23rd Chess Olympiad
![](../I/m/Chess_Olympiad_Buenos_Aires_1978.gif)
The 23rd Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open[1] and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 25 and November 12, 1978, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
After the boycott two years earlier, the Eastern Bloc countries were back, including the Soviet team who, as usual, were huge favourites—but in the end they had to settle for the silver medal. Hungary, led by Lajos Portisch, caused quite an upset by taking the gold medals by a full point. The United States took the bronze.
Open event
Sixty-five nations played a 14-round Swiss system tournament. To make for an even number of teams, the Argentine hosts also fielded a "B" team. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by using the Buchholz system, then by match points.
Open event # Country Players Average
ratingPoints 1 Hungary
Portisch, Ribli, Sax, Adorján, Csom, Vadász 2570 37 2 Soviet Union
Spassky, Petrosian, Polugaevsky, Gulko, Romanishin, Vaganian 2620 36 3 United States
Kavalek, Browne, Lein, Byrne, Tarjan, Lombardy 2553 35 # Country Average
ratingPoints Buchholz 4 West Germany
2540 33 5 Israel
2509 32½ 442.5 6 Romania
2468 32½ 422.5 7 Denmark
2416 32 440.5 8 Poland
2449 32 437.0 9 Spain
2429 32 430.5 10 Switzerland
2484 32 426.0 11 Canada
2388 32 422.5 12 England
2508 31½ 452.5 13 Bulgaria
2486 31½ 437.0 14 Netherlands
2538 31½ 432.5 15 Yugoslavia
2558 31 438.0 16 Sweden
2453 31 437.5 17 Argentina
2409 31 418.0 18 Cuba
2486 30½ 437.0 19 Austria
2389 30½ 417.0 20 China
2273 30½ 413.5 21 Mexico
2361 30½ 393.5 22 Finland
2389 30 421.0 23 Colombia
2359 30 400.5 24 Philippines
2405 29½ 407.0 25 New Zealand
2270 29½ 396.0 26 Indonesia
2346 29½ 394.0 27 Brazil
2355 29½ 393.5 28 Iceland
2480 29 423.0 29 Chile
2395 29 417.0 30 Australia
2399 29 408.0 31 Norway
2409 29 398.0 - Argentina "B"
2329 28½ 413.0 32 Paraguay
2278 28½ 411.5 33 Scotland
2309 28 404.5 34 Venezuela
2253 28 401.5 35 Syria
2200 28 373.0 36 France
2358 27½ 425.0 37 Uruguay
2270 27½ 381.5 38 Dominican Republic
2229 27½ 380.5 39 Sri Lanka
2200 27½ 373.5 40 Hong Kong
2235 27½ 367.0 41 Wales
2324 27 403.5 42 Peru
2271 27 399.5 43 Guyana
2200 27 369.0 44 Japan
2200 27 359.0 45 Luxembourg
2219 27 353.0 46 Faroe Islands
2200 27 346.0 47 Belgium
2223 26½ 374.5 48 Guatemala
2200 26½ 358.0 49 Morocco
2200 26½ 356.0 50 Tunisia
2279 26 390.0 51 Ecuador
2266 26 381.5 52 Bolivia
2213 26 368.0 53 Trinidad and Tobago
2200 26 356.5 54 Jordan
2200 26 327.5 55 Jamaica
2200 25½ 56 Puerto Rico
2214 25 373.0 57 Malaysia
2200 25 365.5 58 Libya
2200 23½ 321.0 59 Mauritania
2200 23½ 319.5 60 Andorra
2200 22½ 61 United States Virgin Islands
2200 22 62 Bermuda
2200 20½ 63 Zaire
2200 16 64 United Arab Emirates
2200 12½ 328.5 65 British Virgin Islands
2213 12½ 327.5
Individual medals
- Board 1:
Viktor Korchnoi 9/11 = 81.8%
- Board 2:
Adam Kuligowski 10/13 = 76.9%
- Board 3:
Georgi Tringov 8½/11 = 77.3%
- Board 4:
Glenn Bordonada 7/9 = 77.8%
- 1st reserve:
James Tarjan 9½/11 = 86.4%
- 2nd reserve:
John Turner 6½/7 = 92.9%
Women's results
Thirty-two nations took part in the women's Olympiad. From four preliminary groups the teams were split into four finals. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by match points, then by using the Sonneborn-Berger system.
The Soviet team was back, and led by newly crowned world champion Chiburdanidze they secured the gold medals in a superior display, as well as all four individual board prizes. On the reserve board, Akhmilovskaya won all of her ten games, the only perfect score in Olympiad history. Hungary and West Germany took silver and bronze, respectively.
Preliminaries
- Group 1: 1. USSR, 2. England, 3. Netherlands, 4. France, 5. Mexico, 6. Finland, 7. Venezuela, 8. New Zealand.
- Group 2: 1. Hungary, 2. West Germany, 3. USA, 4. Argentina, 5. Denmark, 6. Scotland, 7. Iceland, 8. Monaco.
- Group 3: 1. Yugoslavia, 2. Poland, 3. India, 4. Sweden, 5. Canada, 6. Brazil, 7. Wales, 8. Bolivia.
- Group 4: 1. Spain, 2. Bulgaria, 3. Romania, 4. Australia, 5. Colombia, 6. Japan, 7. Puerto Rico, 8. Uruguay.
Finals
Final A # Country Players Average
ratingPoints MP S-B 1 Soviet Union
Chiburdanidze, Gaprindashvili, Alexandria, Akhmilovskaya 2370 16 2 Hungary
Verőci-Petronić, Ivánka, Makai, Kas 2260 11 8 43.00 3 West Germany
Laakmann, Fischdick, Hund, Weichert 2143 11 8 37.50 # Country Average
ratingPoints MP 4 Yugoslavia
2197 11 7 5 Poland
2147 10½ 6 Spain
2043 8½ 6 7 Bulgaria
2175 8½ 4 8 England
2130 7½ Final B # Country Average
ratingPoints MP 9 Sweden
2072 15 13 10 Romania
2183 15 11 11 Netherlands
2140 10 12 Argentina
1953 9½ 7 13 France
1935 9½ 4 14 United States
2110 9 15 India
1800 8½ 16 Australia
1975 7½ Final C # Country Average
ratingPoints MP S-B 17 Denmark
1967 13 9 42.25 18 Canada
1907 13 9 41.25 19 Colombia
1880 12 20 Brazil
1807 11½ 9 21 Finland
1893 11½ 8 22 Scotland
1813 1 23 Japan
1802 6½ 24 Mexico
1800 5½ Final D # Country Average
ratingPoints MP S-B 25 Wales
1880 17½ 26 Iceland
1800 13½ 27 Venezuela
1800 12 28 Bolivia
1800 10½ 7 34.25 29 Uruguay
1800 10½ 7 26.00 30 New Zealand
1800 10½ 7 25.25 31 Monaco
1800 5½ 32 Puerto Rico
1800 4
Individual medals
- Board 1:
Maia Chiburdanidze 9/11 = 81.8%
- Board 2:
Nona Gaprindashvili 9½/11 = 86.4%
- Board 3:
Nana Alexandria 8/10 = 80%
- Reserve:
Elena Akhmilovskaya 10/10 = 100%
References
- ↑ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
- 23rd Chess Olympiad: Buenos Aires 1978 OlimpBase