17th Chess Olympiad

The 17th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open[1] team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 23 and November 20, 1966, in Havana, Cuba.
The Soviet team with 6 GMs, led by world champion Petrosian, lived up to expectations and won their eighth consecutive gold medals, with the United States and Hungary taking the silver and bronze, respectively.
When Hungary and Yugoslavia tied on both game and match points, and they had drawn 2-2 with each other, the rules dictated that the final ranking would be decided by using the Neustadtl score - but not which version of it. A socalled unweighted score was used, which placed Hungary ahead of Yugoslavia, giving them the bronze medals. Had the weighted variant been used instead, the result would have been the other way around.
Results
Preliminaries
A total of 52 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 3rd-4th to Final B, no. 5-6 to Final C, and the rest to Final D. All preliminary groups and finals were played as round-robin tournaments. The preliminary results were as follows:
- Group 1: 1. Soviet Union, 2. Spain, 3. Switzerland, 4. Sweden, 5. Philippines, 6. Uruguay, 7. Monaco, 8. Hong Kong.
- Group 2: 1. Yugoslavia, 2. Iceland, 3. Indonesia, 4. Austria, 5. Turkey, 6. Mongolia, 7. Mexico.
- Group 3: 1. United States, 2. Norway, 3. Poland, 4. Israel, 5. Ecuador, 6. Portugal, 7. Bolivia.
- Group 4: 1. Argentina, 2. Denmark, 3. England, 4. France, 5. Ireland, 6. Chile, 7. South Africa.
- Group 5: 1. Czechoslovakia, 2. East Germany, 3. Canada, 4. Scotland, 5. Italy, 6. Luxembourg, 7. Cyprus.
- Group 6: 1. Hungary, 2. Cuba, 3. Netherlands, 4. Belgium, 5. Venezuela, 6. Tunisia, 7. Panama, 8. Lebanon.
- Group 7: 1. Romania, 2. Bulgaria, 3. Colombia, 4. Finland, 5. Greece, 6. Puerto Rico, 7. Morocco, 8. Nicaragua.
Final
Final A # Country Players Points MP Head-
to-headNS 1
Soviet Union Petrosian, Spassky, Tal, Stein, Korchnoi, Polugaevsky 39½ 2
United States Fischer, Byrne, Benko*, Evans, Addison, Rossolimo 34½ 3
HungaryPortisch, Szabó, Bilek, Lengyel, Forintos, Bárczay 33½ 20 2 232.25 4
Yugoslavia Gligorić, Ivkov, Parma, Matanović, Matulović, Čirić 33½ 20 2 229.75 5
Argentina Najdorf, Panno, Bolbochán, Sanguineti, García, Schweber 30 6
Czechoslovakia Pachman, Hort, Filip, Kaválek, Jansa, Ujtelky* 29½ 7
Bulgaria Minev, Bobotsov, Tringov, Padevsky, Kolarov, Popov 28½ 8
Romania Gheorghiu, Ciocâltea, Ghiţescu, Soós*, Drimer, Stanciu 26½ 9
East Germany Uhlmann, Pietzsch, Fuchs, Malich, Zinn, Liebert 25½ 10
Denmark Larsen, Brinck-Claussen, Andersen, Enevoldsen, Holm, Pedersen 20 11
Iceland Friðrik Ólafsson, Ingi Randver Jóhannsson, Guðmundur Pálmason,
Freysteinn Þorbergsson, Gunnar Gunnarsson, Guðmundur Sigurjónsson19 12
Spain Pomar, Medina García, Menvielle Lacourrelle, Calvo Mínguez,
Franco Raymundo, Pérez Gonsalves18 13
Norway Johannessen, Zwaig, Hoen, Kristiansen, De Lange, Wibe 14 14
Cuba Jiménez Zerquera, Ortega, Cobo Arteaga, Rodríguez Gonzáles,
García Martínez, Santa Cruz12
- HUN-born
Final B # Country Points MP 15
Netherlands 37 16
Poland 31½ 17
Austria 30 18
Switzerland 28½ 15 19
Israel 28½ 13 20
Finland 28 21
England 27½ 22
Colombia 26½ 23
Canada 25½ 24
Sweden 24½ 25
Belgium 23 26
France 20 27
Indonesia 18 28
Scotland 15½ Final C # Country Points MP 29
Italy 38 30
Mongolia 33½ 31
Philippines 31 32
Greece 29 33
Uruguay 28 34
Tunisia 26½ 35
Turkey 25½ 36
Venezuela 25 12 37
Portugal 25 10 38
Chile 23½ 9 39
Ecuador 23½ 8 40
Ireland 21 41
Puerto Rico 18½ 42
Luxembourg 16 Final D # Country Points MP 43
South Africa 28 44
Mexico 24½ 45
Bolivia 22 46
Monaco 20 47
Morocco 19½ 48
Nicaragua 17 49
Panama 16½ 50
Lebanon 11 3 51
Cyprus 11 2 52
Hong Kong 10½
Individual medals
- Board 1:
Tigran Petrosian 11½ / 13 = 88.5% - Board 2:
Oscar Panno 14 / 18 = 77.8% - Board 3:
Mikhail Tal 12 / 13 = 92.3% - Board 4:
Christian Langeweg 12 / 15 = 80.0% - 1st reserve:
Viktor Korchnoi 10½ / 13 = 80.8% - 2nd reserve:
László Bárczay 11 / 12 = 91.7%
References
- ↑ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
- 17th Chess Olympiad: Havana 1966 OlimpBase