Chess Olympiad 2010: History

The 39th Chess Olympiad will be held in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia from September 19 - October 4.

The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.

Birth of the Olympiad

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. 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. FIDE organised the first Official Olympiad in 1927 which took place in London. The Olympiads were occasionally held annually and at irregular intervals until World War II; since 1950 they have been held regularly every two years.

Growth of Chess Olympiads

There were 16 participating nations in the 1st Chess Olympiad, 1927. By the 37th Chess
Olympiad, 2006, there were 133 participating nations. The olympiad was created by a Maltese man by the name of Joseph Pisani-Rossi.

Competition

Each FIDE recognized chess association can enter a team into the Olympiad (for the UK one team for each of the four countries plus Guernsey and Jersey can enter a team separately).Each team is made of up to six players, four regular players and two reserves (changed to 4+1 in Dresden 2008).Initially each team played all other teams but as the event grew over the years this became impossible. At first team seeding took place before the competition.Later certain
drawbacks were recognized with seeding and in 1976 a Swiss tournament system was adopted.
The trophy for winning the men's team is the Hamilton-Russell Cup,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 will be consigned to the next
winner. The trophy for the winning women's team is known as the Vera Menchik Cup the first
Women's World Chess Champion.The 2008 Olympiad was held in Dresden, Germany.The 2010 Olympiad is going to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, and the 2012 Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey . The bids for the 2014 Olympiad includes Tromso, Norway and Albena, Bulgaria.

Men's Olympiads

Year /Event /Location /Gold /Silver /Bronze
1924 1st unofficial Chess OlympiadThe Chess Olympiad (individual) Paris, France Czechoslovakia 31 Hungary 30 Switzerland 29

1926 2nd unofficial Chess OlympiadThe Team Tournament(part of FIDE summit) Budapest, Hungary Hungary 9 Yugoslavia 8 Romania 5

1927 1st Chess Olympiad London, United Kingdom Hungary 40 Denmark 38.5 England 36.5

1928 2nd Chess Olympiad The Hague, Netherlands Hungary 44 USA 39.5 Poland 37

1930 3rd Chess Olympiad Hamburg, Germany Poland 48.5 Hungary 47 Germany 44.5

1931 4th Chess Olympiad Prague, Czechoslovakia USA 48 Poland 47 Czechoslovakia 46.5

1933 5th Chess Olympiad Folkestone, United Kingdom USA 39 Czechoslovakia 37.5 Sweden 34

1935 6th Chess Olympiad Warsaw, Poland USA 54 Sweden 52.5 Poland 52

1936 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiadnon-FIDE unofficial Chess Olympiad Munich, Germany Hungary 110.5 Poland 108 Germany 106.5

1937 7th Chess Olympiad Stockholm, Sweden USA 54.5 Hungary 48.5 Poland 47

1939 8th Chess Olympiad Buenos Aires, Argentina Germany 36 Poland 35.5 Estonia 33.5

1950 9th Chess Olympiad Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 45.5 Argentina 43.5 W. Germany 40.5

1952 10th Chess Olympiad Helsinki, Finland USSR 21 Argentina 19.5 Yugoslavia 19

1954 11th Chess Olympiad Amsterdam, Netherlands USSR 34 Argentina 27 Yugoslavia 26.5

1956 12th Chess Olympiad Moscow, Soviet Union USSR 31 Yugoslavia 26.5 Hungary 26.5

1958 13th Chess Olympiad Munich, West Germany USSR 34.5 Yugoslavia 29 Argentina 25.5

1960 14th Chess Olympiad Leipzig, East Germany USSR 34 USA 29 Yugoslavia 27

1962 15th Chess Olympiad Varna, Bulgaria USSR 31.5 Yugoslavia 28 Argentina 26

1964 16th Chess Olympiad Tel Aviv, Israel USSR 36.5 Yugoslavia 32 W. Germany 30.5

1966 17th Chess Olympiad La Habana, Cuba USSR 39.5 USA 34.5 Hungary 33.5

1968 18th Chess Olympiad Lugano, Switzerland USSR 39.5 Yugoslavia 31 Bulgaria 30

1970 19th Chess Olympiad Siegen, West Germany USSR 27.5 Hungary 26.5 Yugoslavia 26

1972 20th Chess Olympiad Skopje, Yugoslavia USSR 42 Hungary 40.5 Yugoslavia 38

1974 21st Chess Olympiad Nice, France USSR 46 Yugoslavia 37.5 USA 36.5

1976 22nd Chess Olympiad * Haifa, Israel USA 37 Netherlands 36.5 England 35.5

1978 23rd Chess Olympiad Buenos Aires, Argentina Hungary 37 USSR 36 USA 35

1980 24th Chess Olympiad Valletta, Malta USSR 39 Hungary 39 USA 35

1982 25th Chess Olympiad Lucerne, Switzerland USSR 42.5 Czechoslovakia 36 USA 35

1984 26th Chess Olympiad Thessaloniki, Greece USSR 41 England 37 USA 35

1986 27th Chess Olympiad Dubai, UAE USSR 40 England 39 USA 38

1988 28th Chess Olympiad Thessaloniki, Greece USSR 40.5 England 34.5 Netherlands 34.5

1990 29th Chess Olympiad Novi Sad, Yugoslavia USSR 39 USA 35.5 England 35.5

1992 30th Chess Olympiad Manila, Philippines Russia 39 Uzbekistan 35 Armenia 34.5

1994 31st Chess Olympiad Moscow, Russia Russia 37.5 Bosnia/Herzegovina 35 Russia II 34.5

1996 32nd Chess Olympiad Yerevan, Armenia Russia 38.5 Ukraine 35 USA 34

1998 33rd Chess Olympiad Elista, Russia Russia 35.5 USA 34.5 Ukraine 32.5

2000 34th Chess Olympiad Istanbul, Turkey Russia 38 Germany 37 Ukraine 35.5

2002 35th Chess Olympiad Bled, Slovenia Russia 38.5 Hungary 37.5 Armenia 35

2004 36th Chess Olympiad Calviá, Spain Ukraine 39.5 Russia 36.5 Armenia 36.5

2006 37th Chess Olympiad Turin, Italy Armenia 36 China 34 USA 33

2008 38th Chess Olympiad Dresden, Germany Armenia 19 Israel 18 USA 17

2010 39th Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

2012 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul, Turkey