The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and 2021, with a rapid time control that affected players' online ratings.

Chess Olympiad
35th Chess Olympiad in Bled in October 2002
StatusActive
GenreSports Event
FrequencyBiennial
Location(s)Various
Inaugurated1924 (1924)
Organised byFIDE
45th Chess Olympiad

The use of the name "Chess Olympiad" for FIDE's team championship is of historical origin and implies no connection with the Olympic Games.[not verified in body]

Birth of the Olympiad

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The first Olympiad was unofficial. For the 1924 Olympics an attempt was made to include chess in the Olympic Games but this failed because of problems with distinguishing between amateur and professional players.[1] While the 1924 Summer Olympics was taking place in Paris, the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad also took place in Paris. FIDE was formed on Sunday, July 20, 1924, the closing day of the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad.[2] FIDE organised the first Official Olympiad in 1927 which took place in London.[1] The Olympiads were occasionally held annually and at irregular intervals until World War II; since 1950 they have been held regularly every two years.[1]

Growth of Chess Olympiads
 
There were 16 participating nations in the 1st Chess Olympiad, 1927.
 
By the 41st Olympiad, 2014, there were 172 participating nations.
 
Bobby Fischer's score card from his round 3 game against Miguel Najdorf in the 1970 Chess Olympiad

Drug testing

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As a sporting federation recognized by the IOC, and particularly as a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) conventions,[3] FIDE adheres to their rules, including a requirement for doping tests,[4][5] which they are obligated to take at the events such as the Olympiad. The tests were first introduced in 2002 under significant controversy,[6] with the widespread belief that it was impossible to dope in chess. Research carried out by the Dutch chess federation failed to find a single performance-enhancing substance for chess.[7] According to Dr Helmut Pfleger, who has been conducting experiments in the field for around twenty years, "Both mentally stimulating and mentally calming medication have too many negative side effects".[7] Players such as Artur Yusupov,[8] Jan Timman[9] and Robert Hübner[10] either refused to play for their national team or to participate in events such as the Chess Olympiad where drug tests were administered. All 802 tests administered at the 2002 Olympiad came back negative.[11] However, in the 36th Chess Olympiad in 2004, two players refused to provide urine samples and had their scores cancelled.[12][13] Four years later, Vasyl Ivanchuk was not penalized for skipping a drug test at the 38th Chess Olympiad in 2008, with a procedural error being indicated instead.[14]

In 2010, a FIDE official commented that due to the work of the FIDE Medical Commission, the tests were now considered routine.[15] In November 2015, FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced they are working with WADA to define and identify doping in chess.[16]

Competition

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Each FIDE-recognized chess association can enter a team into the Olympiad.[1] Each team is made of up to five players, four regular players and one reserve (prior to the tournament in Dresden 2008 there were two reserves[17]).[1]

Initially each team played all other teams but as the event grew over the years this became impossible.[1] At first team seeding took place before the competition,[1] with teams playing in preliminary groups and then finals. Later certain drawbacks were recognized with seeding and in 1976 a Swiss tournament system was adopted.[1] Starting from 2008, the first criterion for determining ranking has been match points instead of board points. Teams score 2 points for a match win, 1 point for a drawn match and 0 points for a match loss.

The trophy for the winning team in the open section is the Hamilton-Russell Cup,[1] which was offered by the English magnate Frederick Hamilton-Russell as a prize for the 1st Olympiad (London 1927). The cup is kept by the winning team until the next event, when it is consigned to the next winner.

There is a separate women's competition. Since 1976 it has been held at the same time and venue as the open event, with the two competitions comprising the Chess Olympiad. The trophy for the winning women's team is known as the Vera Menchik Cup in honor of the first Women's World Chess Champion. Judit Polgár from Hungary is the only player who won Chess Olympiad medals in both competitions – two gold medals in the women's event (1988, 1990) and two silver medals in the open event (2002, 2014).

Results (open event)

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Year Event Host Gold Silver Bronze
1924 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad (individual)
  Paris, France   Czechoslovakia 31
Karel Hromádka, Jan Schulz, Karel Vaněk, Karel Skalička
  Hungary 30
Árpád Vajda, Károly Sterk, Endre Steiner, Kornél Havasi
   Switzerland 29
Erwin Voellmy, Otto Zimmermann, Hans Johner, Oskar Naegeli
1926 2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad
The Team Tournament
(part of FIDE summit)
  Budapest, Hungary   Hungary 9
Endre Steiner, Árpád Vajda, Károly Sterk, György Négyesy, Elek Bakonyi, Sándor Zinner
  Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes 8
Boris Kostić, Lajos Asztalos, Stevan Ćirić, Imre György
  Romania 5
János Balogh, Miklós Bródy, Alexandru Tyroler, Iosif Mendelssohn, Zeno Proca
1927 1st Chess Olympiad   London, United Kingdom   Hungary 40
Géza Maróczy, Géza Nagy, Árpád Vajda, Kornél Havasi, Endre Steiner
  Denmark 38½
Orla Hermann Krause, Holger Norman-Hansen, Erik Andersen, Karl Ruben
  England 36½
Henry Atkins, Fred Yates, George Thomas, Reginald Michell, Edmund Spencer
1928 2nd Chess Olympiad   The Hague, Netherlands   Hungary 44
Géza Nagy, Endre Steiner, Árpád Vajda, Kornél Havasi
  United States 39½
Isaac Kashdan, Herman Steiner, Samuel Factor, Erling Tholfsen, Milton Hanauer
  Poland 37
Kazimierz Makarczyk, Paulin Frydman, Teodor Regedziński, Mieczysław Chwojnik, Abram Blass
1930 3rd Chess Olympiad   Hamburg, Germany   Poland 48½
Akiba Rubinstein, Savielly Tartakower, Dawid Przepiórka, Kazimierz Makarczyk, Paulin Frydman
  Hungary 47
Géza Maróczy, Sándor Takács, Árpád Vajda, Kornél Havasi, Endre Steiner
  Germany 44½
Carl Ahues, Friedrich Sämisch, Carl Carls, Kurt Richter, Heinrich Wagner
1931 4th Chess Olympiad   Prague, Czechoslovakia   United States 48
Isaac Kashdan, Frank Marshall, Arthur Dake, Israel Horowitz, Herman Steiner
  Poland 47
Akiba Rubinstein, Savielly Tartakower, Dawid Przepiórka, Kazimierz Makarczyk, Paulin Frydman
  Czechoslovakia 46½
Salo Flohr, Karl Gilg, Josef Rejfíř, Karel Opočenský, Karel Skalička
1933 5th Chess Olympiad   Folkestone, United Kingdom   United States 39
Isaac Kashdan, Frank Marshall, Reuben Fine, Arthur Dake, Albert Simonson
  Czechoslovakia 37½
Salo Flohr, Karel Treybal, Josef Rejfíř, Karel Opočenský, Karel Skalička
  Sweden 34
Gideon Ståhlberg, Gösta Stoltz, Erik Lundin, Karl Berndtsson
1935 6th Chess Olympiad   Warsaw, Poland   United States 54
Reuben Fine, Frank Marshall, Abraham Kupchik, Arthur Dake, Israel Horowitz
  Sweden 52½
Gideon Ståhlberg, Gösta Stoltz, Erik Lundin, Gösta Danielsson, Ernst Larsson
  Poland 52
Savielly Tartakower, Paulin Frydman, Mieczysław Najdorf, Henryk Friedman, Kazimierz Makarczyk
1936 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad
non-FIDE unofficial Chess Olympiad
  Munich, Germany   Hungary 110½
Géza Maróczy, Lajos Steiner, Endre Steiner, Kornél Havasi, László Szabó, Gedeon Barcza, Árpád Vajda, Ernő Gereben, János Balogh, Imre Korody
  Poland 108
Paulin Frydman, Mieczysław Najdorf, Teodor Regedziński, Kazimierz Makarczyk, Henryk Friedman, Leon Kremer, Henryk Pogorieły, Antoni Wojciechowski, Franciszek Sulik, Jerzy Jagielski
  Germany 106½
Kurt Richter, Carl Ahues, Ludwig Engels, Carl Carls, Ludwig Rellstab, Friedrich Sämisch, Ludwig Rödl, Herbert Heinicke, Wilhelm Ernst, Paul Michel
1937 7th Chess Olympiad   Stockholm, Sweden   United States 54½
Samuel Reshevsky, Reuben Fine, Isaac Kashdan, Frank Marshall, Israel Horowitz
  Hungary 48½
Andor Lilienthal, László Szabó, Endre Steiner, Kornél Havasi, Árpád Vajda
  Poland 47
Savielly Tartakower, Mieczysław Najdorf, Paulin Frydman, Izaak Appel, Teodor Regedziński
1939 8th Chess Olympiad   Buenos Aires, Argentina   Germany 36
Erich Eliskases, Paul Michel, Ludwig Engels, Albert Becker, Heinrich Reinhardt
  Poland 35½
Savielly Tartakower, Mieczysław Najdorf, Paulin Frydman, Teodor Regedziński, Franciszek Sulik
  Estonia 33½
Paul Keres, Ilmar Raud, Paul Schmidt, Gunnar Friedemann, Johannes Türn
1950 9th Chess Olympiad   Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia   Yugoslavia 45½
Svetozar Gligorić, Vasja Pirc, Petar Trifunović, Braslav Rabar, Milan Vidmar Jr., Stojan Puc
  Argentina 43½
Miguel Najdorf, Julio Bolbochán, Carlos Guimard, Héctor Rossetto, Hermann Pilnik
  West Germany 40½
Wolfgang Unzicker, Lothar Schmid, Gerhard Pfeiffer, Ludwig Rellstab, Hans-Hilmar Staudte
1952 10th Chess Olympiad   Helsinki, Finland   Soviet Union 21
Paul Keres, Vasily Smyslov, David Bronstein, Efim Geller, Isaac Boleslavsky, Alexander Kotov
  Argentina 19½
Miguel Najdorf, Julio Bolbochán, Erich Eliskases, Hermann Pilnik, Héctor Rossetto
  Yugoslavia 19
Svetozar Gligorić, Braslav Rabar, Petar Trifunović, Vasja Pirc, Andrija Fuderer, Borislav Milić
1954 11th Chess Olympiad   Amsterdam, Netherlands   Soviet Union 34
Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, David Bronstein, Paul Keres, Efim Geller, Alexander Kotov
  Argentina 27
Miguel Najdorf, Julio Bolbochán, Oscar Panno, Carlos Guimard, Héctor Rossetto, Hermann Pilnik
  Yugoslavia 26½
Vasja Pirc, Svetozar Gligorić, Petar Trifunović, Braslav Rabar, Andrija Fuderer, Aleksandar Matanović
1956 12th Chess Olympiad   Moscow, Soviet Union   Soviet Union 31
Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Paul Keres, David Bronstein, Mark Taimanov, Efim Geller
  Yugoslavia 26½
Svetozar Gligorić, Aleksandar Matanović, Borislav Ivkov, Nikola Karaklajić, Borislav Milić, Božidar Đurašević
  Hungary 26½
László Szabó, Gedeon Barcza, Pál Benkő, György Szilágyi, Miklós Bély, Lajos Portisch
1958 13th Chess Olympiad   Munich, West Germany   Soviet Union 34½
Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Paul Keres, David Bronstein, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian
  Yugoslavia 29
Svetozar Gligorić, Aleksandar Matanović, Borislav Ivkov, Petar Trifunović, Božidar Đurašević, Andrija Fuderer
  Argentina 25½
Hermann Pilnik, Oscar Panno, Erich Eliskases, Rodolfo Redolfi, Raúl Sanguineti, Jaime Emma
1960 14th Chess Olympiad   Leipzig, East Germany   Soviet Union 34
Mikhail Tal, Mikhail Botvinnik, Paul Keres, Viktor Korchnoi, Vasily Smyslov, Tigran Petrosian
  United States 29
Bobby Fischer, William Lombardy, Robert Byrne, Arthur Bisguier, Nicolas Rossolimo, Raymond Weinstein
  Yugoslavia 27
Svetozar Gligorić, Aleksandar Matanović, Borislav Ivkov, Mario Bertok, Mato Damjanović, Milan Vukčević
1962 15th Chess Olympiad   Varna, Bulgaria   Soviet Union 31½
Mikhail Botvinnik, Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Paul Keres, Efim Geller, Mikhail Tal
  Yugoslavia 28
Svetozar Gligorić, Petar Trifunović, Aleksandar Matanović, Borislav Ivkov, Bruno Parma, Dragoljub Minić
  Argentina 26
Miguel Najdorf, Julio Bolbochán, Oscar Panno, Raúl Sanguineti, Héctor Rossetto, Alberto Foguelman
1964 16th Chess Olympiad   Tel Aviv, Israel   Soviet Union 36½
Tigran Petrosian, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Paul Keres, Leonid Stein, Boris Spassky
  Yugoslavia 32
Svetozar Gligorić, Borislav Ivkov, Aleksandar Matanović, Bruno Parma, Mijo Udovčić, Milan Matulović
  West Germany 30½
Wolfgang Unzicker, Klaus Darga, Lothar Schmid, Helmut Pfleger, Dieter Mohrlok, Wolfram Bialas
1966 17th Chess Olympiad   Havana, Cuba   Soviet Union 39½
Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Tal, Leonid Stein, Viktor Korchnoi, Lev Polugaevsky
  United States 34½
Bobby Fischer, Robert Byrne, Pal Benko, Larry Evans, William Addison, Nicolas Rossolimo
  Hungary 33½
Lajos Portisch, László Szabó, István Bilek, Levente Lengyel, Győző Forintos, László Bárczay
1968 18th Chess Olympiad   Lugano, Switzerland   Soviet Union 39½
Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Viktor Korchnoi, Efim Geller, Lev Polugaevsky, Vasily Smyslov
  Yugoslavia 31
Svetozar Gligorić, Borislav Ivkov, Aleksandar Matanović, Milan Matulović, Bruno Parma, Dragoljub Čirić
  Bulgaria 30
Milko Bobotsov, Georgi Tringov, Nikola Padevsky, Atanas Kolarov, Ivan Radulov, Peicho Peev
1970 19th Chess Olympiad   Siegen, West Germany   Soviet Union 27½
Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Viktor Korchnoi, Lev Polugaevsky, Vasily Smyslov, Efim Geller
  Hungary 26½
Lajos Portisch, Levente Lengyel, István Bilek, Győző Forintos, István Csom, Zoltán Ribli
  Yugoslavia 26
Svetozar Gligorić, Borislav Ivkov, Milan Matulović, Aleksandar Matanović, Bruno Parma, Dragoljub Minić
1972 20th Chess Olympiad   Skopje, Yugoslavia   Soviet Union 42
Tigran Petrosian, Viktor Korchnoi, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Savon
  Hungary 40½
Lajos Portisch, István Bilek, Győző Forintos, Zoltán Ribli, István Csom, Gyula Sax
  Yugoslavia 38
Svetozar Gligorić, Borislav Ivkov, Ljubomir Ljubojević, Aleksandar Matanović, Milan Matulović, Josip Rukavina
1974 21st Chess Olympiad   Nice, France   Soviet Union 46
Anatoly Karpov, Viktor Korchnoi, Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Mikhail Tal, Gennady Kuzmin
  Yugoslavia 37½
Svetozar Gligorić, Ljubomir Ljubojević, Borislav Ivkov, Albin Planinc, Dragoljub Velimirović, Bruno Parma
  United States 36½
Lubomir Kavalek, Robert Byrne, Walter Browne, Samuel Reshevsky, William Lombardy, James Tarjan
1976 22nd Chess Olympiad *   Haifa, Israel   United States 37
Robert Byrne, Lubomir Kavalek, Larry Evans, James Tarjan, William Lombardy, Kim Commons
  Netherlands 36½
Jan Timman, Gennadi Sosonko, Jan Hein Donner, Hans Ree, Gert Ligterink, Franciscus Kuijpers
  England 35½
Tony Miles, Raymond Keene, William Hartston, Michael Stean, Jonathan Mestel, John Nunn
1976 Against Chess Olympiad   Tripoli, Libya   El Salvador 38½
Antonio Grimaldi, René Grimaldi, Salvador Infante, Roberto Camacho, Boris Pineda, Manuel Velásquez
  Tunisia 36
Slim Bouaziz, Ridha Belkadi, Ahmed Drira, Sbia
  Pakistan 34½
Zahiruddin Farooqui, Rahat Ali, Nazir Ahmad, Shahzad Mirza, Gholam Mohiuddin, Shaikh Mazhar Hussain
1978 23rd Chess Olympiad   Buenos Aires, Argentina   Hungary 37
Lajos Portisch, Zoltán Ribli, Gyula Sax, András Adorján, István Csom, László Vadász
  Soviet Union 36
Boris Spassky, Tigran Petrosian, Lev Polugaevsky, Boris Gulko, Oleg Romanishin, Rafael Vaganian
  United States 35
Lubomir Kavalek, Walter Browne, Anatoly Lein, Robert Byrne, James Tarjan, William Lombardy
1980 24th Chess Olympiad   Valletta, Malta   Soviet Union 39
Anatoly Karpov, Lev Polugaevsky, Mikhail Tal, Efim Geller, Yuri Balashov, Garry Kasparov
  Hungary 39
Lajos Portisch, Zoltán Ribli, Gyula Sax, István Csom, Iván Faragó, József Pintér
  Yugoslavia 35
Ljubomir Ljubojević, Borislav Ivkov, Bruno Parma, Bojan Kurajica, Slavoljub Marjanović, Predrag Nikolić
1982 25th Chess Olympiad   Lucerne, Switzerland   Soviet Union 42½
Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Lev Polugaevsky, Alexander Beliavsky, Mikhail Tal, Artur Yusupov
  Czechoslovakia 36
Vlastimil Hort, Jan Smejkal, Ľubomír Ftáčnik, Vlastimil Jansa, Ján Plachetka, Jan Ambrož
  United States 35½
Walter Browne, Yasser Seirawan, Lev Alburt, Lubomir Kavalek, James Tarjan, Larry Christiansen
1984 26th Chess Olympiad   Thessaloniki, Greece   Soviet Union 41
Alexander Beliavsky, Lev Polugaevsky, Rafael Vaganian, Vladimir Tukmakov, Artur Yusupov, Andrei Sokolov
  England 37
Tony Miles, John Nunn, Jon Speelman, Murray Chandler, Jonathan Mestel, Nigel Short
  United States 35
Roman Dzindzichashvili, Lubomir Kavalek, Larry Christiansen, Walter Browne, Lev Alburt, Nick de Firmian
1986 27th Chess Olympiad   Dubai, United Arab Emirates   Soviet Union 40
Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Andrei Sokolov, Artur Yusupov, Rafael Vaganian, Vitaly Tseshkovsky
  England 39½
Tony Miles, John Nunn, Nigel Short, Murray Chandler, Jon Speelman, Glenn Flear
  United States 38½
Yasser Seirawan, Larry Christiansen, Lubomir Kavalek, John Fedorowicz, Nick de Firmian, Maxim Dlugy
1988 28th Chess Olympiad   Thessaloniki, Greece   Soviet Union 40½
Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Artur Yusupov, Alexander Beliavsky, Jaan Ehlvest, Vassily Ivanchuk
  England 34½
Nigel Short, Jon Speelman, John Nunn, Murray Chandler, Jonathan Mestel, William Watson
  Netherlands 34½
John van der Wiel, Gennadi Sosonko, Paul van der Sterren, Jeroen Piket, Marinus Kuijf, Rudy Douven
1990 29th Chess Olympiad   Novi Sad, Yugoslavia   Soviet Union 39
Vassily Ivanchuk, Boris Gelfand, Alexander Beliavsky, Artur Yusupov, Leonid Yudasin, Evgeny Bareev
  United States 35½
Yasser Seirawan, Boris Gulko, Larry Christiansen, Joel Benjamin, John Fedorowicz, Nick de Firmian
  England 35½
Nigel Short, Jon Speelman, John Nunn, Michael Adams, Murray Chandler, Julian Hodgson
1992 30th Chess Olympiad   Manila, Philippines   Russia 39
Garry Kasparov, Alexander Khalifman, Sergey Dolmatov, Alexey Dreev, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexey Vyzmanavin
  Uzbekistan 35
Valery Loginov, Grigory Serper, Alexander Nenashev, Sergey Zagrebelny, Mihail Saltaev, Saidali Iuldachev
  Armenia 34½
Rafael Vaganian, Vladimir Akopian, Smbat Lputian, Artashes Minasian, Arshak Petrosian, Ashot Anastasian
1994 31st Chess Olympiad   Moscow, Russia   Russia 37½
Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Evgeny Bareev, Alexey Dreev, Sergei Tiviakov, Peter Svidler
  Bosnia and Herzegovina 35
Predrag Nikolić, Ivan Sokolov, Bojan Kurajica, Emir Dizdarević, Nebojša Nikolić, Rade Milovanović
  Russia "B" 34½
Alexander Morozevich, Vadim Zvjaginsev, Mikhail Ulibin, Sergei Rublevsky, Konstantin Sakaev, Vasily Yemelin
1996 32nd Chess Olympiad   Yerevan, Armenia   Russia 38½
Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexey Dreev, Peter Svidler, Evgeny Bareev, Sergei Rublevsky
  Ukraine 35
Vasyl Ivanchuk, Vladimir Malaniuk, Oleg Romanishin, Igor Novikov, Alexander Onischuk, Stanislav Savchenko
  United States 34
Boris Gulko, Alex Yermolinsky, Nick de Firmian, Gregory Kaidanov, Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen
1998 33rd Chess Olympiad   Elista, Russia   Russia 35½
Peter Svidler, Sergei Rublevsky, Evgeny Bareev, Alexander Morozevich, Vadim Zvjaginsev, Konstantin Sakaev
  United States 34½
Alex Yermolinsky, Alexander Shabalov, Yasser Seirawan, Boris Gulko, Nick de Firmian, Gregory Kaidanov
  Ukraine 32½
Vasyl Ivanchuk, Alexander Onischuk, Oleg Romanishin, Vladimir Malaniuk, Stanislav Savchenko, Ruslan Ponomariov
2000 34th Chess Olympiad   Istanbul, Turkey   Russia 38
Alexander Khalifman, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler, Sergei Rublevsky, Konstantin Sakaev, Alexander Grischuk
  Germany 37
Artur Yusupov, Robert Hübner, Rustem Dautov, Christopher Lutz, Klaus Bischoff, Thomas Luther
  Ukraine 35½
Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomariov, Vladimir Baklan, Vereslav Eingorn, Oleg Romanishin, Vadim Malakhatko
2002 35th Chess Olympiad   Bled, Slovenia   Russia 38½
Garry Kasparov, Alexander Grischuk, Alexander Khalifman, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler, Sergei Rublevsky
  Hungary 37½
Péter Lékó, Judit Polgár, Zoltán Almási, Zoltán Gyimesi, Róbert Ruck, Péter Ács
  Armenia 35
Vladimir Akopian, Smbat Lputian, Karen Asrian, Gabriel Sargissian, Artashes Minasian, Ashot Anastasian
2004 36th Chess Olympiad   Calvià, Spain   Ukraine 39½
Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomariov, Andrei Volokitin, Alexander Moiseenko, Pavel Eljanov, Sergey Karjakin
  Russia 36½
Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, Alexey Dreev, Alexander Khalifman, Vadim Zvjaginsev
  Armenia 36½
Vladimir Akopian, Levon Aronian, Rafael Vaganian, Smbat Lputian, Gabriel Sargissian, Artashes Minasian
2006 37th Chess Olympiad   Turin, Italy   Armenia 36
Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Karen Asrian, Smbat Lputian, Gabriel Sargissian, Artashes Minasian
  China 34
Bu Xiangzhi, Zhang Zhong, Zhang Pengxiang, Wang Yue, Ni Hua, Zhao Jun
  United States 33
Gata Kamsky, Alexander Onischuk, Hikaru Nakamura, Ildar Ibragimov, Gregory Kaidanov, Varuzhan Akobian
2008 38th Chess Olympiad   Dresden, Germany   Armenia 19
Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, Tigran L. Petrosian, Artashes Minasian
  Israel 18
Boris Gelfand, Michael Roiz, Boris Avrukh, Evgeny Postny, Maxim Rodshtein
  United States 17
Gata Kamsky, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Onischuk, Yury Shulman, Varuzhan Akobian
2010 39th Chess Olympiad   Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia   Ukraine 19
Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomariov, Pavel Eljanov, Zahar Efimenko, Alexander Moiseenko
  Russia 18
Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Sergey Karjakin, Vladimir Malakhov
  Israel 17
Boris Gelfand, Emil Sutovsky, Ilya Smirin, Maxim Rodshtein, Victor Mikhalevski
2012 40th Chess Olympiad   Istanbul, Turkey   Armenia 19
Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, Tigran L. Petrosian
  Russia 19
Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Dmitry Jakovenko
  Ukraine 18
Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomariov, Andrei Volokitin, Pavel Eljanov, Alexander Moiseenko
2014 41st Chess Olympiad   Tromsø, Norway   China 19
Wang Yue, Ding Liren, Yu Yangyi, Ni Hua, Wei Yi
  Hungary 17
Péter Lékó, Csaba Balogh, Zoltán Almási, Richárd Rapport, Judit Polgár
  India 17
Parimarjan Negi, Panayappan Sethuraman, Krishnan Sasikiran, Adhiban Baskaran, Musunuri Rohit Lalit Babu
2016 42nd Chess Olympiad   Baku, Azerbaijan   United States 20
Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, Sam Shankland, Ray Robson
  Ukraine 20
Pavel Eljanov, Ruslan Ponomariov, Yuriy Kryvoruchko, Anton Korobov, Andrei Volokitin
  Russia 18
Sergey Karjakin, Vladimir Kramnik, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alexander Grischuk
2018 43rd Chess Olympiad   Batumi, Georgia   China 18
Ding Liren, Yu Yangyi, Wei Yi, Bu Xiangzhi, Li Chao
  United States 18
Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura, Sam Shankland, Ray Robson
  Russia 18
Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Dmitry Jakovenko, Vladimir Kramnik, Nikita Vitiugov
2020 Online Chess Olympiad (Virtual)   India
Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna, Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Divya Deshmukh, Viswanathan Anand, Nihal Sarin, Vantika Agrawal, Aravindh Chithambaram, Bhakti Kulkarni, Rameshbabu Vaishali
  Russia
Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vladislav Artemiev, Kateryna Lagno, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Alexey Sarana, Polina Shuvalova, Daniil Dubov, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Andrey Esipenko, Alexander Grischuk, Valentina Gunina, Margarita Potapova
-   Poland
Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Radosław Wojtaszek, Monika Soćko, Karina Cyfka, Igor Janik, Alicja Śliwicka, Grzegorz Gajewski, Szymon Gumularz, Mateusz Bartel, Iweta Rajlich, Jolanta Zawadzka
  United States
Wesley So, Sam Shankland, Anna Zatonskih, Tatev Abrahamyan, Jeffery Xiong, Annie Wang, Carissa Yip, Ray Robson
2021 Online Chess Olympiad   China (Virtual)   Russia
Daniil Dubov, Vladislav Artemiev, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Andrey Esipenko, Polina Shuvalova, Kateryna Lagno, Leya Garifullina, Valentina Gunina, Alexander Grischuk, Vladimir Fedoseev, Volodar Murzin
  United States
Jeffery Xiong, Ray Robson, Irina Krush, Nazí Paikidze, Awonder Liang, Thalia Cervantes Landeiro, Dariusz Świercz, Anna Zatonskih
  China
Ding Liren, Yu Yangyi, Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, Wang Shixu B, Ning Kaiyu, Xu Zhihang, Wei Yi, Lei Tingjie, Bu Xiangzhi, Zhu Jiner, Huang Qian
  India
Viswanathan Anand, Pentala Harikrishna, Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Nihal Sarin, Rameshbabu Vaishali, Vidit Gujrathi, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Adhiban Baskaran, Tania Sachdev, Bhakti Kulkarni, Savitha Shri B
2022 44th Chess Olympiad §   Chennai, India   Uzbekistan 19
Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Javokhir Sindarov, Jahongir Vakhidov, Shamsiddin Vokhidov
  Armenia 19
Gabriel Sargissian, Hrant Melkumyan, Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, Manuel Petrosyan, Robert Hovhannisyan
  India 2 18
Gukesh Dommaraju, Nihal Sarin, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Adhiban Baskaran, Raunak Sadhwani
2024 45th Chess Olympiad   Budapest, Hungary   India 21
Gukesh Dommaraju, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna
  United States 17
Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Leinier Domínguez, Levon Aronian, Ray Robson
  Uzbekistan 17
Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Javokhir Sindarov, Shamsiddin Vokhidov, Jahongir Vakhidov
2026 46th Chess Olympiad   Tashkent, Uzbekistan[18]
2028 47th Chess Olympiad   Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates[19]

* In 1976, the   Soviet Union, other Communist countries and Arabic countries did not compete for political reasons.
FIDE organized the online olympiads in 2020 and 2021 following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Russia and India were subsequently declared joint winners after several Indian team members experienced connectivity issues due to a global outage of Cloudflare servers in 2020 Online Chess Olympiad.
§ The 2022 event was originally planned to be held in Minsk, Belarus, but it was rescheduled to Moscow, which originally was host of the 2020 Olympiad, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FIDE made a statement in February 2022 that the tournament will not take place in Russia and will be shifted to Chennai, India.

Gaprindashvili Cup

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This trophy was created by FIDE in 1997 and named after Nona Gaprindashvili, the former women's World Champion (1962–1978). The trophy is awarded to the team that has the best overall performance across the open and women's divisions.

Russia won this trophy six times, China – three times, India and Ukraine – two times each.

Year First Second Third
1998   Russia   China   Georgia
2000   Russia   Ukraine   Georgia
2002   Russia   China   Hungary
2004   Russia   United States   Armenia
2006   China   Ukraine   Armenia
2008   Ukraine   Armenia   United States
2010   Russia   China   Ukraine
2012   Russia   China   Ukraine
2014   China   Russia   Ukraine
2016   Ukraine   United States   China
2018   China   Russia   Ukraine
2022   India   United States   India 2
2024   India   United States   Armenia

Medal tables

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Open event

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Symbol of the 6th Chess Olympiad in Warsaw 1935 by Jerzy Steifer

The table contains the Open teams ranked by the medals won at the Chess Olympiad (not including the online or unofficial events), ranked by the number of first-place medals, ties broken by second-place medals, etc.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Soviet Union181019
2  United States67821
3  Russia63312
4  Hungary37212
5  Armenia3137
6  Ukraine2237
7  China2103
8  Yugoslavia16613
9  Poland1236
10  Germany1113
  Uzbekistan1113
12  India1023
13  England0336
14  Argentina0325
15  Czechoslovakia0213
16  Israel0112
  Netherlands0112
  Sweden0112
19  Bosnia and Herzegovina0101
  Denmark0101
21  West Germany0022
22  Bulgaria0011
  Estonia0011
Totals (23 entries)454545135

Open and Women's events

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The table contains teams ranked by total number of medals won at the Chess Olympiad (not including the online or unofficial events) in the Open event (since 1927) and Women's event (since 1957), ranked by the number of first-place medals, ties broken by second-place medals, etc.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Soviet Union293032
2  Russia96621
3  China85417
4  United States681024
5  Hungary512421
6  Ukraine45615
7  Georgia4239
8  Armenia3137
9  India2035
10  Yugoslavia17715
11  Poland1359
12  Germany1113
  Israel1113
  Uzbekistan1113
15  Romania0527
16  England0437
17  Argentina0325
18  Czechoslovakia0224
19  Bulgaria0123
20  Netherlands0112
  Sweden0112
22  Bosnia and Herzegovina0101
  Denmark0101
  Kazakhstan0101
25  East Germany0033
  West Germany0033
27  Estonia0011
  Spain0011
Totals (28 entries)757575225

Most successful players in the open section

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Boldface denotes active chess players and highest medal count among all players (including these who not included in these tables) per type.

Multiple team champions

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Rank Player Country From To Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Tigran Petrosian   Soviet Union 1958 1978 9 1 10
2 Vasily Smyslov   Soviet Union 1952 1972 9 9
3 Garry Kasparov   Soviet Union
  Russia
1980 2002 8 8
Mikhail Tal   Soviet Union 1958 1982 8 8
5 Paul Keres   Estonia
  Soviet Union
1939 1964 7 1 8
6 Efim Geller   Soviet Union 1952 1980 7 7
7 Lev Polugaevsky   Soviet Union 1966 1984 6 1 7
Boris Spassky   Soviet Union 1962 1978 6 1 7
9 Mikhail Botvinnik   Soviet Union 1954 1964 6 6
Anatoly Karpov   Soviet Union 1972 1988 6 6
Viktor Korchnoi   Soviet Union 1960 1974 6 6

Multiple team medalists

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The table shows players who have won at least 7 team medals in total at the Chess Olympiads.

Rank Player Country From To Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Svetozar Gligorić   Yugoslavia 1950 1974 1 6 5 12
2 Tigran Petrosian   Soviet Union 1958 1978 9 1 10
3 Borislav Ivkov   Yugoslavia 1956 1980 6 4 10
4 Vasily Smyslov   Soviet Union 1952 1972 9 9
5 Aleksandar Matanović   Yugoslavia 1954 1972 5 4 9
6 Garry Kasparov   Soviet Union
  Russia
1980 2002 8 8
Mikhail Tal   Soviet Union 1958 1982 8 8
8 Paul Keres   Estonia
  Soviet Union
1939 1964 7 1 8
9 Vassily (Vasyl) Ivanchuk   Soviet Union
  Ukraine
1988 2012 4 1 3 8
10 Efim Geller   Soviet Union 1952 1980 7 7
11 Lev Polugaevsky   Soviet Union 1966 1984 6 1 7
Boris Spassky   Soviet Union 1962 1978 6 1 7
13 Peter Svidler   Russia 1994 2010 5 2 7
14 Vladimir Kramnik   Russia 1992 2018 3 2 2 7
15 Mieczysław (Miguel) Najdorf   Poland
  Argentina
1935 1962 4 3 7

Best individual results in the open section

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The best individual results in order of overall percentage are:

Rank
Player       Country       Ol. Gms.   +     =     –    %    Individual
medals
  Number of
ind. medals
  Team medals   Number of
team medals
  1  Mikhail Tal   Soviet Union 8 101  65  34   2 81.2 5 – 2 – 0 7 8 – 0 – 0 8
  2  Anatoly Karpov   Soviet Union 6 68  43  23   2 80.1 3 – 0 – 0 3 6 – 0 – 0 6
  3  Tigran Petrosian   Soviet Union 10 129  78  50   1 79.8 6 – 0 – 0 6 9 – 1 – 0 10
  4  Isaac Kashdan   United States 5 79  52  22   5 79.7 2 – 1 – 2 5 3 – 1 – 0 4
  5  Vasily Smyslov   Soviet Union 9 113  69  42   2 79.6 4 – 2 – 2 8 9 – 0 – 0 9
  6  David Bronstein   Soviet Union 4 49  30  18   1 79.6 3 – 1 – 0 4 4 – 0 – 0 4
  7  Garry Kasparov   Soviet Union (4)
  Russia (4)
8 82  50  29   3 78.7 3 – 1 – 2 6 8 – 0 – 0 8
  8  Alexander Alekhine   France 5 72  43  27   2 78.5 2 – 2 – 0 4 0 – 0 – 0 0
  9  Milan Matulović   Yugoslavia 6 78  46  28   4 76.9 1 – 2 – 0 3 0 – 2 – 2 4
10  Paul Keres   Estonia (3)
  Soviet Union (7)
10 141  85  44  12 75.9 5 – 1 – 1 7 7 – 0 – 1 8
11  Efim Geller   Soviet Union 7 76  46  23   7 75.7 3 – 3 – 0 6 7 – 0 – 0 7
12=  Israel Horowitz   United States 4 51  29  19   3 75.5 2 – 0 – 0 2 3 – 0 – 0 3
12=  James Tarjan   United States 5 51  32  13   6 75.5 2 – 0 – 1 3 1 – 0 – 3 4
14  Bobby Fischer   United States 4 65  40  18   7 75.4 0 – 2 – 1 3 0 – 2 – 0 2
15  Ian Nepomniachtchi   Russia 4 38  20  17   1 75.0 0 – 2 – 2 4 0 – 0 – 2 2
16  Mikhail Botvinnik   Soviet Union 6 73  39  31   3 74.7 2 – 1 – 2 5 6 – 0 – 0 6
17  Amon Simutowe   Zambia 4 37  23   9   5 74.3 0 – 1 – 0 1 0 – 0 – 0 0
18  Sam Shankland   United States 4 35  20  12   3 74.3 1 – 0 – 0 1 1 – 1 – 0 2
19  Yu Yangyi   China 4 42  22  18   2 73.8 1 – 1 – 0 2 2 – 0 – 0 2
20  Salo Flohr   Czechoslovakia 5 82  46  28   8 73.2 2 – 1 – 1 4 0 – 1 – 1 2
 
Fischer and Tal at the 1960 Olympiad
Notes
  • Only players participating in at least four Olympiads are included in this table.
  • Medals indicated in the order gold - silver - bronze. The statistics of individual medals includes only medals which are awarding to the top three individual players on each board. The medals for overall performance rating (awarded in 1984–2006) are not included into this statistics, but are listed separately below the table.
  • Anatoly Karpov won another individual silver medal for overall performance rating. In total he won 3 gold and 1 silver individual medals.
  • Garry Kasparov played his first four Olympiads for the Soviet Union, the rest for Russia. He won another four individual gold medals and one individual silver medal for overall performance rating. In total he won 7 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze individual medals.
  • Paul Keres played his first three Olympiads for Estonia, the rest for the Soviet Union.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Brace, Edward R. (1977), An Illustrated Dictionary of Chess, Hamlyn Publishing Group, p. 64, ISBN 1-55521-394-4
  2. ^ FIDE History by Bill Wall. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  3. ^ "Code Signatories". World Anti-Doping Agency. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  4. ^ Complete FIDE Anti-Doping Documents Archived 8 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine FIDE official website. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  5. ^ AM. "Chess WADA – Anti-Doping Policy, Nutrition and Health". www.fide.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  6. ^ Open letter from 50 players on drug testing (Web Archive)
  7. ^ a b "Controversy over FIDE doping check". 27 October 2002. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  8. ^ "Controversy over FIDE doping check". 27 October 2002. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  9. ^ "Indian men beat U.S." The Hindu. 4 November 2002. Retrieved 16 October 2017.[dead link]
  10. ^ Grossekathöfer, Maik (11 December 2008). "Outrage Over Ivanchuk: The Great Chess Doping Scandal". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 16 October 2017 – via Spiegel Online.
  11. ^ "Top Chess Blogs - Chess.com". Chess.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  12. ^ "Decision of the FIDE Doping Hearing Panel (Miller)" (PDF). Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  13. ^ "Decision of the FIDE Doping Hearing Panel (Press)" (PDF). Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  14. ^ "Decision of the FIDE Doping Hearing Panel". www.fide.com. Archived from the original on 23 January 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  15. ^ Minutes of 2010 FIDE General Assembly (page 24)
  16. ^ "ФИДЕ и ВАДА будут совместно выявлять допинг в шахматах". 24 November 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  17. ^ FIDE submits regulation changes for Chess Olympiad Archived 5 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Fide.com
  18. ^ Barden, Leonard (10 August 2022). "Chess: Uzbekistan win Olympiad while David Howell takes performance gold". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  19. ^ "Abu Dhabi and FIDE Sign Agreement for 47th Chess Olympiad".
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