The 31st
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 FIDE Onli ...
(, ''31-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organized by
FIDE
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...
and comprising an open
[Although commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both ]male
Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...
and female
An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...
players. and a women's tournament, took place between November 30 and December 17, 1994, in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. Both tournament sections were officiated by
international arbiter Yuri Averbakh of Russia.
The record number of nations once again counted some old faces playing under new flags. Yugoslavia was back, but now represented by the federation of Serbia-Montenegro. Another former Yugoslav republic, Macedonia, also made its debut, as did the Czech Republic and Slovakia who competed individually for the first time. Finally, the
International Braille Chess Association entered two truly international teams.
The Russian team retained their title, captained by
PCA world champion Kasparov. Due to a dispute with the national federation,
FIDE
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...
champion
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (, ; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 ...
was not present. A strong performance from Bosnia-Herzegovina, led by Nikolić, earned them the silver, while the Russian "B" team of juniors, somewhat surprisingly, took the bronze—the first and only time that the same nation has occupied more than one medal rank.
Open event
The open division was contested by 124 teams representing 122 nations plus Russia "B" and the IBCA. The
time control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed.
For turn-based games such as chess, shogi or go, time cont ...
for each game permitted each player 2 hours to make the first 40 of his or her moves, then an additional 1-hour to make the next 20 moves. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided by 1. The
Buchholz system; and 2. Match points.
:
:
Individual medals
*
Performance rating:
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; ; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion.
Topalov became FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE ...
2781
* Board 1:
Daniel Hugo Cámpora 7½ / 9 = 83.3%
* Board 2:
Carlos Dávila 11 / 14 = 78.6%
* Board 3:
Ennio Arlandi 7½ / 9 = 83.3%
* Board 4:
Yasser Seirawan 8½ / 10 = 85.0%
* 1st reserve:
Leighton Williams 6 / 7 = 85.7%
* 2nd reserve:
Brian Kelly 5½ / 7 = 78.6%
Women's event
The women's division was contested by 81 teams representing 79 nations plus Russia "B" and the IBCA. The
time control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed.
For turn-based games such as chess, shogi or go, time cont ...
for each game permitted each player 2 hours to make the first 40 of his or her moves, then an additional 1-hour to make the next 20 moves. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided by 1. The
Buchholz system; and 2. Match points.
The Georgian team, led by former world champion Chiburdanidze, retained their title. Hungary returned to the medal ranks due to the return of Zsuzsa and Zsófia Polgár. Meanwhile, little sister Judit played first board for the Hungarian team in the open event - the first woman to do so. China, captained by reigning world champion Xie Jun, took the bronze.
:
:
Individual medals
*
Performance rating:
Zsófia Polgár 2625
* Board 1:
Lubov Zsiltzova-Lisenko (
IBCA) 10½ / 13 = 80.8%
* Board 2:
Zsófia Polgár 12½ / 14 = 89.3%
* Board 3:
Amelia Hernández 8½ / 9 = 94.4%
* Reserve:
Elena Sedina 10½ / 12 = 87.5%
References
31st Chess Olympiad: Moscow 1994OlimpBase
{{Chess Olympiads
Chess Olympiads
Women's Chess Olympiads
Olympiad 1994
Chess Olympiad 1994
1994 in chess
1994 in Russian sport
1994 in Moscow
November 1994 sports events in Europe
December 1994 sports events in Europe
November 1994 in Russia
December 1994 in Russia