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.

Official logo of the Olympiad.

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, Nicaragua 1
  • 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 team 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 A
#CountryPlayersAverage
rating		PointsMP
1 Soviet UnionKarpov, Korchnoi, Spassky, Petrosian, Tal, Kuzmin266546
2 YugoslaviaGligorić, Ljubojević, Ivkov, Planinc, Velimirović, Parma256637½
3 United StatesKavalek, Byrne, Browne, Reshevsky, Lombardy, Tarjan258636½22
4 BulgariaRadulov, Padevsky, Tringov, Popov, Spasov, Kirov247536½21
5 NetherlandsTimman, Donner, Sosonko, Ree, Enklaar, Kuijpers247835½
6 HungaryPortisch, Bilek, Csom, Ribli, Forintos, Sax255435
7 West GermanySchmid, Unzicker, Pfleger, Hecht, Dueball, Kestler253432
8 RomaniaGheorghiu, Ciocâltea, Ghițescu, Ghizdavu, Partoş, Pavlov246829½16
9 CzechoslovakiaHort, Jansa, Filip, Přibyl, Plachetka, Lechtýnský252129½14
10 EnglandHartston, Keene, Penrose, Whiteley, Stean, Markland245626
11 PhilippinesTorre, Cardoso, Naranja, Balinas, Lontoc, Bordonada235825½12
12 SpainPomar, Torán, Calvo, Bellón López, Visier Segovia, Sanz242825½11
13 SwedenAndersson, Ornstein, Jansson, Liljedahl, Uddenfeldt, Kinnmark244825
14 ArgentinaQuinteros, Sanguineti, Najdorf, Rubinetti, Szmetan, Debarnot249123½
15 FinlandWesterinen, Poutiainen, Rantanen, Hurme, Venäläinen, Raaste231922
16 WalesWilliams, Hutchings, Jones, Cooper, Sully, Trevelyan228514½

Individual medals

References
  1. Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
  2. The South African team was expelled from FIDE with three rounds remaining. Their matches were deleted from the overall standings.
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