18th Chess Olympiad

The official poster for the Olympiad.

The 18th 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 October 17 and November 7, 1968, in Lugano, Switzerland.

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

Results

Preliminaries

A total of 53 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 third-fourth to Final B, no. 5-6 to Final C, and the rest to Final D. Preliminary head-to-head results were carried over to the finals, so no teams met 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. Philippines, 3. England, 4. Israel, 5. Italy, 6. Portugal, 7. Mexico, 8. Cyprus.
• Group 2: 1. Denmark, 2. United States, 3. Mongolia, 4. Austria, 5. Australia, 6. Venezuela, 7. France.
• Group 3: 1. Yugoslavia, 2. Poland, 3. Spain, 4. Scotland, 5. South Africa, 6. Luxembourg, 7. Dominican Republic.
• Group 4: 1. Hungary, 2. Canada, 3. Netherlands, 4. Belgium, 5. Monaco, 6. Ireland, 7. Paraguay, 8. Costa Rica.
• Group 5: 1. West Germany, 2. Romania, 3. Switzerland, 4. Brazil, 5. Norway, 6. Puerto Rico, 7. Hong Kong, 8. Lebanon.
• Group 6: 1. Argentina, 2. East Germany, 3. Finland, 4. Sweden, 5. Greece, 6. Morocco, 7. British Virgin Islands.
• Group 7: 1. Bulgaria, 2. Czechoslovakia, 3. Iceland, 4. Cuba, 5. Tunisia, 6. Turkey, 7. Singapore, 8. Andorra.

Final

Final A

#	Country	Players	Points	MP
1	Soviet Union	Petrosian, Spassky, Korchnoi, Geller, Polugaevsky, Smyslov	39½
2	Yugoslavia	Gligorić, Ivkov, Matanović, Matulović, Parma, Čirić	31
3	Bulgaria	Bobotsov, Tringov, Padevsky, Kolarov, Radulov, Peev	30
4	United States	Reshevsky, Evans, Benko, R. Byrne, Lombardy, D. Byrne	29½
5	West Germany	Unzicker, Schmid, Darga, Pfleger, Hübner, Hecht	29
6	Hungary	Portisch, Szabó, Bilek, Lengyel, Barcza, Csom	27½
7	Argentina	Najdorf, Panno, Sanguineti, Rossetto, Rubinetti, García	26	15
8	Romania	Gheorghiu, Ciocâltea, Ghiţescu, Drimer, Soós, Ungureanu	26	14
9	Czechoslovakia	Hort, Filip, Smejkal, Jansa, Augustin, Janata	24½	12
10	East Germany	Uhlmann, Pietzsch, Zinn, Malich, Liebert, Hennings	24½	11
11	Poland	Kostro, Bednarski, Doda, Schmidt, Adamski, Grąbczewski	23
12	Denmark	Larsen, Brinck-Claussen, Hamann, Holm, Petersen, Nørby	21
13	Canada	Yanofsky, Suttles, Macskasy, Allan, Day, Schulman	19
14	Philippines	Reyes, Balinas, De Castro, Naranja, Bandal, Rodríguez	13½

Final B

#	Country	Points	MP
15	Netherlands	33½
16	England	33
17	Austria	30½
18	Israel	30
19	Spain	28½
20	Cuba	27	14
21	Switzerland	27	12
22	Iceland	26
23	Finland	24½
24	Sweden	22½
25	Brazil	21½
26	Belgium	20½
27	Mongolia	20
28	Scotland	19½

Final C

#	Country	Points	MP
29	Australia	38
30	Norway	36
31	Italy	31½
32	Venezuela	30
33	Turkey	29½
34	Greece	28½
35	Portugal	27½	16
36	South Africa	27½	14
37	Tunisia	26
38	Ireland	21
39	Luxembourg	20½
40	Puerto Rico	19½
41	Morocco	16
42	Monaco	12½

Final D

#	Country	Points	MP
43	Singapore	32
44	France	30
45	Paraguay	27½
46	Mexico	23½	13
47	Dominican Republic	23½	12
48	Hong Kong	22½
49	Costa Rica	14½
50	Lebanon	13½
51	Cyprus	13
52	British Virgin Islands	11
53	Andorra	9

Individual medals

• Board 1: Tigran Petrosian 10½ / 12 = 87.5%
• Board 2: Georgi Tringov 11 / 14 = 78.6%
• Board 3: Viktor Korchnoi 11 / 13 = 84.6%
• Board 4: Shimon Kagan 10½ / 13 = 80.8%
• 1st reserve: Glicerio Badilles 11½ / 14 = 82.1%
• 2nd reserve: Vassily Smyslov 11 / 12 = 91.7%