2200 30½ 52 Lebanon
2200 30 53 Luxembourg
2214 29½ 54 Faroe Islands
2200 29 55 Syria
2200 28 56 Cyprus
2200 27½ 57 Morocco
2205 26 58 Andorra
2200 24 59 Malaysia
2200 23½ 60 Guernsey
2200 20½ 9 61 Iraq
2200 20½ 5 62 British Virgin Islands
2200 10½
Individual medals
- Board 1:
Robert Hübner 15 / 18 = 83.3%
- Board 2:
Viktor Korchnoi 11 / 15 = 73.3%
- Board 3:
Ljubomir Ljubojević 15½ / 19 = 81.6%
- Board 4:
Mikhail Tal 14 / 16 = 87.5%
- 1st reserve:
Anatoly Karpov 13 / 15 = 86.7%
- 2nd reserve:
Aldo Haïk 11 / 12 = 91.7%
Best game
The Best Game prize went to Werner Hug (Switzerland) - Vlastimil Hort (Czechoslovakia) from Final A.
References
- ↑ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
- ↑ Keene, Ray; Levy, David (1973). Chess Olympiad 1972. Doubleday & Company. pp. 68–69.
- ↑ This was the first Olympiad after the ELO rating system was introduced, so many players on smaller teams were still unrated. For the purpose of calculating team averages, they were given provisional ratings of 2200, equivalent to that of a Candidate Master.
External links
- 20th Chess Olympiad: Skopje 1972 OlimpBase
Coordinates: 42°00′14″N 21°27′08″E / 42.003812°N 21.452246°E