10th Chess Olympiad

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Finnish stamp dedicated to the 1952 Chess Olympiad 1952 Chess Olympiad Finnish stamp.jpg
Finnish stamp dedicated to the 1952 Chess Olympiad

The 10th Chess Olympiad (Finnish : 10. Shakkiolympialaiset; Swedish : Den 10:e Schackolympiad), organized by the FIDE and comprising an open [1] team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between August 9 and August 31, 1952, in Helsinki, Finland.

Contents

The Olympiad was especially notable for the debut of the Soviet team, who instantly won their first gold medals and went on to completely dominate the Olympiads for the next four decades.

After the tournament, it was generally agreed that the small preliminary and final groups of only 8–9 teams left too much open to chance, since a single blunder would have an impact too big on the final standings. Consequently, FIDE decided that in the future, no final should have less than 12 participants.

Results

Preliminaries

Twenty-five teams entered the competition and were divided into three preliminary groups of eight or nine teams. The top three from each group advanced to Final A, the teams placed fourth-sixth to Final B, and the rest to Final C. All groups and finals were played as round-robin tournaments.

Group 1 was won by Argentina, ahead of West Germany and Czechoslovakia. England, Denmark, and Cuba took the following places, while Iceland, Saar, and Luxembourg finished in the bottom third.

Sweden took first place in group 2, ahead of Hungary and Yugoslavia. East Germany, Austria, and Italy took places four through six, while Brazil and Norway finished seventh and eighth.

Group 3 was won by the Soviet Union, well ahead of the United States and the Finnish hosts. Israel, the Netherlands, and Poland took the following places, while Switzerland and Greece finished at the bottom.

Group 1

Final Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 + = Points
«A» Argentina - 2 2 4 6 0 2 25½
«A» West Germany 2 - 2 4 4 6 0 2 23
«A» Czechoslovakia 2 2 - 3 3 4 6 0 2 22½
«B» England ½ - 2 2 4 4 3 3 2 18
«B» Denmark ½ 1 2 - 2 3 4 2 4 2 15½
«B» Cuba ½ ½ ½ 2 2 - 3 3 2 14
«C» Iceland ½ - 2 1 6 1 12½
«C» Saar ½ 0 1 0 1 - 4 2 6 0 10½
«C» Luxembourg 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 2 0 - 0 7 1

Group 2

Final Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 + = Points
«A» Sweden - 2 2 2 4 4 4 0 3 21
«A» Hungary 2 - 4 3 4 6 0 1 20½
«A» Yugoslavia 2 - 3 3 3 5 1 1 18½
«B» East Germany ½ 1 - 3 3 4 0 13½
«B» Austria 2 0 1 - 2 2 3 2 11½
«B» Italy ½ 1 1 - 1 2 5 0 11
«C» Brazil 0 0 1 2 3 - 3 2 4 1 10½
«C» Norway 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 - 0 7 0

Group 3

Final Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 + = Points
«A» Soviet Union - 3 3 4 4 7 0 0 23½
«A» United States 1 - 4 2 4 4 3 3 1 18
«A» Finland - 3 4 3 4 3 0 17
«B» Israel 1 0 - 2 4 4 4 2 1 16
«B» Netherlands ½ - 3 4 0 13½
«B» Poland 0 2 1 2 - 3 2 2 12½
«C» Switzerland ½ 0 0 0 - 3 2 5 0
«C» Greece 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ 1 - 0 7 0 4

Final

Final A
#CountryPlayersPoints
1Flag of the Soviet Union (1936 - 1955).svg  Soviet Union Keres, Smyslov, Bronstein, Geller, Boleslavsky, Kotov 21
2Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina Najdorf, J. Bolbochán, Eliskases, Pilnik, Rossetto 19½
3Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg  Yugoslavia Gligorić, Rabar, Trifunović, Pirc, Fuderer, Milić 19
4Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czechoslovakia Filip, Pachman, Šajtar, Kottnauer, Zíta, Pithart 18
5Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg United States Reshevsky, Evans, Robert Byrne, Bisguier, Koltanowski, Berliner 17
6Flag of Hungary (1949-1956; 1-2 aspect ratio).svg  Hungary Szabó, Barcza, Szily, Flórián, Pogáts, Molnár 16
7Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden Ståhlberg, Stoltz, Lundin, Sköld, Johansson, Danielsson 13
8Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany Teschner, Schmid, Pfeiffer, Heinicke, Lange, Rellstab 10½
9Flag of Finland.svg  Finland Böök, Ojanen, Kaila, Salo, Fred, Niemelä 10
Final B
#CountryPlayersPointsMP
10Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands Van Scheltinga, Prins, Donner, Cortlever, Kramer, Barendregt 21
11Flag of Israel.svg  Israel Czerniak, Oren, Porath, Aloni, Mandelbaum 19½
12Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland Tarnowski, Pytlakowski, Plater, Śliwa, Litmanowicz, Grynfeld 16½10
13Flag of Germany.svg  East Germany Koch, Pietzsch, Platz, Müller 16½7
14Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark Enevoldsen J., Poulsen, Nielsen, Pedersen, Enevoldsen H. 16
15Flag of Cuba (sky blue).svg Cuba Alemán, Planas, Gonzáles, Cobo Arteaga, Ortega 15
16Flag of England.svg England Golombek, Penrose, Milner-Barry, Barden, Horne, Hooper 14
17Flag of Austria.svg  Austria Lokvenc, Poschauko, Beni, Auer, Palda, Keller 13
18Flag of Italy.svg Italy Porreca, Nestler, Scafarelli, Calà, Primavera 12½
Final C
#CountryPlayersPointsMPHead-to-head
19Flag of Brazil (1889-1960).svg Brazil German, Souza Mendes, Mangini, Carvalho jr., Cruz Filho, Vasconcellos 18½
20State flag of Greece (1863-1924;1935-73).svg Greece Gaitanaros, Tsiknopoulos, Mastihiadis, Anagnostou, Sakellaropoulos, Zografakis 13½
21Flag of Norway.svg  Norway Vestøl, Myhre, Morcken, Rojahn, Ramm, Madsen E. 136
22Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland Grob, Müller, Morel, Bachmann P., Bhend 136
23Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland Gilfer, Ólafsson, Johnsen, Sigurðsson, Gíslason, Arnlaugsson 12½8
24Flag of Saar (1947-1956).svg  Saar Lorson, Benkner, Weichselbaumer, Jost F., Jacob 12½5
25Flag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg Doerner, Levy, Lambert H., Kremer, Barbier 1

Final A

Place Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 + = Points
1 Soviet Union - 2 2 2 3 5 0 3 21
2 Argentina - 3 5 3 0 19½
3 Yugoslavia 2 - 2 3 3 5 1 2 19
4 Czechoslovakia 2 - 2 2 3 3 2 3 18
5 United States 2 2 2 - 2 3 2 2 1 5 17
6 Hungary 1 1 2 - 2 3 3 2 16
7 Sweden 1 ½ 2 - 2 2 1 4 3 13
8 West Germany ½ 1 1 1 2 2 - 0 6 2 10½
9 Finland ½ ½ ½ 2 ½ 2 - 1 5 2 10

Final B

Place Country 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 + = Points
10 Netherlands - 2 3 3 3 6 1 1 21
11 Israel 2 - 2 3 3 2 5 0 3 19½
12 Poland 2 - 1 2 4 2 2 16½
13 East Germany 1 - 2 3 3 3 3 4 1 16½
14 Denmark 2 - 3 3 4 1 16
15 Cuba ½ 1 1 - 3 2 3 4 1 15
16 England 1 3 1 - 2 2 5 1 14
17 Austria 1 2 2 1 1 ½ - 3 2 4 2 13
18 Italy 1 1 2 2 1 - 1 5 2 12½

Final C

Place Country 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 + = Points
19 Brazil - 2 4 4 5 0 1 18½
20 Greece - 4 3 0 3 13½
21 Norway 2 - 2 2 2 2 13
22 Switzerland - 3 3 0 13
23 Iceland 0 - 1 4 4 2 0 12½
24 Saar ½ 2 3 - 4 2 3 1 12½
25 Luxembourg 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 - 0 6 0 1

Individual medals

References

  1. Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.