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The 29th Chess Olympiad (Serbian: 29. Шаховска олимпијада, 29. Šahovska olimpijada), 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 November 16 and December 4, 1990, in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia).
This time around, the political controversy surrounded the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – who had all recently declared their independence from the Soviet Union and wanted to send their own teams to the Olympiad. The Yugoslavian hosts, however, followed the decree from Moscow and refused to accept their entries. Despite a petition from several top players they weren't allowed to play. This meant that big names like Jaan Ehlvest, Lembit Oll, Alexei Shirov, and former world champion Mikhail Tal could not appear at the Olympiad.
Incidentally, this would also turn out to be the last Olympic appearances of the "old" Eastern Bloc countries: East Germany, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. The latter finished in style by winning their sixth consecutive gold medals and 18th overall, even without Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov who were in the midst of their fifth and final world championship match. Instead, the last Soviet team was led by Ivanchuk and Gelfand – two of the co-signers of the pro-Baltic petition. They still won in style, well ahead of the United States and England.
Open event
[edit]A total of 108 teams from 106 different nations played a 14-round Swiss system tournament. For the first time, the host nation got the right to field two additional teams. All three Yugoslavian sides finished in the top 30.
In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by using the Buchholz system, then by match points.
Open event # Country Players Average
ratingPoints Buchholz 1 Soviet Union
Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Beliavsky, Yusupov, Yudasin, Bareev 2645 39 2 United States
Seirawan, Gulko, Christiansen, Benjamin, Fedorowicz, De Firmian 2599 35½ 452.5 3 England
Short, Speelman, Nunn, Adams, Chandler, Hodgson 2604 35½ 450.5
# Country Average
ratingPoints Buchholz MP 4 Czechoslovakia
2530 34½ 5 Yugoslavia
2576 33 460.0 6 China
2521 33 444.0 7 Cuba
2526 33 440.5 8 Iceland
2451 32½ 452.0 9 West Germany
2549 32½ 451.0 10 India
2488 32½ 449.0 11 Sweden
2439 32½ 441.5 12 Netherlands
2561 32½ 435.0 13 Yugoslavia "B"
2534 32½ 433.0 14 Bulgaria
2514 32 451.5 15 France
2493 32 433.0 16 Israel
2533 32 431.0 17 Hungary
2553 32 427.5 18 Poland
2476 32 421.5 19 Mexico
2463 32 414.5 20 Colombia
2424 31½ 429.5 21 Philippines
2443 31½ 427.0 22 Peru
2381 31½ 421.0 23 Scotland
2381 31½ 418.5 24 Finland
2449 31½ 416.5 25 East Germany
2509 31 446.0 26 Yugoslavia "C"
2506 31 441.0 27 Chile
2456 31 436.5 28 Indonesia
2416 31 425.0 29 Argentina
2439 31 423.5 30 Canada
2451 31 418.5 31 Spain
2495 31 417.0 32 Romania
2483 31 412.5 33 Brazil
2471 30½ 420.5 34 Australia
2454 30½ 415.0 35 Italy
2409 30½ 412.0 36 Switzerland
2501 30 427.5 37 Norway
2473 30 425.0 38 Denmark
2498 30 424.0 39 Austria
2465 30 417.5 40 Albania
2386 30 417.0 41 Egypt
2376 30 416.5 42 Wales
2301 30 391.5 43 New Zealand
2295 29½ 44 Vietnam
2201 29 405.5 17 45 Mongolia
2349 29 405.5 14 46 Singapore
2370 29 396.0 47 Turkey
2346 29 394.5 48 Ecuador
2240 29 376.0 49 Greece
2450 28½ 427.5 50 Paraguay
2343 28½ 405.0 51 Bangladesh
2363 28½ 403.5 52 Tunisia
2329 28½ 403.0 53 Belgium
2369 28½ 396.5 54 Costa Rica
2276 28½ 392.0 55 Portugal
2411 28 439.0 56 Pakistan
2295 28 397.5 57 Uruguay
2295 28 395.5 58 Iran
2256 28 392.0 59 Ireland
2306 28 391.0 60 Luxembourg
2249 28 387.5 61 Thailand
2230 28 377.5 62 Angola
2324 28 377.0 63 Syria
2291 27½ 395.0 64 Bolivia
2230 27½ 378.5 65 Barbados
2235 27½ 372.0 66 Japan
2226 27½ 369.0 67 United Arab Emirates
2216 27 383.0 68 Yemen
2200 27 369.5 69 Morocco
2259 26 390.0 70 Algeria
2218 26 384.5 71 Puerto Rico
2244 26 380.5 72 Lebanon
2241 26 366.5 73 Malaysia
2228 26 362.5 74 Trinidad and Tobago
2200 26 361.5 75 Guatemala
2230 26 337.0 76 Venezuela
2285 25½ 386.0 77 Dominican Republic
2235 25½ 378.5 78 Uganda
2296 25½ 361.5 79 Faroe Islands
2240 25 381.0 80 El Salvador
2268 25 374.5 81 Nigeria
2203 25 366.5 82 Cyprus
2206 25 346.5 83 Hong Kong
2240 24½ 364.0 84 Jamaica
2218 24½ 351.5 85 Andorra
2213 24½ 350.0 86 Libya
2201 24½ 345.5 87 Guernsey and
Jersey
2218 24 362.5 11 88 Zimbabwe
2209 24 362.5 6 89 Qatar
2229 24 362.0 90 Zambia
2209 24 349.0 91 Netherlands Antilles
2246 24 345.0 92 Mali
2203 24 341.0 93 Sudan
2201 23½ 358.5 94 Bahrain
2200 23½ 347.5 95 Malta
2210 23½ 343.0 96 Haiti
2204 23 357.5 97 Fiji
2200 23 326.0 98 San Marino
2200 22 326.5 99 British Virgin Islands
2200 22 326.0 100 Panama
2200 22 323.5 101 United States Virgin Islands
2226 22 317.0 102 Liechtenstein
2200 22 315.5 103 Honduras
2200 22 282.0 104 Botswana
2200 21½ 323.5 105 Bahamas
2201 21½ 314.0 106 Bermuda
2200 21 107 Mauritius
2200 20 108 Kenya
2201 18
Individual medals
[edit]- Performance rating:
Robert Hübner 2734
- Board 1:
Zenón Franco Ocampos (9/12) and
Raül García Paolicchi (10½/14) = 75.0%
- Board 2:
Dibyendu Barua 8½ / 11 = 77.3%
- Board 3:
Egon Brestian 9½ / 12 = 79.2%
- Board 4:
Roberto Martín del Campo 7½ / 10 = 75.0%
- 1st reserve:
Satea Husari 6 / 7 = 85.7%
- 2nd reserve:
Iolo Jones 6 / 7 = 85.7%
Women's event
[edit]65 teams from 63 different nations took part. Like the open event, the women's competition featured three Yugoslavian teams, all of which finished in the top 20. Lebanon were signed up, but didn't show up. Their first three matches were listed as forfeit, after which they were officially withdrawn.
In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by using the Buchholz system, then by match points.
For the second Olympiad in a row, the Hungarian team beat the Soviet Union, although only on tie break this time. Once again, all three Polgár sisters (Zsuzsa, Zsófia, and Judit) were in the team - and they all won their respective boards. The best individual performance, however, came from Soviet reserve Arakhamia who registered a perfect 12/12 score and an unbelievable 2935 performance rating.
# Country Players Average
ratingPoints Buchholz 1 Hungary
Zsuzsa Polgár, J. Polgár, Zsófia Polgár, Mádl 2492 35 344.5 2 Soviet Union
Chiburdanidze, Gaprindashvili, Galliamova, Arakhamia 2438 35 340.5 3 China
Xie Jun, Peng Zhaoqin, Qin Kanying, Wang Lei 2302 29
# Country Average
ratingPoints Buchholz MP 4 Bulgaria
2258 26 5 Yugoslavia
2312 25 6 United States
2357 24½ 7 England
2235 24 351.5 8 Greece
2242 24 337.0 9 Romania
2275 24 334.0 10 Yugoslavia "B"
2260 23½ 342.5 11 East Germany
2248 23½ 328.0 12 Netherlands
2157 23½ 303.5 13 Mongolia
2112 23½ 293.5 14 Poland
2257 23 347.0 15 Argentina
2187 23 332.0 16 Cuba
2173 23 329.5 17 West Germany
2225 23 319.5 18 Israel
2132 23 308.5 19 Czechoslovakia
2250 22½ 345.5 20 Yugoslavia "C"
2173 22½ 329.5 21 Vietnam
2000 22½ 322.0 22 Denmark
2120 22 310.0 23 Norway
2032 22 302.0 24 France
2090 22 296.0 25 Scotland
2012 22 295.0 26 Brazil
2102 22 292.0 27 Spain
2198 21½ 319.5 28 Switzerland
2133 21½ 310.5 29 Austria
2073 21½ 299.5 30 Sweden
2022 21½ 298.0 31 Australia
2073 21½ 295.5 32 India
2150 21 312.0 33 Finland
2040 21 305.0 34 Bangladesh
2063 21 252.0 35 Albania
2000 20½ 312.0 36 Italy
2055 20½ 289.0 37 Indonesia
2042 20½ 286.0 38 Ireland
2047 20½ 275.5 39 Wales
2005 20 297.0 =40 Mexico
2000 20 278.5 13 =40 New Zealand
2000 20 278.5 13 42 Belgium
2032 20 276.5 43 Ecuador
2000 20 269.5 44 Syria
2000 20 264.0 45 Egypt
2007 20 262.0 46 Turkey
2050 19½ 288.0 47 Dominican Republic
2048 19½ 275.0 48 Portugal
2003 19½ 274.5 49 Malaysia
2002 19½ 262.5 50 Zambia
2000 19½ 221.5 51 Bolivia
2000 19 282.5 52 Uruguay
2003 19 270.5 53 Puerto Rico
2000 19 227.0 54 Canada
2063 18½ 286.0 55 Venezuela
2000 18½ 277.0 56 United Arab Emirates
2003 18 57 Algeria
2000 17½ 261.5 58 Jamaica
2005 17½ 236.5 59 Zimbabwe
2000 17½ 223.0 60 Angola
2000 15½ 219.0 61 Netherlands Antilles
2000 15½ 201.0 62 Nigeria
2000 15 63 Malta
2000 14½ 64 Botswana
2000 11½ 65 United States Virgin Islands
2000 10
Individual medals
[edit]- Performance rating:
Ketevan Arakhamia 2935
- Board 1:
Zsuzsa Polgár 11½ / 14 = 82.1%
- Board 2:
Judit Polgár 10 / 13 = 76.9%
- Board 3:
Zsófia Polgár 11½ / 13 = 88.5%
- Reserve:
Ketevan Arakhamia 12 / 12 = 100.0%
References
[edit]- ^ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
External links
[edit]- 29th Chess Olympiad: Novi Sad 1990 OlimpBase