KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES (OLYMPIAD BOUND)
Two of the Papua New Guinea's Chess Olympiad bound team members Rupert Jones, left, and Brian Jones are having a discussion before the Oceania Zonal Chess Meeting in Australia. The other 2 members of the team are Joselito Marcos, PNG's top player and Shaun Press, the 2009 Solomon Islands Invitational Chess championship titlist. The 2010 World Chess Olympiad will be held in Russia on Sept. 19- Oct. 04, 2010. (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
HISTORY OF CHESS OLYMPIAD
THE CHESS Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organized by World Chess Federation (FIDE), which selects the host nation.
The first Olympiad was unofficial. For the 1924 Olympics, an attempt was made to include chess in the Olympic Games but this failed because of problems with distinguishing between amateur and professional players.
While the 1924 Summer Olympics was taking place in Paris, the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad also took place in Paris. FIDE was formed on Sunday, July 20, 1924, the closing day of the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad.
FIDE organized the first Official Olympiad in 1927 which took place in London. The Olympiads were occasionally held annually and at irregular intervals until World War II; since 1950 they have been held regularly every two years.
There were 16 participating nations in the 1st Chess Olympiad, 1927. By the 37th Chess Olympiad, 2006, there were 133 participating nations.
The Olympiad was created by a Maltese man by the name of Joseph Pisani-Rosi.
Chess is a recognized sport by the International Olympic Committee with FIDE being the recognized International Sports Federation for chess since June 1999.
As a member of International Olympic Committee, FIDE adheres to its rules, including controversially having doping tests.
The prospects of chess becoming as Olympic sporting event at some future date remain unclear.
The naming of FIDE's team championship as the "Chess Olympiad" is of historical origin and implies no connection between this event and the Olympic Games.
Each FIDE recognized chess association can enter a team into the Olympiad (for the United Kingdom, one team for each of the 4 countries plus Guernsey and Jersey can enter a team separately).
Each team is made up of 6 players, 4 regular players and 2 reserves (changed to 4+1 in Dresden 2008).
Initially, each team played all other teams but as the event grew over the years, this became impossible.
At first, team seeding took place before the competition. Later, certain drawbacks were recognized with seeding and in 1976, a Swiss tournament system was adopted.
The trophy for the winning men's team is the Hamilton-Russel Cup, which was offered by the English magnate Frederick Hamilton-Russell as the prize for the 1st Olympiad (London 1927).
The cup is kept by the winning team until the next event, when it will be consigned to the next winner.
The trophy for the winning women's team is known as the Vera Menchik Cup, the first Women's World Chess Champion.
The 2008 Olympiad was held in Dresden, Germany. The 2010 Olympiad is going to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, and the 2012 Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.
The bids for the 2014 Olympiad include Tromso, Norway and Albenia, Bulgaria.
The 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad in Paris, France was won by Czechoslovakia (31 points), followed by Hungary (30) and Switzerland (29).
The 2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad (1926) in Budapest, Hungary, the host nation won it with 9 points, followed by Yugoslavia (8) and Romania (5).
In the 1st Chess Olympiad in London, UK, Hungary kept the title with 40, followed by Denmark (38.5) and England (36.5)
The 3rd Olympiad title of Hungary came from the 2nd Chess Olympiad in The Hague, Netherlands with 44, USA (39.5) and Poland (37).
The next 3 Olympiads was won by USA in 1931 (Prague, Czechoslovakia) with 48, Poland (47) and Czechoslovakia (36.5); in 1933 (Folkestone, UK) with 39, Czechoslovakia (37.5) and Sweden (34); in 1935 (Warsaw, Poland) with 54, Sweden (52.5) and Poland, 52.
Hungary got its 4th title in the 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad (non-FIDE) in Munich, Germany with 110.5, Poland 108 and Germany 106.5.
USA likewise got its 4th title in 1937 at Stockholm, Sweden with 54.5, Hungary 48.5 and Poland 47.
Germany got its only title in the 1939 Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires, Argentina by a mere half point over Poland with 36 points and 3rd place Estonia with 33.5.
In the proceeding Chess Olympiad in 1950 at Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, the host nation got also it first and only title with 45.5, Argentina (43.5) and West Germany --40.5.
In the next 12 Chess Olympiads, a span of 24 years (1952-1976), USSR showed their domination in chess, winning in Helsinki, Finland (1952), Amsterdam, Netherlands (1954), Moscow, Soviet Union (1956), Munich, West Germany (1958), Leipzig, East Germany (1960), Varna, Bulgaria (1962), Tel Aviv, Israel (1964), La Habana, Cuba (1966), Lugano, Switzerland (1968), Siegen, West Germany (1970), Skopje, Yugoslavia (1972) and Nice, France (1974), where GM Eugene Torre became Asia's first Grandmaster.
The streak was snapped when in 1976 Chess Olympiad in Haifa, Israel, the USSR and other communist countries did not compete for political reasons.
USA got its 5th title with 37, Netherlands 36.5 and England 35.5.
Hungary likewise got its 5th Olympiad title after besting USSR in 1978 at Buenos Aires, Argentina. USA is 3rd with 35 points. Only a point separated 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
The next 15 Chess Olympiad were dominated again by USSR and its other split states. Russia won 6 straight (1992, Manila, Philippines); 1994 Moscow, Russia; 1996 Yerevan, Armenia; 1998 Elista, Russia; 2000 Istanbul, Turkey; and 2002 Bled, Slovenia.
Ukraine won the 2004 Olympiad in Calvia, Spain and Armenia won the last 2 in 2006, Turin, Italy and 2008 Dresden, Germany.
Source: Chessmate by Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Volume 19 Issue 21
Pages 13 & 15
May 24-30, 2010
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