The 18th
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 an ...
( it, Le 18º Olimpiadi degli scacchi), organized by
FIDE and comprising an open
[Although commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players.] team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
, took place between October 17 and November 7, 1968, in
Lugano
Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...
,
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:
* Group 2:
* Group 3:
* Group 4:
* Group 5:
* Group 6:
* Group 7:
Final
:
:
:
:
Final «A»
* Matches played in semi-finals are italicized.
Final «B»
* Matches played in semi-finals are italicized.
Final «C»
* Matches played in semi-finals are italicized.
Final «D»
* Matches played in semi-finals are italicized.
Individual medals
* Board 1:
Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style ...
10½ / 12 = 87.5%
* Board 2:
Georgi Tringov 11 / 14 = 78.6%
* Board 3:
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ( rus, Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, p=vʲiktər lʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. H ...
11 / 13 = 84.6%
* Board 4:
Shimon Kagan 10½ / 13 = 80.8%
* 1st reserve:
Glicerio Badilles 11½ / 14 = 82.1%
* 2nd reserve:
Vassily Smyslov
Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 t ...
11 / 12 = 91.7%
References
18th Chess Olympiad: Lugano 1968OlimpBase
{{Chess Olympiads
18
Olympiad 18
Chess Olympiad 18
Olympiad 17
Chess Olympiad 18
International sports competitions hosted by Switzerland