23rd Chess Olympiad
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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 HungaryPortisch, Ribli, Sax, Adorján, Csom, Vadász 2570 37 2 Soviet UnionSpassky, Petrosian, Polugaevsky, Gulko, Romanishin, Vaganian 2620 36 3 United StatesKavalek, Browne, Lein, Byrne, Tarjan, Lombardy 2553 35 # Country Average
ratingPoints Buchholz 4 West Germany2540 33 5 Israel2509 32½ 442.5 6 Romania2468 32½ 422.5 7 Denmark2416 32 440.5 8 Poland2449 32 437.0 9 Spain2429 32 430.5 10 Switzerland2484 32 426.0 11 Canada2388 32 422.5 12 England2508 31½ 452.5 13 Bulgaria2486 31½ 437.0 14 Netherlands2538 31½ 432.5 15 Yugoslavia2558 31 438.0 16 Sweden2453 31 437.5 17 Argentina2409 31 418.0 18 Cuba2486 30½ 437.0 19 Austria2389 30½ 417.0 20 China2273 30½ 413.5 21 Mexico2361 30½ 393.5 22 Finland2389 30 421.0 23 Colombia2359 30 400.5 24 Philippines2405 29½ 407.0 25 New Zealand2270 29½ 396.0 26 Indonesia2346 29½ 394.0 27 Brazil2355 29½ 393.5 28 Iceland2480 29 423.0 29 Chile2395 29 417.0 30 Australia2399 29 408.0 31 Norway2409 29 398.0 - Argentina "B"2329 28½ 413.0 32 Paraguay2278 28½ 411.5 33 Scotland2309 28 404.5 34 Venezuela2253 28 401.5 35 Syria2200 28 373.0 36 France2358 27½ 425.0 37 Uruguay2270 27½ 381.5 38 Dominican Republic2229 27½ 380.5 39 Sri Lanka2200 27½ 373.5 40 Hong Kong2235 27½ 367.0 41 Wales2324 27 403.5 42 Peru2271 27 399.5 43 Guyana2200 27 369.0 44 Japan2200 27 359.0 45 Luxembourg2219 27 353.0 46 Faroe Islands2200 27 346.0 47 Belgium2223 26½ 374.5 48 Guatemala2200 26½ 358.0 49 Morocco2200 26½ 356.0 50 Tunisia2279 26 390.0 51 Ecuador2266 26 381.5 52 Bolivia2213 26 368.0 53 Trinidad and Tobago2200 26 356.5 54 Jordan2200 26 327.5 55 Jamaica2200 25½ 56 Puerto Rico2214 25 373.0 57 Malaysia2200 25 365.5 58 Libya2200 23½ 321.0 59 Mauritania2200 23½ 319.5 60 Andorra2200 22½ 61 United States Virgin Islands2200 22 62 Bermuda2200 20½ 63 Zaire2200 16 64 United Arab Emirates2200 12½ 328.5 65 British Virgin Islands2213 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 UnionChiburdanidze, Gaprindashvili, Alexandria, Akhmilovskaya 2370 16 2 HungaryVerőci-Petronić, Ivánka, Makai, Kas 2260 11 8 43.00 3 West GermanyLaakmann, Fischdick, Hund, Weichert 2143 11 8 37.50 # Country Average
ratingPoints MP 4 Yugoslavia2197 11 7 5 Poland2147 10½ 6 Spain2043 8½ 6 7 Bulgaria2175 8½ 4 8 England2130 7½
Final B # Country Average
ratingPoints MP 9 Sweden2072 15 13 10 Romania2183 15 11 11 Netherlands2140 10 12 Argentina1953 9½ 7 13 France1935 9½ 4 14 United States2110 9 15 India1800 8½ 16 Australia1975 7½
Final C # Country Average
ratingPoints MP S-B 17 Denmark1967 13 9 42.25 18 Canada1907 13 9 41.25 19 Colombia1880 12 20 Brazil1807 11½ 9 21 Finland1893 11½ 8 22 Scotland1813 1 23 Japan1802 6½ 24 Mexico1800 5½
Final D # Country Average
ratingPoints MP S-B 25 Wales1880 17½ 26 Iceland1800 13½ 27 Venezuela1800 12 28 Bolivia1800 10½ 7 34.25 29 Uruguay1800 10½ 7 26.00 30 New Zealand1800 10½ 7 25.25 31 Monaco1800 5½ 32 Puerto Rico1800 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