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![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/AM006-07.jpg/240px-AM006-07.jpg)
The 37th Chess Olympiad (Italian: Le 37° Olimpiadi degli scacchi), organized by FIDE and comprising an open[1] and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between May 20 and June 4, 2006, in Turin, Italy. There were 148 teams in the open event and 103 in the women's event. In total, 1307 players were registered.
Both tournament sections were officiated by international arbiter Geurt Gijssen (Netherlands). Teams were paired across the 13 rounds of competition according to the Swiss system. The open division was played over four boards per round, while the women's was played over three. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided by 1. The Buchholz system; 2. Match points; 3. The Sonneborn-Berger system; and 4. The Median Buchholz system.
The time control for each game permitted each player 90 minutes for all their moves, with an additional 30 seconds increment for each player after each move, beginning with the first.
Open event
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Chess_Olympiad_Torino_2006.jpg/350px-Chess_Olympiad_Torino_2006.jpg)
The open division was contested by 148 teams representing 143 nations. Italy, as hosts, fielded three teams. At the same time the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provided one squad. Somalia and Sierra Leone were signed up, but never arrived.
Led by first board Levon Aronian, the second highest-rated player at the Olympiad, and first reserve Gabriel Sargissian, who scored 10 points in 11 games, Armenia improved on their third-place performance at the 36th Olympiad, claiming their first ever gold medals by a full two points over the silver medallists China, whose fourth board Wang Yue went undefeated, winning eight games and drawing four. Armenia ended the tournament without having lost a match, winning 10 and drawing three, including in the final round against Hungary, when four draws were cursorily recorded. Aronian was the only Armenian player to lose a game during the tournament, falling in the fifth round to Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.
Reigning classical World Champion Kramnik, playing internationally for the first time in six months, scored 6½ points in his nine games, recording the best rating performance of any player. His Russian team, though, did not perform as expected; fielding six of the tournament's 17 strongest players on rating [1] Archived 2007-06-11 at the Wayback Machine, Russia held second place, just behind Armenia, through the seventh round but lost matches to France (1½-2½), the United States (1½-2½), and, in the final round, Israel (1-3), and ultimately finished sixth; the worst Olympic result ever for a Soviet or Russian side.
Although they defeated the United States (2½-1½) in the penultimate round, Israel had to settle for a tie for third place; the Americans claimed the bronze medals on Buchholz tiebreaks. Hungary, seeded 16th, finished fifth, thanks to strong performances from third board Ferenc Berkes and fourth board Csaba Balogh, while India, who entered the tournament seeded second, finished in 30th place, with first board Viswanathan Anand (former and future World Champion) and fourth board Surya Shekhar Ganguly both scoring just 50%. Even without FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov, Bulgaria still managed to clinch a top ten result, finishing in ninth place.
Open event # Country Players Average
ratingPoints Buchholz 1 Armenia
Aronian, Akopian, Asrian, Lputian, Sargissian, Minasian 2682 36 2 China
Bu Xiangzhi, Zhang Zhong, Zhang Pengxiang, Wang Yue, Ni Hua, Zhao Jun 2628 34 3 United States
Kamsky, Onischuk, Nakamura, Ibragimov, Kaidanov, Akobian 2656 33 392.5 4 Israel
Gelfand, Smirin, Sutovsky, Avrukh, Huzman, Mikhalevski 2663 33 380.5 5 Hungary
Almási, Gyimesi, Berkes, Balogh, Ruck, Horváth 2610 32½ 6 Russia
Kramnik, Svidler, Grischuk, Morozevich, Bareev, Rublevsky 2730 32 410.5 7 France
Bacrot, Lautier, Sokolov, Fressinet, Vachier-Lagrave, Bauer 2665 32 396.0 8 Ukraine
Ivanchuk, Volokitin, Karjakin, Eljanov, Moiseenko, Efimenko 2680 32 390.5 9 Bulgaria
Georgiev, Cheparinov, Delchev, Spasov, Petkov, Iotov 2633 32 385.0 10 Spain
Shirov, Vallejo Pons, Illescas Córdoba,
Arizmendi Martinez, San Segundo Carrillo, Narciso Dublan2628 32 377.5
# Country Average
ratingPoints Buchholz MP Final Ranking - Open 11 Czech Republic
2596 31 399.0 12 Netherlands
2646 31 396.0 13 Uzbekistan
2554 31 389.5 14 Georgia
2610 31 388.0 15 Germany
2621 31 381.0 16 Cuba
2598 30½ 386.0 17 Sweden
2549 30½ 381.0 18 Moldova
2578 30½ 376.5 19 England
2627 30½ 366.0 20 Denmark
2577 30 396.0 21 Poland
2593 30 381.0 22 Greece
2582 30 379.0 23 Slovenia
2547 30 378.5 24 Azerbaijan
2643 30 377.5 25 Croatia
2559 30 373.5 26 Romania
2610 30 372.0 27 Switzerland
2555 30 367.5 28 Latvia
2516 30 357.5 29 Australia
2479 30 351.0 30 India
2688 29½ 391.5 31 Norway
2577 29½ 376.0 32 Brazil
2573 29½ 371.5 33 North Macedonia
2517 29½ 366.0 34 Canada
2482 29½ 357.0 35 Italy
2493 29½ 354.5 36 Belarus
2598 29 381.0 37 Serbia and Montenegro
2542 29 376.0 38 Turkey
2540 29 372.5 39 Vietnam
2533 29 372.0 40 Indonesia
2489 29 369.5 41 Bosnia and Herzegovina
2521 29 367.5 42 Lithuania
2530 29 360.5 43 Slovakia
2536 28½ 373.5 44 Philippines
2538 28½ 369.5 45 Iceland
2560 28½ 368.0 46 Estonia
2487 28½ 355.0 47 Mexico
2449 28½ 354.0 48 Italy "B"
2375 28½ 353.5 49 Iran
2472 28 375.5 50 Portugal
2481 28 362.5 51 Argentina
2532 28 361.5 52 Scotland
2479 28 358.0 53 Kazakhstan
2348 28 345.5 54 Tajikistan
2165 28 331.0 55 Qatar
2472 27½ 354.0 56 Ireland
2455 27½ 352.0 57 Colombia
2437 27 362.5 58 Egypt
2448 27 360.0 59 Mongolia
2332 27 358.5 60 Bangladesh
2493 27 352.0 61 Albania
2439 27 351.5 14 62 Finland
2466 27 351.5 12 63 Dominican Republic
2314 27 351.0 64 Venezuela
2342 27 349.0 65 Chile
2438 27 340.5 66 United Arab Emirates
2327 27 324.0 67 Paraguay
2420 26½ 354.5 68 Morocco
2348 26½ 353.5 69 Algeria
2291 26½ 347.0 70 Belgium
2438 26½ 342.0 71 Bolivia
2336 26½ 327.5 72 Costa Rica
2362 26½ 324.0 73 Peru
2404 26 362.5 74 Ecuador
2439 26 349.5 75 Turkmenistan
2444 26 348.0 76 ICSC 2308 26 333.5 77 Austria
2410 26 332.5 78 Singapore
2388 26 330.5 79 Puerto Rico
2237 26 320.5 80 Malaysia
2331 25½ 364.5 81 Luxembourg
2424 25½ 350.5 82 Faroe Islands
2333 25½ 345.0 83 Italy "C"
2366 25½ 337.5 84 South Africa
2321 25½ 334.5 85 Nicaragua
2315 25½ 329.0 86 Iraq
2310 25½ 326.0 87 Andorra
2400 25½ 316.5 88 Japan
2139 25½ 314.5 89 Kyrgyzstan
2332 25 347.0 90 Tunisia
2383 25 341.0 91 Wales
2284 25 333.5 92 New Zealand
2335 24½ 342.5 93 Nigeria
2275 24½ 341.5 94 Syria
2329 24½ 338.5 95 El Salvador
2279 24½ 334.0 96 Lebanon
2255 24½ 325.0 97 Uruguay
2248 24½ 320.5 98 Barbados
2268 24½ 319.0 99 Pakistan
2074 24½ 206.5 100 Thailand
2274 24 333.0 101 Trinidad and Tobago
2217 24 314.5 102 Nepal
2191 24 312.0 103 Botswana
2212 24 305.0 104 Cyprus
2126 24 297.0 105 Jamaica
2227 23½ 329.0 106 Angola
2257 23½ 328.0 107 IPCA 2339 23½ 322.0 108 Malta
2187 23½ 304.0 109 Sudan
1968 23½ 299.5 110 Zambia
2052 23½ 222.5 111 IBCA 2339 23 322.0 112 Libya
2052 23 304.0 113 Uganda
2172 23 303.5 114 Panama
2199 23 303.0 115 Netherlands Antilles
2079 23 273.5 116 Yemen
2276 22½ 325.0 117 Guatemala
2245 22½ 320.5 118 Sri Lanka
2181 22½ 303.5 119 Brunei
2244 22½ 291.0 120 Bahrain
2115 22 307.5 121 Liechtenstein
2152 22 301.5 122 Hong Kong
2175 22 300.5 123 Kenya
2112 22 279.0 124 Jersey
2120 22 274.5 125 Palestine
2188 21½ 297.0 126 Haiti
1400 21½ 295.5 127 Monaco
2165 21½ 291.5 128 Ethiopia
1587 21½ 289.5 129 San Marino
2089 21½ 288.5 130 Suriname
2187 21½ 270.0 131 Mozambique
1576 21 296.5 132 Namibia
2147 21 292.5 133 Honduras
2140 21 289.0 134 Seychelles
1771 21 286.0 135 Macau
2117 21 281.0 136 Chinese Taipei
1572 21 259.5 137 Afghanistan
1707 20½ 297.0 138 Mauritania
2194 20½ 290.5 139 Guernsey
2017 20 280.0 140 Fiji
1793 20 259.0 141 Malawi
1400 19½ 277.5 142 Papua New Guinea
1766 19½ 263.0 143 South Korea
1910 19 288.0 144 Bermuda
1967 19 268.5 145 Aruba
2017 18 146 British Virgin Islands
1986 15½ 147 Rwanda
1470 12 148 United States Virgin Islands
1753 10½
Group prizes
[edit]In addition to the overall medals, prizes were given out to the best teams in five different seeding groups—in other words, the teams who exceeded their seeding the most. Overall medal winners were not eligible for group prizes.
Group Prizes Group Seeding
rangeTeam Seed Overall
finishA 1–30 Israel
6 4 B 31–60 Sweden
31 17 C 61–89 Italy "B"
70 48 D 90–120 Tajikistan
106 54 E 121–147 Japan
121 87
Individual medals
[edit]- Performance rating:
Vladimir Kramnik 2847
- Board 1:
Tunveer Mohyuddin Gillani 7 / 8 = 87.5%
- Board 2:
Josep Oms Pallise 9 / 11 = 81.8%
- Board 3:
Gustavo Manuel Larrea Llorca 7 / 8 = 87.5%
- Board 4:
Wang Yue 10 / 12 = 83.3%
- 1st reserve:
Basheer Al Qudaimi 7 / 7 = 100.0%
- 2nd reserve:
Richmond Phiri 6½ / 7 = 92.9%
Women's event
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Brunello-Chiamparino_TO_2006.jpg/200px-Brunello-Chiamparino_TO_2006.jpg)
The women's division was contested by 103 teams representing 99 nations. Italy, as hosts, fielded two teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) and the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA) each provided one squad. Somalia and Sudan had registered but never showed up. Afghanistan, Uganda, and Rwanda all withdrew after forfeiting their first round matches.
Ukraine had finished in 18th place at the previous Olympiad but entered the tournament seeded second. They trailed top-seeds Russia half a point through the seventh round, despite having taken defeated the Russians in the fifth round (2-1), but took the lead in round eight, defeating Hungary while Russia managed only to draw their match with the United States. Ukraine never gave up their lead for the remainder of the tournament and all but secured the gold medals and the Vera Menchik Trophy with a twelfth round win over India (2½-½), eventually finishing 1½ points ahead of silver medallists Russia. The Ukrainian team was led by Natalia Zhukova, who scored 7½ points in her nine games, defeating the top- and second-rated players, Humpy Koneru of India and Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia. Third board Inna Gaponenko won six games, drew two, and lost only one.
Defending champions China were missing newly crowned World Champion Xu Yuhua, but still claimed the bronze medals by three points over the United States with whom they drew in the penultimate round Their third-place finish was in no small part due to top board Zhao Xue, who entered the tournament seeded 22nd yet, having played in every round, went through the Olympiad undefeated, conceding only six draws in her 13 games.
The American team took fourth place on tiebreaks, just ahead of Hungary, Georgia, and the Netherlands - the Dutch team being seeded only 18th.
# Country Players Average
ratingPoints Buchholz 1 Ukraine
Zhukova, Lahno, Yanovska-Gaponenko, Ushenina 2441 29½ 2 Russia
Kosteniuk, T. Kosintseva, N. Kosintseva, Kovalevskaya 2499 28 3 China
Zhao Xue, Wang Yu, Shen Yang, Hou Yifan 2408 27½ 4 United States
Zatonskih, Krush, Goletiani, Baginskaite 2414 24½ 307.0 5 Hungary
Hoang Thanh Trang, Mádl, Vajda, Gara 2426 24½ 306.0 6 Georgia
Khurtsidze, Dzagnidze, Javakhishvili, Lomineishvili 2430 24½ 305.5 7 Netherlands
Peng Zhaoqin, Bosboom-Lanchava, Schuurman, Muhren 2344 24½ 276.5 8 Armenia
Mkrtchian, Danielian, Aginian, Andriasian 2402 24 299.0 9 Slovenia
A. Muzychuk, Srebrnič, Krivec, Novak 2348 24 286.0 10 Czech Republic
Jacková, Čedíková, Sikorová, Blažková 2302 24 270.5
# Country Average
ratingPoints Buchholz MP S-B Final Ranking - Women 11 Germany
2399 23½ 12 India
2389 23 305.0 13 Bulgaria
2378 23 302.0 14 Romania
2375 23 294.0 15 Vietnam
2302 23 283.5 16 Cuba
2289 23 279.0 17 Latvia
2292 23 263.0 18 France
2366 22½ 299.5 19 Greece
2370 22½ 297.0 20 Poland
2375 22½ 293.0 21 Belarus
2262 22½ 293.0 22 Slovakia
2354 22½ 292.0 23 Lithuania
2374 22 286.5 24 Turkey
2189 22 273.0 25 Serbia and Montenegro
2343 22 272.5 26 Philippines
2083 22 271.5 27 Iran
2222 22 271.0 28 Spain
2296 21½ 286.0 29 Israel
2329 21½ 281.5 30 Croatia
2227 21½ 281.0 31 Sweden
2191 21½ 260.0 32 Uzbekistan
2200 21½ 257.0 33 Estonia
2246 21 285.5 34 Mongolia
2264 21 282.5 35 Argentina
2265 21 273.5 36 Turkmenistan
2182 21 266.5 37 Italy
2304 21 266.0 38 Switzerland
2262 21 265.5 39 Moldova
2262 21 262.5 40 Indonesia
1919 21 257.5 41 Canada
2132 21 252.5 42 England
2231 20½ 271.5 43 Venezuela
1874 20½ 264.5 44 Malaysia
2089 20½ 259.5 45 Kazakhstan
2262 20 283.5 46 Ecuador
2269 20 280.0 47 Portugal
2117 20 258.0 48 Colombia
2137 20 256.0 49 El Salvador
2058 20 254.0 50 Iceland
2111 20 249.0 51 Azerbaijan
2123 20 244.0 52 Brazil
2081 20 238.0 53 Mexico
2137 19½ 250.0 54 Australia
2210 19½ 256.0 55 Denmark
2085 19½ 254.5 56 Finland
2134 19½ 247.5 57 Bosnia and Herzegovina
2165 19 260.0 58 Austria
2092 19 259.0 59 Norway
2182 19 258.5 60 Peru
2136 19 255.0 61 Kyrgyzstan
2137 19 254.0 62 Luxembourg
1812 19 241.5 63 Bolivia
1802 19 223.0 64 North Macedonia
2137 18½ 252.5 65 Italy "B"
1945 18½ 242.0 66 South Africa
1900 18½ 236.5 67 IPCA 2056 18½ 229.5 68 Bangladesh
2090 18 260.5 69 Albania
2054 18 248.5 70 Dominican Republic
2079 18 239.5 71 Guatemala
2030 18 236.0 72 IBCA 2113 17½ 248.0 73 Scotland
1834 17½ 240.0 74 Tajikistan
1629 17½ 236.0 75 Wales
1947 17½ 234.5 76 Jamaica
1791 17½ 232.0 10 82.75 77 Sri Lanka
1863 17½ 232.0 10 80.50 78 Ireland
1747 17½ 231.5 79 Algeria
1588 17½ 227.5 80 New Zealand
1692 17½ 226.0 81 Iraq
1805 17 247.0 82 Nigeria
1590 17 233.0 83 Costa Rica
1617 17 209.0 84 Botswana
1584 16½ 231.5 85 Japan
1581 16½ 211.5 86 Malta
1400 16½ 198.0 87 ICSC 2008 16 234.0 88 Puerto Rico
1826 16 233.5 89 United Arab Emirates
1853 16 211.0 90 Panama
1400 15½ 91 Chinese Taipei
1400 15 193.5 92 Qatar
1400 15 182.5 93 Suriname
1400 14½ 184.5 94 Kenya
1469 14½ 182.0 95 Fiji
1400 14 205.5 96 Angola
1400 14 192.0 97 Yemen
1400 14 179.5 98 Trinidad and Tobago
1400 13½ 176.0 99 Libya
1467 13½ 174.5 100 Namibia
1400 13 101 Netherlands Antilles
1400 12½ 102 United States Virgin Islands
1400 12 103 Honduras
1400 9
Group prizes
[edit]In addition to the overall medals, prizes were given out to the best teams in five different seeding groups—in other words, the teams who exceeded their seeding the most. Overall medal winners were not eligible for group prizes.
Group Prizes Group Seeding
rangeTeam Seed Overall
finishA 1–20 United States
5 4 B 21–42 Czech Republic
22 10 C 43–64 Philippines
60 26 D 65–86 Indonesia
68 40 E 87–103 Algeria
87 79
Individual medals
[edit]- Performance rating:
Zhao Xue 2617
- Board 1: Lubov Zsiltzova-Lisenko (IBCA) 9 / 10 = 90.0%
- Board 2:
Fiona Steil-Antoni 10 / 12 = 83.3%
- Board 3:
Nora Mohd Saleh 7 / 8 = 87.5%
- Reserve:
Tatiana Berlin 7 / 8 = 87.5%
Overall title
[edit]The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is awarded to the nation that has the highest total number of game points in the open and women's divisions combined. Where two or more teams are tied, they are ordered by best single finish in either division and then by total number of points scored.
The trophy, named after the former women's World Champion (1961–78), was created by FIDE in 1997.
# | Team | Open division |
Women's division |
Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
34 | 27½ | 61½ |
2 | ![]() |
32 | 29½ | 61½ |
3 | ![]() |
36 | 24 | 60 |
Participating teams
[edit]Squads representing 133 nations, three international organizations, three constituent countries, two autonomous entities, two crown dependencies, two special administrative regions, two insular areas, and one associated state were entered into the Olympiad, comprising a total of 1307 registered players (some of which did not play).
FIDE Congress
[edit]Concurrent with the chess competition, the 77th FIDE Congress was held in Turin, where delegates from all the national chess federations met to transact business. Incumbent FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov faced criticisms for alleged mismanagement and corruption, primarily from Western federations, including those of the United States, England, France, and Canada, but, with the support of most Asian and African delegates, notably those representing Russia and Singapore, he staved off a challenge from Dutch businessman Bessel Kok to retain his position through 2010, winning by 96 votes to Kok's 54.
The general assembly also awarded the 38th Chess Olympiad, to be held in 2010, to Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the site of the Chess World Cup 2005 and one of five candidates that had submitted bids. The city led after every round of the runoff voting, eventually beating Budva, Montenegro by 71–64.
Associated events
[edit]Held in conjunction with the Olympiad, though not officially sponsored by FIDE, were two computer chess events: the 14th World Computer Chess Championship, played at classical time controls, and the 14th World Computer Speed Chess Championship. The computer Junior won its fifth championship and third in five years in the slower event, while newcomer Ikarus defeated quadruple defending champion Shredder to win the blitz event.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.