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21st Chess Olympiad

Official logo of the Olympiad.

The 21st 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 June 6 and June 30, 1974, in Nice, France.

Bobby Fischer was still the reigning World Champion, but had not played a single game of tournament chess since he won the title in 1972 and was not present in Nice either. However, the American team still managed to secure third place in his absence.

For the same reason, for the second time in a row, the Soviet team was not led by the current world champion. It did, however, feature three previous (Tal, Petrosian, and Spassky) as well as one future champion (Karpov). The team won by 8½ points, the biggest victory margin yet, and took home their twelfth consecutive gold medals, with Yugoslavia and the United States taking the silver and bronze, respectively.

With a complete lack of tension in the championship race, the tournament had more than its share of political tension. In Final B, the Tunisian team refused to play Israel, so the score was computed according to ELO ratings as a 3-1 win for the Israeli team.

Due to their apartheid policies, both South Africa and Rhodesia were expelled from FIDE with three rounds to go. The South African team withdrew from the tournament themselves, and their results in Final C were not counted in the overall standings. FIDE president Max Euwe tried unsuccessfully to have Rhodesia thrown out as well, but in the end they were allowed to finish the tournament and won Final E - helped by default victories against Iraq and Algeria who refused to play them.

Results

Preliminaries

A total of 74 teams were divided into eight preliminary groups of nine or ten teams each, from which the top two advanced to Final A, no. 3-4 to Final B etc. Preliminary head-to-head results were carried over to the finals, so no team met any other team more than once. All preliminary groups and finals were played as round-robin tournaments. The results were as follows:

Only two players from Nicaragua showed up in Nice, so the team had to forfeit their first match against Chile and subsequently withdrew from the tournament. Their single result was not counted in the group standings.

Finals

Final A
# Country Players Average
rating		 Points MP
1 Soviet Union Karpov, Korchnoi, Spassky, Petrosian, Tal, Kuzmin 2665 46
2 Yugoslavia Gligorić, Ljubojević, Ivkov, Planinc, Velimirović, Parma 2566 37½
3 United States Kavalek, Byrne, Browne, Reshevsky, Lombardy, Tarjan 2586 36½ 22
4 Bulgaria Radulov, Padevsky, Tringov, Popov, Spasov, Kirov 2475 36½ 21
5 Netherlands Timman, Donner, Sosonko, Ree, Enklaar, Kuijpers 2478 35½
6 Hungary Portisch, Bilek, Csom, Ribli, Forintos, Sax 2554 35
7 West Germany Schmid, Unzicker, Pfleger, Hecht, Dueball, Kestler 2534 32
8 Romania Gheorghiu, Ciocâltea, Ghiţescu, Ghizdavu, Partoş, Pavlov 2468 29½ 16
9 Czechoslovakia Hort, Jansa, Filip, Přibyl, Plachetka, Lechtýnský 2521 29½ 14
10 England Hartston, Keene, Penrose, Whiteley, Stean, Markland 2456 26
11 Philippines Torre, Cardoso, Naranja, Balinas, Lontoc, Bordonada 2358 25½ 12
12 Spain Pomar, Torán, Calvo, Bellón López, Visier Segovia, Sanz 2428 25½ 11
13 Sweden Andersson, Ornstein, Jansson, Liljedahl, Uddenfeldt, Kinnmark 2448 25
14 Argentina Quinteros, Sanguineti, Najdorf, Rubinetti, Szmetan, Debarnot 2491 23½
15 Finland Westerinen, Poutiainen, Rantanen, Hurme, Venäläinen, Raaste 2319 22
16 Wales Williams, Hutchings, Jones, Cooper, Sully, Trevelyan 2285 14½
Final B
# Country Average
rating		 Points MP
17 Israel 2465 40½
18 Austria 2388 38½
19 Italy 2428 38
20 Colombia 2354 32½
21 Norway 2410 32 19
22 Iceland 2456 32 18
23 Poland 2430 32 17
24 Canada 2419 31 18
25 Cuba 2423 31 15
26 Denmark 2405 31 14
27 Switzerland 2380 29
28 France 2381 27½
29 Scotland 2319 25½
30 Belgium 2323 23½
31 Portugal 2306 19½
32 Tunisia 2200 17½
Final C
# Country Average
rating		 Points MP
33 Australia 2286 39
34 Iran 2320 34½
35 Brazil 2424 32½
36 Mongolia 2364 31½
37 Ireland 2245 30½
38 Chile 2384 30 17
39 Indonesia 2249 30 14
40 Greece 2263 27½ 16
41 Mexico 2283 27½ 14
42 Turkey 2265 27
43 Singapore 2219 25
44 Venezuela 2203 24½
45 New Zealand 2230 22½
46 Ecuador 2213 22
47 Syria 2200 16
- South Africa 2228 -
Final D
# Country Average
rating		 Points MP
48 Pakistan 2200 49½
49 Puerto Rico 2203 44½
50 Dominican Republic 2200 43½
51 Luxembourg 2201 38½
52 Lebanon 2206 35 20
53 Uruguay 2200 35 17
54 Panama 2200 33
55 Mongolia 2200 29½
56 Malta 2206 29
57 Hong Kong 2240 27½ 13
58 Faroe Islands 2200 27½ 12
59 Malaysia 2200 24½
60 Morocco 2200 21½
61 Jordan 2200 17½
62 Guernsey 2200 12 2
63 United States Virgin Islands 2200 12 2
Final E
# Country Average
rating		 Points
64 Rhodesia 2200 28½
65 Iraq 2200 24½
66 Netherlands Antilles 2200 21½
67 Japan 2200 20½
68 Cyprus 2200 19
69 Trinidad and Tobago 2200 18
70 Algeria 2200 17
71 Andorra 2200 13
72 Bahamas 2200 11
73 British Virgin Islands 2200 8½

Individual medals

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