22nd Chess Olympiad
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The 22nd Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE, took place between October 26 and November 10, 1976, in Haifa, Israel. For the first time, the event comprised both an open[1] and a women's tournament.
Another first was the change in format. The growing number of teams (74 at the previous Olympiad) had made it impossible to continue with the previous system of round-robin preliminary and final groups, so beginning in Haifa, the open event was played as a Swiss system tournament (the women's event had fewer participants and did not use the Swiss system until 1980).
The first Swiss system Olympiad ended up with significantly fewer teams, however. International politics once again interfered in the world of sports, as a large number of FIDE member nations withdrew in protest against the Olympiad being held in Israel, a country many of them didn't recognize. Among the nations that stayed away from Haifa were all of the Arab countries, some of which took part in the alternative Against Chess Olympiad instead. Other absentees were the entire Eastern Bloc, including most of the usual medal candidates. A number of Eastern European players had recently defected, however, and now represented various Western countries.
In the absence of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Hungary, the US team had the highest average rating and had to be considered favourites, even without Bobby Fischer. In the end, they lived up to expectations and won the gold medals, by half a point. The Netherlands and England took home the silver and bronze, respectively.
Open event
Forty-eight nations played 13 rounds. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by match points, then by using the Buchholz system.
Open event # Country Players Average
ratingPoints 1 United States
Byrne, Kavalek, Evans, Tarjan, Lombardy, Commons 2535 37 2 Netherlands
Timman, Sosonko, Donner, Ree, Ligterink, Kuijpers 2490 36½ 3 England
Miles, Keene, Hartston, Stean, Mestel, Nunn 2463 35½ # Country Average
ratingPoints MP Buchholz 4 Argentina
2513 33 5 West Germany
2485 31 6 Israel
2490 29½ 7 Switzerland
2391 29 8 Canada
2428 28½ 15 9 Spain
2399 28½ 12 10 Colombia
2365 28 11 Norway
2331 27½ 16 12 Sweden
2453 27½ 15 376.5 13 Italy
2385 27½ 15 361.5 14 Wales
2355 27½ 15 359.0 15 Paraguay
2216 27½ 14 16 Chile
2356 27½ 13 380.5 17 Australia
2390 27½ 13 367.5 18 Austria
2405 27½ 13 366.0 19 Finland
2374 27½ 13 346.5 20 Philippines
2418 27 17 21 New Zealand
2216 27 15 22 Iceland
2426 27 13 23 Venezuela
2275 26½ 13 24 Belgium
2326 26½ 11 25 Denmark
2340 26½ 10 26 France
2320 26 14 351.0 27 Dominican Republic
2200 26 14 300.5 28 Uruguay
2203 26 13 29 Honduras
2200 26 9 30 Thailand
2200 25½ 12 31 Iran
2303 25½ 11 367.5 32 Costa Rica
2200 25½ 11 324.0 33 Scotland
2321 25½ 10 34 Guernsey
2200 25 14 35 Ireland
2214 25 12 36 Luxembourg
2250 24½ 13 37 Guatemala
2200 24½ 12 321.0 38 Japan
2200 24½ 12 296.0 39 Hong Kong
2245 24½ 12 291.5 40 Bolivia
2200 24½ 11 41 Bermuda
2200 24 42 Andorra
2200 23 43 Monaco
2200 22 44 Faroe Islands
2201 21½ 45 Papua New Guinea
2200 18 46 United States Virgin Islands
2200 15½ 47 British Virgin Islands
2203 13½ 48 Netherlands Antilles
2200 7½
Individual medals
- Board 1:
Jan Timman 8½ / 11 = 77.3%
- Board 2:
Gennadi Sosonko 6 / 8 = 75.0%
- Board 3:
Marcelo Carrión 9 / 11 = 81.8%
- Board 4:
Michael Stean 5½ / 8 = 68.8%
- 1st reserve:
Boris de Greiff 5½ / 7 = 78.6%
- 2nd reserve:
Kim Commons 7½ / 9 = 83.3%
Women's results
Twenty-three nations took part in the women's Olympiad. From four preliminary groups the teams were split into three finals. Israel, led by former World Championship challenger Kushnir, proved to be bad hosts by claiming the gold for themselves, ahead of England and Spain.
Preliminaries
- Group 1: 1. Israel, 2. Australia, 3. Argentina, 4. Colombia, 5. Austria.
- Group 2: 1. Netherlands, 2. Denmark, 3. Finland, 4. Canada, 5. Wales, 6. Japan.
- Group 3: 1. England, 2. Spain, 3. France, 4. Italy, 5. Sweden, 6. New Zealand.
- Group 4: 1. United States, 2. West Germany, 3. Philippines, 4. Ireland, 5. Switzerland, 6. Scotland.
Finals
Final A # Country Players Average
ratingPoints MP 1 Israel
Kushnir, Kristol, Podrazhanskaya, Nudelman 2182 17 2 England
Hartston, Jackson, Pritchard, Caldwell 2115 11½ 8 3 Spain
Ferrer, García, Pino García Padrón, Canela 1890 11½ 7 # Country Average
ratingPoints MP 4 United States
2112 10½ 5 Netherlands
2182 9½ 6 West Germany
2070 9 7 Australia
1958 8½ 8 Denmark
1917 6½ Final B # Country Average
ratingPoints MP 9 Canada
1907 13½ 10 Italy
1800 12 11 Argentina
1800 11½ 12 Ireland
1897 10½ 13 Finland
1852 10 14 France
1880 9½ 6 15 Colombia
1800 9½ 5 16 Philippines
1800 7 Final C # Country Average
ratingPoints MP 17 Switzerland
1875 12 10 18 Austria
1940 12 9 19 Sweden
2012 11½ 20 Japan
1830 11 21 Scotland
1810 7½ 22 Wales
1800 6½ 23 New Zealand
1800 2½
Individual medals
- Board 1:
Alla Kushnir 7½ / 8 = 93.8%
- Board 2:
Nava Shterenberg 9 / 10 = 90.0%
- Board 3:
Hyroko Maeda 6½ / 8 = 81.3%
- Reserve:
Lea Nudelman 6½ / 7 = 92.9%
References
- ↑ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
- 22nd Chess Olympiad: Haifa 1976 OlimpBase