18th Chess Olympiad
The 18th 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 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 UnionPetrosian, Spassky, Korchnoi, Geller, Polugaevsky, Smyslov 39½ 2 YugoslaviaGligorić, Ivkov, Matanović, Matulović, Parma, Čirić 31 3 BulgariaBobotsov, Tringov, Padevsky, Kolarov, Radulov, Peev 30 4 United StatesReshevsky, Evans, Benko, R. Byrne, Lombardy, D. Byrne 29½ 5 West GermanyUnzicker, Schmid, Darga, Pfleger, Hübner, Hecht 29 6 HungaryPortisch, Szabó, Bilek, Lengyel, Barcza, Csom 27½ 7 ArgentinaNajdorf, Panno, Sanguineti, Rossetto, Rubinetti, García 26 15 8 RomaniaGheorghiu, Ciocâltea, Ghițescu, Drimer, Soós, Ungureanu 26 14 9 CzechoslovakiaHort, Filip, Smejkal, Jansa, Augustin, Janata 24½ 12 10 East GermanyUhlmann, Pietzsch, Zinn, Malich, Liebert, Hennings 24½ 11 11 PolandKostro, Bednarski, Doda, Schmidt, Adamski, Grąbczewski 23 12 DenmarkLarsen, Brinck-Claussen, Hamann, Holm, Petersen, Nørby 21 13 CanadaYanofsky, Suttles, Macskasy, Allan, Day, Schulman 19 14 PhilippinesReyes, Balinas, De Castro, Naranja, Bandal, Rodríguez 13½
Final B # Country Points MP 15 Netherlands33½ 16 England33 17 Austria30½ 18 Israel30 19 Spain28½ 20 Cuba27 14 21 Switzerland27 12 22 Iceland26 23 Finland24½ 24 Sweden22½ 25 Brazil21½ 26 Belgium20½ 27 Mongolia20 28 Scotland19½
Final C # Country Points MP 29 Australia38 30 Norway36 31 Italy31½ 32 Venezuela30 33 Turkey29½ 34 Greece28½ 35 Portugal27½ 16 36 South Africa27½ 14 37 Tunisia26 38 Ireland21 39 Luxembourg20½ 40 Puerto Rico19½ 41 Morocco16 42 Monaco12½
Final D # Country Points MP 43 Singapore32 44 France30 45 Paraguay27½ 46 Mexico23½ 13 47 Dominican Republic23½ 12 48 Hong Kong22½ 49 Costa Rica14½ 50 Lebanon13½ 51 Cyprus13 52 British Virgin Islands11 53 Andorra9
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:
Glicério Badilles 11½ / 14 = 82.1% - 2nd reserve:
Vassily Smyslov 11 / 12 = 91.7%
References
- Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
- 18th Chess Olympiad: Lugano 1968 OlimpBase