The 20th
Chess Olympiad (
Macedonian: 20. Шаховска олимпијада, 20. Šahovska olimpijada), 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 September 18 and October 13, 1972, in
Skopje,
Yugoslavia (present-day
Macedonia).
Summary
For the first time, the Soviet team only comprised 5
GMs and one
IM (Savon). Since
Bobby Fischer had beaten Spassky earlier in the year, the team wasn't led by the current world champion – also a first. It did, however, feature three previous (Smyslov, Tal, and Petrosian) as well as one future champion (Karpov). The team still lived up to expectations, though, and won their eleventh consecutive gold medal, with Hungary and Yugoslavia taking the silver and bronze, respectively.
Before the Soviet team could achieve a victory, there was some controversy. In the 4th round of Final Group A, the Soviets played a match against the team from
Bulgaria. A game between
Victor Korchnoi and
Georgi Tringov was adjourned after 41 moves with Tringov to seal his next move. At this Olympiad, sealed moves were written on a separate piece of paper, not the player's score sheet. Tringov rejected this way of sealing his move and instead wrote it on his score sheet. When the game was resumed, the arbiter opened the envelope. In the envelope was Korchnoi's score sheet but not the one belonging to Tringov. The arbiter ruled the game a forfeit win for Korchnoi. The Bulgarian team captain instituted protest proceedings but an arbitration committee upheld the arbiter's ruling. After the Olympiad was over, it was learned that Tringov had absentmindedly placed his score sheet in his pocket. Tringov discovered his mistake several days after his forfeit but was too ashamed to admit his mistake to the organizers of the Olympiad.[2]
In Final B, the Albanian team refused to play Israel and withdrew after round 11. Their matches were regarded as "friendlies" and didn't count in the overall standings.
Jens Enevoldsen represented Denmark at his 11th and final Olympiad, 39 years after his first appearance at Folkestone 1933. Both records at the time (although both have since been beaten by
Lajos Portisch).
The 5th Women's Chess Olympiad also took place; this was the first time that it took place at the same time and in the same venue as the open event. It was won by the
Soviet Union team.
Open event
Preliminaries
A total of 63 teams were divided into eight preliminary groups of seven or eight teams each, from which the top two advanced to Final A, no. 3-4 to Final B etc. Unlike the last few tournaments, preliminary head-to-head results were not carried over to the finals, so each teams met one other team twice. All preliminary groups and finals were played as
round-robin tournaments. The results were as follows:
^Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
^Keene, Ray; Levy, David (1973). Chess Olympiad 1972.
Doubleday & Company. pp. 68–69.
^This was the first Olympiad after the ELO rating system was introduced, so many players on smaller teams were still unrated. For the purpose of calculating team averages, they were given provisional ratings of 2200, equivalent to that of a
Candidate Master.
The 20th
Chess Olympiad (
Macedonian: 20. Шаховска олимпијада, 20. Šahovska olimpijada), 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 September 18 and October 13, 1972, in
Skopje,
Yugoslavia (present-day
Macedonia).
Summary
For the first time, the Soviet team only comprised 5
GMs and one
IM (Savon). Since
Bobby Fischer had beaten Spassky earlier in the year, the team wasn't led by the current world champion – also a first. It did, however, feature three previous (Smyslov, Tal, and Petrosian) as well as one future champion (Karpov). The team still lived up to expectations, though, and won their eleventh consecutive gold medal, with Hungary and Yugoslavia taking the silver and bronze, respectively.
Before the Soviet team could achieve a victory, there was some controversy. In the 4th round of Final Group A, the Soviets played a match against the team from
Bulgaria. A game between
Victor Korchnoi and
Georgi Tringov was adjourned after 41 moves with Tringov to seal his next move. At this Olympiad, sealed moves were written on a separate piece of paper, not the player's score sheet. Tringov rejected this way of sealing his move and instead wrote it on his score sheet. When the game was resumed, the arbiter opened the envelope. In the envelope was Korchnoi's score sheet but not the one belonging to Tringov. The arbiter ruled the game a forfeit win for Korchnoi. The Bulgarian team captain instituted protest proceedings but an arbitration committee upheld the arbiter's ruling. After the Olympiad was over, it was learned that Tringov had absentmindedly placed his score sheet in his pocket. Tringov discovered his mistake several days after his forfeit but was too ashamed to admit his mistake to the organizers of the Olympiad.[2]
In Final B, the Albanian team refused to play Israel and withdrew after round 11. Their matches were regarded as "friendlies" and didn't count in the overall standings.
Jens Enevoldsen represented Denmark at his 11th and final Olympiad, 39 years after his first appearance at Folkestone 1933. Both records at the time (although both have since been beaten by
Lajos Portisch).
The 5th Women's Chess Olympiad also took place; this was the first time that it took place at the same time and in the same venue as the open event. It was won by the
Soviet Union team.
Open event
Preliminaries
A total of 63 teams were divided into eight preliminary groups of seven or eight teams each, from which the top two advanced to Final A, no. 3-4 to Final B etc. Unlike the last few tournaments, preliminary head-to-head results were not carried over to the finals, so each teams met one other team twice. All preliminary groups and finals were played as
round-robin tournaments. The results were as follows:
^Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
^Keene, Ray; Levy, David (1973). Chess Olympiad 1972.
Doubleday & Company. pp. 68–69.
^This was the first Olympiad after the ELO rating system was introduced, so many players on smaller teams were still unrated. For the purpose of calculating team averages, they were given provisional ratings of 2200, equivalent to that of a
Candidate Master.
Soviet Union
Denmark
Belgium
Cuba
Finland
Dominican Republic
Luxembourg
Yugoslavia
Switzerland
Peru
England
Brazil
Japan
Syria
Cyprus
Hungary
Poland
Norway
Indonesia
Scotland
Bolivia
Morocco
Cyprus
West Germany
Argentina
Iceland
Greece
New Zealand
Mexico
France
Guernsey
Czechoslovakia
Spain
Mongolia
Israel
Portugal
Ireland
Hong Kong
Malaysia
East Germany
Sweden
Canada
Italy
Wales
Turkey
Singapore
Malta
Bulgaria
Netherlands
Albania
Colombia
Australia
Puerto Rico
Iraq
Andorra
United States
Romania
Philippines
Austria
Tunisia
Iran
Faroe Islands
United States Virgin Islands
Spain
Poland
Japan
Lebanon
Bulgaria