16th Chess Olympiad

An official medal from the Olympiad.

David Ben-Gurion presenting the trophy to the winning USSR team

The 16th 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 November 2 and November 25, 1964, in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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

Results

Preliminaries

A total of 50 teams entered the competition and were divided into seven preliminary groups of seven or eight teams each. The top two from each group advanced to Final A, the teams placed 3rd-4th to Final B, no. 5-6 to Final C, and the rest to Final D. All preliminary groups and finals were played as round-robin tournaments. The preliminary results were as follows:

• Group 1: 1. Soviet Union, 2. Spain, 3. Philippines, 4. Chile, 5. Switzerland, 6. Venezuela, 7. South Africa.
• Group 2: 1. Yugoslavia, 2. Netherlands, 3. Mongolia, 4. Austria, 5. Mexico, 6. India, 7. Bolivia.
• Group 3: 1. Hungary, 2. Israel, 3. Sweden, 4. Scotland, 5. France, 6. Ireland, 7. Luxembourg.
• Group 4: 1. United States, 2. Poland, 3. England, 4. Norway, 5. Turkey, 6. Iran, 7. Portugal.
• Group 5: 1. Romania, 2. Czechoslovakia, 3. Cuba, 4. Paraguay, 5.Colombia, 6. Puerto Rico, 7. Australia.
• Group 6: 1. Argentina, 2. Canada, 3. East Germany, 4. Ecuador, 5. Monaco, 6. Ireland, 7. Uruguay.
• Group 7: 1. Bulgaria, 2. West Germany, 3. Denmark, 4. Peru, 5. Finland, 6. Greece, 7. Dominican Republic, 8. Cyprus.

With Australia making its debut, this was the first Olympiad where all six continents were represented.

Final

Final A

#	Country	Players	Points	MP	Head- to-head
1	Soviet Union	Petrosian, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Keres, Stein, Spassky	36½
2	Yugoslavia	Gligorić, Ivkov, Matanović, Parma, Udovčić, Matulović	32
3	West Germany	Unzicker, Darga, Schmid, Pfleger, Mohrlok, Bialas	30½
4	Hungary	Portisch, Szabó, Bilek, Lengyel, Forintos, Flesch	30
5	Czechoslovakia	Pachman, Filip, Hort, Kaválek, Jansa, Blatný	28½
6	United States	Reshevsky, Benko, Saidy, Bisguier, Byrne, Addison	27½
7	Bulgaria	Padevsky, Tringov, Bobotsov, Popov, Milev, Spiridonov	27	13	3
8	Romania	Ghiţescu, Gheorghiu, Ciocâltea, Radovici, Mititelu, Botez	27	13	1
9	Argentina	Eliskases, García, Schweber, Wexler, Cruz	26
10	Poland	Doda, Bednarski, Śliwa, Filipowicz, Balcerowski, Schmidt	24
11	Netherlands	Kuijpers, Bouwmeester, Langeweg, Zuidema, Prins	21
12	Canada	Yanofsky, Anderson, Vranesic, Macskasy, Suttles, Witt	19
13	Spain	Pomar, Medina García, Saborido, Menvielle Lacourrelle, Mora, Pérez Gonsalves	17½	5
14	Israel	Porath, Kraidman, Domnitz, Aloni, Guthi, Stepak	17½	3

Final B

#	Country	Points	MP
15	East Germany	38½
16	Sweden	32
17	Denmark	31½
18	England	31
19	Peru	27½	15
20	Austria	27½	14
21	Cuba	26
22	Norway	25½	14
23	Mongolia	25½	13
24	Chile	24
25	Philippines	22½
26	Ecuador	18
27	Paraguay	17½
28	Scotland	17

Final C

#	Country	Points	MP
29	Iceland	37½
30	Switzerland	36½
31	Colombia	35	24
32	Finland	35	19
33	Venezuela	30½
34	France	29½
35	Greece	27½
36	Iran	23½
37	India	22
38	Puerto Rico	21½
39	Turkey	20½
40	Mexico	20
41	Ireland	13
42	Monaco	12

Final D

#	Country	Points
43	Australia	22½
44	South Africa	18
45	Bolivia	15½
46	Uruguay	14½
47	Portugal	14
48	Luxembourg	12
49	Dominican Republic	10½
50	Cyprus	5

Individual medals

• Board 1: Wolfgang Uhlmann 15 / 18 = 83.3%
• Board 2: Tudev Ujtumen 13½ / 17 = 79.4%
• Board 3: Vassily Smyslov 11 / 13 = 84.6%
• Board 4: Paul Keres (10/12), Helmut Pfleger (12½/15), and David Friedgood (10/12) = 83.3%
• 1st reserve: Leonid Stein 10 / 13 = 76.9%
• 2nd reserve: Milan Matulović and Günther Möhring 11 / 13 = 84.6%

At the other end of the spectrum, Milton Ioannidis of Cyprus lost all of his 4 games, giving him a total score at the Olympiads of 0 / 24 = 0.0%.