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15th Chess Olympiad

The official poster of the Olympiad.

The 15th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between September 15 and October 10, 1962, in Varna, Bulgaria.

The Soviet team with 6 GMs, led by world champion Botvinnik, lived up to expectations and won their sixth consecutive gold medals, with Yugoslavia and Argentina taking the silver and bronze, respectively.

Results

Preliminaries

A total of 37 teams entered the competition and were divided into four preliminary groups of eight to ten teams each. The top three from each group advanced to Final A, the teams placed 4th-6th to Final B, and the rest to Final C, where they were joined by a Bulgarian "B" team that played outside the contest. All preliminary groups as well as Finals A and B were played as round-robin tournaments, while Final C with 14 teams was played as an 11 round Swiss system tournament.

The Soviet Union took first place in group 1, well ahead of the two German teams, East with half a point more than West. Sweden, Belgium, and Spain took the places 4-6, while Norway, Turkey, and Greece finished at the bottom of the group.

Group 2 was won by the United States, while the Bulgarian hosts and Romania were tied for second place. Israel, Mongolia, and Switzerland made up the middle part of the group, while Puerto Rico and Tunisia had to settle for Final C.

Yugoslavia clinched group 3, ahead of the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia. Poland, Iceland, and Finland had to settle for Final B. Meanwhile, France, Uruguay, Luxembourg, and Cyprus finished at the bottom of the group.

Group 4 was won by Argentina, ahead of Hungary and Austria. Denmark, Cuba, and England made up the middle part of the group, while Albania, India, Iran, and Ireland completed the field.

Final

Final A
# Country Players Points MP
1 Soviet Union Botvinnik, Petrosian, Spassky, Keres, Geller, Tal 31½
2 Yugoslavia Gligorić, Trifunović, Matanović, Ivkov, Parma, Minić 28
3 Argentina Najdorf, Bolbochán, Panno, Sanguineti, Rossett, Foguelman 26
4 United States Fischer, Benko, Evans, R. Byrne, D. Byrne, Mednis 25
5 Hungary Portisch, Szabó, Bilek, Barcza, Lengyel, Honfi 23
6 Bulgaria Padevsky, Tringov, Minev, Kolarov, Milev, Popov 21½
7 West Germany Unzicker, Darga, Schmid, Tröger, Hecht, Mohrlok 21
8 East Germany Uhlmann, Pietzsch, Malich, Zinn, Fuchs, Liebert 20½ 10
9 Romania Ciocâltea, Ghiţescu, Gheorghiu, Soós, Radovici, Günsberger 20½ 9
10 Czechoslovakia Filip, Pachman, Hort, Fichtl, Blatný, Trapl 18½
11 Netherlands Euwe, Donner, Bouwmeester, Langeweg, Prins, Kramer 18
12 Austria Robatsch, Dückstein, Beni, Gragger, Kinzel, Lokvenc 10½
Final B
# Country Points MP Matches
won		 Head-to-head
13 Spain 26½ 16
14 England 26½ 14
15 Israel 25
16 Cuba 22½ 12
17 Sweden 22½ 11 4 2½
18 Poland 22½ 11 4 1½
19 Belgium 22
20 Finland 20½
21 Mongolia 20 9 3
22 Switzerland 20 9 2
23 Iceland 19
24 Denmark 17
Final C
# Country Points MP
25 Norway 32½
- Bulgaria "B" 29½
26 Albania 28½ 17
27 Tunisia 28½ 16
28 India 26½
29 Iran 25
30 France 23½
31 Puerto Rico 22½
32 Uruguay 22
33 Greece 18½
34 Luxembourg 18
35 Turkey 17
36 Ireland 14½
37 Cyprus 1½

Individual medals

At the other end of the spectrum, Milton Ioannidis of Cyprus lost all of his 20 games, the worst score ever of any player at any Olympiad.

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