21st Chess Olympiad
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, and awarded 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, and their Final C results were deleted from the overall standings. After FIDE president Max Euwe failed to have Rhodesia ejected from the Olympiad, they were allowed to finish the tournament and won Final E, with help from default victories against Iraq and Algeria who refused to play them in protest.
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,
Nicaragua1 - 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.
1 Only two players from the Nicaraguan arrived in Nice, and after the team were forced to forfeit their first match against Chile, Nicaragua withdrew from the tournament. The forfeit was deleted from the Group 4 standings.
Finals
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 WD 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