Against Chess Olympiad
The Against Chess Olympiad (Arabic: الأولمبياد الضَاد الشطرنج al-Awlambayād aḍ-ḍādi ash-Shatranji) was arranged as an alternative to the official 22nd Chess Olympiad, held in Haifa, Israel, almost simultaneously. This unofficial Olympiad took place in Tripoli, Libyan Arab Republic from October 24 to November 15, 1976.
Against Chess Olympiad | |
---|---|
Dates run | 24 October – 15 November 1976 |
Competitors | |
Teams | 38 (Open) |
Nations | 34 (Open) |
Venue | Beach Hotel Tripoli |
Location | Tripoli, Libya |
Open | El Salvador Tunisia Pakistan |
Background
When FIDE decided to award the hosting of the 1976 Olympiad to Israel, it caused considerable controversy, as several countries, including the Soviet Union and all of the Arab nations, did not recognize the state of Israel. After FIDE refused to change the venue, the Soviet team boycotted the tournament in Haifa in protest, as did all the Soviet satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and the Arab member nations of FIDE.
The Arab nations held their own Olympiad in Tripoli at the same time as the official one. In the promotion material, this event was called the Against Israel Olympiad, but it has later become known by the politically less volatile name Against Chess Olympiad.[1] This implies that the tournament was against chess itself, which is not correct; the intended meaning was Chess Anti-Olympiad (analogous to antipope).[2]
While the unofficial Tripoli Olympiad was a highly charged political event, the actual chess played was on quite a different level. None of the major chess nations, Eastern or Western, came to Libya, meaning the field consisted of the Arab states, a number of minor chess nations, and some that were not members of FIDE at the time. No Grandmasters were present, and very few International Masters attended.
The Philippines, Italy, and Uruguay were the only nations to send teams to both Olympiads, and none of them won any medals at either event.
Results
Thirty-four teams played a 13-round Swiss system tournament. In a somewhat surprising outcome, the completely unknown Salvadoran team, which included 17-year-old talent Boris Pineda, took home the gold medals. Silver and bronze went to Tunisia and Pakistan, respectively.
# Country Points Players 1 El Salvador 38½ A. Grimaldi, R. Grimaldi, Infante, Camacho, Pineda, Velásquez 2 Tunisia 36 IM Bouaziz, IM Belkadi, Drira, Sbia 3 Pakistan 34½ IM Farooqi, Ali, Ahmad, Mirza, Mohiuddin, Mazhar Hussain # Country Points 4 Iraq 33½ 5 Italy 32½ 6 Turkey 32½ 7 Afghanistan 29½ 8 Nicaragua 27½ 9 Panama 27½ 10 Bangladesh 27 11 Sri Lanka 27 12 Portugal 27 13 Algeria 26½ 14 Morocco 26½ 15 Philippines 26½ 16 Kenya 26 17 Uruguay 26 18 South Yemen 26 19 Trinidad and Tobago 25½ 20 Malta 25½ 21 North Yemen 25½ 22 Madagascar 25½ 23 Lebanon 25 24 Libya 24½ 25 Jordan 24½ 26 Uganda 24½ 27 Kuwait 24½ 28 United Arab Emirates 20½ 29 Mauritius 20 30 Palestine 18½ 31 Mauritania 18½ 32 Gambia 18 33 Oman 18 34 Somalia 7
See also
- 22nd Chess Olympiad (Haifa 1976)
References
- "The Against Chess Olympiad". allermann.blogspot.ie.
- "The British Chess Magazine". Trubner & Company. July 9, 1982 – via Google Books.
- Against Chess Olympiad: Tripoli 1976 OlimpBase