16th Chess Olympiad
The 16th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open[1] 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.
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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-head1 Soviet UnionPetrosian, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Keres, Stein, Spassky 36½ 2 YugoslaviaGligorić, Ivkov, Matanović, Parma, Udovčić, Matulović 32 3 West GermanyUnzicker, Darga, Schmid, Pfleger, Mohrlok, Bialas 30½ 4 HungaryPortisch, Szabó, Bilek, Lengyel, Forintos, Flesch 30 5 CzechoslovakiaPachman, Filip, Hort, Kaválek, Jansa, Blatný 28½ 6 United StatesReshevsky, Benko, Saidy, Bisguier, Byrne, Addison 27½ 7 BulgariaPadevsky, Tringov, Bobotsov, Popov, Milev, Spiridonov 27 13 3 8 RomaniaGhițescu, Gheorghiu, Ciocâltea, Radovici, Mititelu, Botez 27 13 1 9 ArgentinaEliskases, García, Schweber, Wexler, Cruz 26 10 PolandDoda, Bednarski, Śliwa, Filipowicz, Balcerowski, Schmidt 24 11 NetherlandsKuijpers, Bouwmeester, Langeweg, Zuidema, Prins 21 12 CanadaYanofsky, Anderson, Vranesic, Macskasy, Suttles, Witt 19 13 SpainPomar, Medina García, Saborido, Menvielle Lacourrelle, Mora, Pérez Gonsalves 17½ 5 14 IsraelPorath, Kraidman, Domnitz, Aloni, Guthi, Stepak 17½ 3
Final B # Country Points MP 15 East Germany38½ 16 Sweden32 17 Denmark31½ 18 England31 19 Peru27½ 15 20 Austria27½ 14 21 Cuba26 22 Norway25½ 14 23 Mongolia25½ 13 24 Chile24 25 Philippines22½ 26 Ecuador18 27 Paraguay17½ 28 Scotland17
Final C # Country Points MP 29 Iceland37½ 30 Switzerland36½ 31 Colombia35 24 32 Finland35 19 33 Venezuela30½ 34 France29½ 35 Greece27½ 36 Iran23½ 37 India22 38 Puerto Rico21½ 39 Turkey20½ 40 Mexico20 41 Ireland13 42 Monaco12
Final D # Country Points 43 Australia22½ 44 South Africa18 45 Bolivia15½ 46 Uruguay14½ 47 Portugal14 48 Luxembourg12 49 Dominican Republic10½ 50 Cyprus5
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%.
References
- Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
- 16th Chess Olympiad: Tel Aviv 1964 OlimpBase