The 37th

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 ...

(), 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 openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

, took place between May 20 and June 4, 2006, in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. 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 In chess tournaments, an arbiter is an official who oversees matches and ensures that the rules of chess are followed. International Arbiter ''International Arbiter'' is a title awarded by FIDE to individuals deemed capable of acting as arbiter ...

Geurt Gijssen (

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

). Teams were paired across the 13 rounds of competition according to the

Swiss system A Swiss-system tournament is a non-eliminating tournament format that features a fixed number of rounds of competition, but considerably fewer than for a round-robin tournament; thus each competitor (team or individual) does not play all the other ...

. 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 The Buchholz system (also spelled Buchholtz) is a ranking or scoring system developed by Bruno Buchholz (died 1958) in 1932, for Swiss system tournaments. It was originally developed as an auxiliary scoring method, but more recently it has been u ...

; 2. Match points; 3. The Sonneborn-Berger system; and 4. The Median Buchholz system. 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 90 minutes for all their moves, with an additional 30 seconds increment for each player after each move, beginning with the first.

Open event

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 The International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) is an organization for blind and visually impaired chess players. The IBCA is a FIDE-affiliated chess organization as well as a part of the International Blind Sports Federation. The Internation ...

'' (IBCA), the ''International Physically Disabled Chess Association'' (IPCA), and the ''International Committee of Silent Chess'' (ICSC) each provided one squad.

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

were signed up, but never arrived. Led by first board

Levon Aronian Levon Grigori Aronian (; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenian chess grandmaster who has represented the United States since 2021. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster in 2000, at the age of 17. He is a former world rapid and blit ...

, the second highest-rated player at the Olympiad, and first reserve

Gabriel Sargissian Gabriel Eduardi Sargissian (, ''Gabriel Eduardi Sargsyan''; born 3 September 1983) is an Armenian chess grandmaster. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Armenian team at the Chess Olympiads in 2006, 2008 and 2012 and at the World Team Che ...

, who scored 10 points in 11 games,

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

improved on their third-place performance at the 36th Olympiad, claiming their first ever

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

s by a full two points over the

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

lists

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, 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 Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, when four

draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn most commonly refer to: * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Draw (tie), in a competition, where competitors achieve equal outcomes * Draw ...

s were cursorily recorded. Aronian was the only Armenian player to lose a game during the tournament, falling in the fifth round to

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. He was the World Chess Champion#Split title (1993–2006), Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Ch ...

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 ...

. 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 ratin

, Russia held second place, just behind Armenia, through the seventh round but lost matches to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(1½-2½), the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(1½-2½), and, in the final round,

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

(1-3), and ultimately finished sixth; the worst Olympic result ever for a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the 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 medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

s on Buchholz

tiebreak In games and sport, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is any method used to determine a winner or to rank participants when there is a tie - meaning two or more parties have achieved a same score or result. A tiebreaker provides the additional criterion ...

s. Hungary,

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

ed 16th, finished fifth, thanks to strong performances from third board

Ferenc Berkes Ferenc Berkes (born 8 August 1985) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. He is an eight-time Hungarian Chess Champion, winning in 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018. In 2002, he was World Under 18 Champion. In 2004 he tied for ...

and fourth board Csaba Balogh, while

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, who entered the tournament seeded second, finished in 30th place, with first board

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster. Anand is a five-time World Chess Champion, a two-time World Rapid Chess Champion, a two-time Chess World Cup Champion and a World Blitz Chess Cup Champion. ...

(former and future World Champion) and fourth board

Surya Shekhar Ganguly Surya Shekhar Ganguly (born 24 February 1983) is an Indian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster. His peak ELO rating was 2676 (July 2016). Ganguly became an International Master at the age of 16 and a Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster at the a ...

both scoring just 50%. Even without FIDE World Champion

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 ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

still managed to clinch a top ten result, finishing in ninth place. : :

Group prizes

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. :

Individual medals

Performance rating The PR (performance rating, P-rating, or Pentium rating) system was a figure of merit developed by AMD, Cyrix, IBM Microelectronics and SGS-Thomson in the mid-1990s as a method of comparing their x86 processors to those of rival Intel. The idea ...

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

The women's division was contested by 103 teams representing 99 nations. Italy, as hosts, fielded two teams, whilst the ''

'' (IBCA) and the ''International Physically Disabled Chess Association'' (IPCA) each provided one squad.

and

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

had registered but never showed up.

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, and

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

all withdrew after forfeiting their first round matches.

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

had finished in 18th place at the previous Olympiad but entered the tournament seeded second. They trailed top-seeds

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

while Russia managed only to draw their match with the

. Ukraine never gave up their lead for the remainder of the tournament and all but secured the

s and the

Vera Menchik Vera Francevna Mencikova (, ''Vera Frantsevna Menchik''; ; 16 February 1906 – 26 June 1944), was a Russian-born Czechoslovak chess player who primarily resided in England. She was the first and longest-reigning Women's World Chess Champ ...

Trophy with a twelfth round win over India (2½-½), eventually finishing 1½ points ahead of

lists Russia. The Ukrainian team was led by

Natalia Zhukova Natalia Oleksandrivna Zhukova (; born 5 June 1979) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster and two-time European women's champion. She won several age-group titles as a teenager, at both the European and world levels. She has also won several internat ...

, who scored 7½ points in her nine games, defeating the top- and second- rated players,

Humpy Koneru Koneru Humpy (born 31 March 1987) is an Indian chess grandmaster. Humpy is a runner-up of the Women's World Chess Championship and the reigning two-time Women's World Rapid Chess Champion. In 2002, she became the youngest female player--and ...

and

Alexandra Kosteniuk Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk (; born 23 April 1984) is a Russian and Swiss chess grandmaster who was the Women's World Chess Champion from 2008 to 2010 and Women's World Rapid Chess Champion in 2021. She was European women's champion ...

of Russia. Third board

Inna Gaponenko Inna Gaponenko (also known as Inna Yanovska; born 22 June 1976) is a Ukrainian chess player holding the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). Career She won the European under-16 girls' championship in 1992 and the ...

won six games,

drew Drew may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places ;In the United States * Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Drew, Mississippi, a city * Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Drew County, Arkansas ...

two, and lost only one. Defending champions

were missing newly crowned World Champion

Xu Yuhua Xu Yuhua (born 29 October 1976) is a Chinese chess grandmaster and former Women's World Champion (2006–2008). She was China's third women's world chess champion after Xie Jun and Zhu Chen. She has been followed by Chinese women's world che ...

, but still claimed the

s 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 Zhao Xue (; born 6 April 1985) is a Chinese chess player. She is the 24th Chinese person to achieve the title of Grandmaster. Zhao was a member of the gold medal-winning Chinese team at the Women's Chess Olympiad in 2002, 2004 and 2016, and a ...

, 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

s, just ahead of Hungary,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, and the

- the Dutch team being seeded only 18th. : :

Group prizes

Individual medals

2617 * Board 1:

Lubov Zsiltzova-Lisenko Lubov Zsiltzova-Lisenko (; born 20 October 1956) is a Ukrainian chess player who holds the title of FIDE title of Woman International Master (WIM, 1996). She won the Ukrainian Women's Chess Championship in 1978 and is a two-time Women's Chess O ...

( 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

The

Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is an award given to the national chess team that achieves the best combined score in the open and women's events of the Chess Olympiad. It is named in honour of former women's world champion (1962–1978) Nona Gaprin ...

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.

Participating teams

Squads representing 133 nations, three international organizations, three constituent countries, two autonomous entities, two

crown dependencies The Crown Dependencies are three dependent territory, offshore island territories in the British Islands that are self-governing possessions of the The Crown, British Crown: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, both lo ...

, two special administrative regions, two

insular area In the law of the United States, an insular area is a U.S.-associated jurisdiction that is not part of a U.S. state or the Washington, D.C., District of Columbia. This includes fourteen Territories of the United States, U.S. territories adminis ...

s, and one

associated state An associated state is the minor partner or dependent territory in a formal, free relationship between a political territory (some of them dependent states, most of them fully sovereign) and a major party—usually a larger state. The details ...

were entered into the Olympiad, comprising a total of 1307 registered players (some of which did not play). 37th Chess Olympiad participants

FIDE Congress

Concurrent with the chess competition, the 77th

Congress was held in Turin, where delegates from all the national chess federations met to transact business. Incumbent FIDE president

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov (born 5 April 1962) is a Russian oligarch, administrator and politician. He was President of the Republic of Kalmykia in the Russian Federation from 1993 to 2010, and was president of FIDE, the chess internat ...

faced criticisms for alleged mismanagement and

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

, primarily from

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

federations, including those of the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, but, with the support of most Asian and African delegates, notably those representing

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, he staved off a challenge from Dutch businessman

Bessel Kok Bessel Kok (born 13 December 1941 in Hilversum, Netherlands) is a Dutch businessman and chess organiser living in Prague. He has served in top management positions in telecommunications companies in Belgium ( Belgacom) and in the Czech Republic. He ...

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 Khanty-Mansiysk (, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city in west-central Russia. Technically, it is situated on the eastern bank of the Irtysh River, from its confluence with the Ob, in the oil-ri ...

, the site of the

Chess World Cup 2005 The Chess World Cup 2005 served as a qualification tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007. It was held as a 128-player tournament from 27 November to 17 December 2005 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The top ten finishers qualified for ...

and one of five candidates that had submitted bids. The city led after every round of the

runoff voting Runoff voting can refer to: * election methods where candidates are eliminated based on comparison of votes tallies: ** Two-round system, a voting system where only the top two candidates from the first round continue to the second round. ** Instan ...

, eventually beating

Budva Budva (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Будва, or ) is a town in the Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro. It had 27,445 inhabitants as of 2023, and is the centre of Budva Municipality. The coastal area around Budva, called the Budv ...

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

by 71–64.

Associated events

Held in conjunction with the Olympiad, though not officially sponsored by FIDE, were two

computer chess Computer chess includes both hardware (dedicated computers) and software capable of playing chess. Computer chess provides opportunities for players to practice even in the absence of human opponents, and also provides opportunities for analysi ...

events: the 14th

World Computer Chess Championship World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) was an event held periodically from 1974 to 2024 where computer chess engines compete against each other. The event is organized by the ''International Computer Games Association'' (ICGA, until 2002 ICCA). I ...

, played at classical time controls, and the 14th

World Computer Speed Chess Championship World Computer Speed Chess Championship was an annual event organized by the International Computer Games Association where computer chess engines compete against each other at blitz chess time controls. It was held in conjunction with the World ...

. The computer

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

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 Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, several ships of the Prussian, Imperia ...

event.

Notes

External links

37th Chess Olympiad: Turin 2006
OlimpBase
Turin Olympiad 2006 official homepage

FIDE press release on Olympiad results

Detailed Olympiad results

''This Week in Chess'' round-by-round Olympiad summaries
{{Chess Olympiads Chess Olympiads Women's Chess Olympiads Olympiad 2006 Chess Olympiad 2006 Olympiad 2006 Chess Olympiad 2006 May 2006 sports events in Europe July 2006 sports events in Europe 2000s in Turin