21st Chess Olympiad
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The 21st 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 June 6 and June 30, 1974, in Nice, France.
Bobby Fischer was still the reigning World Champion, but had not played a single game of tournament chess since he won the title in 1972 and was not present in Nice either. However, the American team still managed to secure third place in his absence.
For the same reason, for the second time in a row, the Soviet team was not led by the current world champion. It did, however, feature three previous (Tal, Petrosian, and Spassky) as well as one future champion (Karpov). The team won by 8½ points, the biggest victory margin yet, and took home their twelfth consecutive gold medals, with Yugoslavia and the United States taking the silver and bronze, respectively.
With a complete lack of tension in the championship race, the tournament had more than its share of political tension. In Final B, the Tunisian team refused to play Israel, so the score was computed according to ELO ratings as a 3-1 win for the Israeli team.
Due to their apartheid policies, both South Africa and Rhodesia were expelled from FIDE with three rounds to go. The South African team withdrew from the tournament themselves, and their results in Final C were not counted in the overall standings. FIDE president Max Euwe tried unsuccessfully to have Rhodesia thrown out as well, but in the end they were allowed to finish the tournament and won Final E - helped by default victories against Iraq and Algeria who refused to play them.
Results
Preliminaries
A total of 74 teams were divided into eight preliminary groups of nine or ten teams each, from which the top two advanced to Final A, no. 3-4 to Final B etc. Preliminary head-to-head results were carried over to the finals, so no team met any other team 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. Wales, 3. Scotland, 4. Poland, 5. Brazil, 6. Mongolia, 7. Puerto Rico, 8. Jordan, 9. Netherlands Antilles.
- Group 2: 1. United States, 2. England, 3. Denmark, 4. Canada, 5. Australia, 6. Ecuador, 7. Luxembourg, 8. Panama, 9. Rhodesia.
- Group 3: 1. Yugoslavia, 2. Finland, 3. Cuba, 4. Italy, 5. Iran, 6. Venezuela, 7. Pakistan, 8. Uruguay, 9. Iraq.
- Group 4: 1. Hungary, 2. Spain, 3. Belgium, 4. Tunisia, 5. Chile, 6. Syria, 7. Malta, 8. Malaysia, 9. Japan, 10. Nicaragua.
- Group 5: 1. West Germany, 2. Sweden, 3. Iceland, 4. Portugal, 5. South Africa, 6. Ireland, 7. Hong Kong, 8. Guernsey, 9. Trinidad & Tobago.
- Group 6: 1. Czechoslovakia, 2. Romania, 3. Norway, 4. Colombia, 5. New Zealand, 6. Singapore, 7. Lebanon, 8. Monaco, 9. Andorra.
- Group 7: 1. Bulgaria, 2. Philippines, 3. Israel, 4. France, 5. Indonesia, 6. Turkey, 7. Dominican Republic, 8. Faroe Islands, 9. Cyprus, 10. British Virgin Islands.
- Group 8: 1. Netherlands, 2. Argentina, 3. Austria, 4. Switzerland, 5. Greece, 6. Mexico, 7. Morocco, 8. U.S. Virgin Islands, 9. Bahamas.
Only two players from Nicaragua showed up in Nice, so the team had to forfeit their first match against Chile and subsequently withdrew from the tournament. Their single result was not counted in the group standings.
Finals
Final A # Country Players Average
ratingPoints MP 1 Soviet Union
Karpov, Korchnoi, Spassky, Petrosian, Tal, Kuzmin 2665 46 2 Yugoslavia
Gligorić, Ljubojević, Ivkov, Planinc, Velimirović, Parma 2566 37½ 3 United States
Kavalek, Byrne, Browne, Reshevsky, Lombardy, Tarjan 2586 36½ 22 4 Bulgaria
Radulov, Padevsky, Tringov, Popov, Spasov, Kirov 2475 36½ 21 5 Netherlands
Timman, Donner, Sosonko, Ree, Enklaar, Kuijpers 2478 35½ 6 Hungary
Portisch, Bilek, Csom, Ribli, Forintos, Sax 2554 35 7 West Germany
Schmid, Unzicker, Pfleger, Hecht, Dueball, Kestler 2534 32 8 Romania
Gheorghiu, Ciocâltea, Ghiţescu, Ghizdavu, Partoş, Pavlov 2468 29½ 16 9 Czechoslovakia
Hort, Jansa, Filip, Přibyl, Plachetka, Lechtýnský 2521 29½ 14 10 England
Hartston, Keene, Penrose, Whiteley, Stean, Markland 2456 26 11 Philippines
Torre, Cardoso, Naranja, Balinas, Lontoc, Bordonada 2358 25½ 12 12 Spain
Pomar, Torán, Calvo, Bellón López, Visier Segovia, Sanz 2428 25½ 11 13 Sweden
Andersson, Ornstein, Jansson, Liljedahl, Uddenfeldt, Kinnmark 2448 25 14 Argentina
Quinteros, Sanguineti, Najdorf, Rubinetti, Szmetan, Debarnot 2491 23½ 15 Finland
Westerinen, Poutiainen, Rantanen, Hurme, Venäläinen, Raaste 2319 22 16 Wales
Williams, Hutchings, Jones, Cooper, Sully, Trevelyan 2285 14½ Final B # Country Average
ratingPoints MP 17 Israel
2465 40½ 18 Austria
2388 38½ 19 Italy
2428 38 20 Colombia
2354 32½ 21 Norway
2410 32 19 22 Iceland
2456 32 18 23 Poland
2430 32 17 24 Canada
2419 31 18 25 Cuba
2423 31 15 26 Denmark
2405 31 14 27 Switzerland
2380 29 28 France
2381 27½ 29 Scotland
2319 25½ 30 Belgium
2323 23½ 31 Portugal
2306 19½ 32 Tunisia
2200 17½ Final C # Country Average
ratingPoints MP 33 Australia
2286 39 34 Iran
2320 34½ 35 Brazil
2424 32½ 36 Mongolia
2364 31½ 37 Ireland
2245 30½ 38 Chile
2384 30 17 39 Indonesia
2249 30 14 40 Greece
2263 27½ 16 41 Mexico
2283 27½ 14 42 Turkey
2265 27 43 Singapore
2219 25 44 Venezuela
2203 24½ 45 New Zealand
2230 22½ 46 Ecuador
2213 22 47 Syria
2200 16 - South Africa[2]
2228 - Final D # Country Average
ratingPoints MP 48 Pakistan
2200 49½ 49 Puerto Rico
2203 44½ 50 Dominican Republic
2200 43½ 51 Luxembourg
2201 38½ 52 Lebanon
2206 35 20 53 Uruguay
2200 35 17 54 Panama
2200 33 55 Mongolia
2200 29½ 56 Malta
2206 29 57 Hong Kong
2240 27½ 13 58 Faroe Islands
2200 27½ 12 59 Malaysia
2200 24½ 60 Morocco
2200 21½ 61 Jordan
2200 17½ 62 Guernsey
2200 12 2 63 United States Virgin Islands
2200 12 2 Final E # Country Average
ratingPoints 64 Rhodesia
2200 28½ 65 Iraq
2200 24½ 66 Netherlands Antilles
2200 21½ 67 Japan
2200 20½ 68 Cyprus
2200 19 69 Trinidad and Tobago
2200 18 70 Algeria
2200 17 71 Andorra
2200 13 72 Bahamas
2200 11 73 British Virgin Islands
2200 8½
Individual medals
- Board 1:
Anatoly Karpov 12 / 14 = 85.7%
- Board 2:
Andreas Dückstein 10 / 12 = 83.3%
- Board 3:
Boris Spassky 11 / 15 = 73.3%
- Board 4:
Tigran Petrosian 12½ / 14 = 89.3%
- 1st reserve:
Mikhail Tal 11½ / 15 = 76.7%
- 2nd reserve:
James Tarjan and
Franciscus Kuijpers 11 / 13 = 84.6%
References
- 21st Chess Olympiad: Nice 1974 OlimpBase