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27th Chess Olympiad

The official logo for the Olympiad.

The 27th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 14 and December 2, 1986, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Once again, the Olympiad was marred by politics. With the event being held in an Arab nation, Israel couldn't participate, being in an official state of war with several Arab countries. In protest Western European nations like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands didn't come to Dubai. Strong individual players like Viktor Korchnoi, Robert Hübner, and Eric Lobron also stayed away.

With no championship match in progress at the time, the Soviet Union was again able to field the strongest possible team, led by reigning world champion Kasparov and ex-champion Karpov. Even so, they only finished half a point ahead of England - and they only managed to capture the top spot in the last round. The United States, who had led the table after the penultimate round, had to settle for the bronze medals.

Open event

The English team: Speelman, Short, Nunn, Miles

For the first time, the number of participants reached triple digits. 108 teams from 107 different nations played a 14-round Swiss system tournament. 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
rating
Points
1 Soviet Union Kasparov, Karpov, Sokolov, Yusupov, Vaganian, Tseshkovsky 2681 40
2 England Miles, Nunn, Short, Chandler, Speelman, Flear 2585 39½
3 United States Seirawan, Christiansen, Kavalek, Fedorowicz, De Firmian, Dlugy 2555 38½
# Country Average
rating
Points Buchholz MP
4 Hungary 2584 34½
5 Iceland 2526 34 466.0
6 Bulgaria 2479 34 465.0
7 China 2448 34 432.5
8 Czechoslovakia 2523 33 456.5
9 Cuba 2510 33 452.0
10 France 2499 33 443.5
11 Argentina 2501 33 443.0
12 Peru 2380 33 426.5
13 West Germany 2473 32½ 436.0
14 Austria 2394 32½ 421.0
15 Yugoslavia 2580 32 466.5
16 Poland 2445 32 446.0
17 Portugal 2385 32 420.0
18 Romania 2525 31½ 466.5
19 Indonesia 2418 31½ 445.5
20 Brazil 2433 31½ 444.0
21 Chile 2451 31½ 443.0
22 Scotland 2395 31½ 432.0
23 Canada 2406 31½ 420.0
24 Spain 2460 31 462.5
25 India 2389 31 413.5
26 Greece 2389 31 411.0
27 Italy 2413 30½ 434.0
28 Philippines 2348 30½ 424.0
29 Switzerland 2413 30½ 423.0
30 Belgium 2355 30½ 403.5
31 Australia 2419 30 426.5
32 Dominican Republic 2319 30 415.5
33 Singapore 2281 30 413.5 17
34 Finland 2415 30 413.5 15
35 Colombia 2403 30 405.5
36 Paraguay 2280 30 399.5
37 New Zealand 2321 30 396.5
38 Iraq 2214 30 393.5
39 Turkey 2344 29½ 425.5
40 Egypt 2269 29½ 419.0
41 Mexico 2316 29½ 409.5
42 Malaysia 2271 29½ 385.0
43 Ecuador 2323 29 420.5
44 Nicaragua 2264 29 412.5
45 Tunisia 2293 29 409.0
46 Ireland 2290 29 408.0
47 Venezuela 2243 29 404.0
48 Pakistan 2315 29 402.0
49 Lebanon 2239 29 391.0
50 Uruguay 2254 28½ 403.0
51 Wales 2314 28½ 401.0
52 Puerto Rico 2255 28½ 399.0
53 Guatemala 2264 28½ 397.5
54 El Salvador 2233 28½ 391.5
55 Costa Rica 2239 28 389.5
56 Malta 2251 28 388.5
57 Andorra 2215 28 373.5
58 Syria 2306 27½ 417.0
59 Thailand 2234 27½ 394.5
60 Bolivia 2213 27½ 388.5
61 Morocco 2200 27½ 381.5
62 Trinidad and Tobago 2201 27½ 374.0
63 North Yemen 2200 27½ 373.5
64 Palestine 2200 27½ 361.5
65 Bangladesh 2266 27 400.5
66 Nigeria 2201 27 383.0
67 Guernsey and Jersey 2218 27 377.0
68 Jordan 2200 27 374.0
69 Hong Kong 2240 27 373.0
70 Honduras 2200 27 372.5
71 Luxembourg 2203 26½ 394.5
72 United Arab Emirates 2221 26½ 384.0
73 Zimbabwe 2200 26½ 364.0
74 Haiti 2200 26½ 362.5
75 San Marino 2200 26½ 353.0
76 Sri Lanka 2280 26 402.5
77 Algeria 2203 26 394.0
78 Angola 2206 26 387.0
79 Libya 2203 26 367.5
80 Mauritania 2200 26 334.5
81 Mali 2200 26 329.5
82 Bahrain 2200 26 321.0
83 United Arab Emirates "B" 2201 25½ 372.0
84 Uganda 2201 25½ 354.5
85 Zambia 2201 25½ 351.5
86 Panama 2200 25 366.5
87 Barbados 2200 25 363.0
88 Senegal 2200 25 330.5
89 Cyprus 2200 24½ 379.5
90 Japan 2200 24½ 367.0
91 South Yemen 2200 24½ 360.0
92 Jamaica 2203 24 372.0
93 Kenya 2211 24 365.0
94 Sudan 2200 24 347.0
95 Ghana 2200 24 336.5
96 Fiji 2200 24 310.0
97 Brunei 2200 23½ 336.5
98 Netherlands Antilles 2200 23½ 324.5
99 Qatar 2200 23 346.0
100 Antigua and Barbuda 2200 23 332.0
101 Papua New Guinea 2204 23 308.5
102 British Virgin Islands 2201 22 328.5
103 Bahamas 2200 22 307.5
104 Bermuda 2200 20 312.5
105 Mauritania 2200 20 300.5
106 Botswana 2200 18½
107 Gambia 2200 14½
108 Seychelles 2200 5

Individual medals

Women's results

A total of 49 nations took part. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by using the Buchholz system, then by match points.

Like the open event, the women's tournament was dominated by the Soviet Union, captained by world champion Chiburdanidze, who won the gold medals by a comfortable margin. Hungary and Romania took silver and bronze, respectively.

The real star of the women's event, though, was 45-year-old ex-world champion Gaprindashvili, who won all of her 10 games and finished with an uncanny performance rating of 2877 - more than 100 points better than the best male.

# Country Players Average
rating
Points Buchholz
1 Soviet Union Chiburdanidze, Akhmilovskaya, Gaprindashvili, Alexandria 2358 33½
2 Hungary Verőci-Petronić, Mádl, Ivánka, Grosch 2247 29
3 Romania Mureşan, Nuţu, Polihroniade, Stanciu-Olăraşu 2178 28 343.5
# Country Average
rating
Points Buchholz
4 China 2133 28 342.0
5 Yugoslavia 2190 25½
6 West Germany 2153 25
7 Poland 2237 24½ 350.0
8 England 2222 24½ 344.0
9 Bulgaria 2148 23½
10 Cuba 2063 23
11 Brazil 2005 22½ 303.0
12 Austria 1967 22½ 288.0
13 Finland 1903 22½ 287.5
14 Spain 2087 22 339.5
15 France 2067 22 327.5
16 United States 2055 22 318.0
17 Scotland 1903 22 306.5
18 Greece 1977 21½ 324.5
19 India 2083 21½ 311.5
20 Ireland 1928 21½ 305.0
21 Wales 1988 21½ 291.5
22 Mexico 1900 21½ 235.5
23 Switzerland 2055 21 313.5
24 Argentina 1907 21 308.5
25 Indonesia 1925 21 302.0
26 Turkey 1912 21 299.5
27 Belgium 1902 21 291.0
28 Italy 1900 21 287.0
29 Colombia 1913 20½ 309.5
30 Philippines 1900 20½ 301.5
31 Dominican Republic 1902 20½ 294.5
32 Bangladesh 1960 20½ 286.0
33 Australia 1933 20½ 278.0
34 United Arab Emirates 1900 20½ 228.5
35 Iraq 1900 20 263.0
36 Guatemala 1900 20 246.5
37 Venezuela 1900 20 221.5
38 Uruguay 1900 20 218.0
39 Japan 1903 19½ 289.0
40 Malaysia 1900 19½ 263.0
41 New Zealand 1902 19½ 255.5
42 Portugal 1902 19½ 251.0
43 Syria 1900 19½ 229.0
44 Puerto Rico 1900 18½
45 Trinidad and Tobago 1902 16½ 223.5
46 Jamaica 1900 16½ 221.0
47 Nigeria 1900 15½
48 Seychelles 1900
49 Panama 1900

Individual medals

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