1978 Chess Olympiad
The 23rd Chess Olympiad ( es, La 23a Olimpíada de ajedrez), organized by FIDE 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, took place between October 25 and November 12, 1978, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After the boycott two years earlier, the Eastern Bloc countries were back, including the Soviet team who, as usual, were huge favourites——but in the end they had to settle for the silver medal. Hungary, led by Lajos Portisch, caused quite an upset by taking the gold medals by a full point. The United States took the bronze. This tournament also witnessed the debut of China, which placed 20th with six untitled players, and later became a chess power and won the Chess Olympiad in 2014 and 2018. Open event Sixty-five nations played a 14-round Swiss system tournament. To make for an even number of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chess Olympiad Buenos Aires 1978
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 distinguish it from related games, such as xiangqi (Chinese chess) and shogi (Japanese chess). The recorded history of chess goes back at least to the emergence of a similar game, chaturanga, in seventh-century India. The rules of chess as we know them today emerged in Europe at the end of the 15th century, with standardization and universal acceptance by the end of the 19th century. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide. Chess is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no use of dice or cards. It is played on a chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. At the start, each player controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky ( rus, Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский, Borís Vasíl'yevich Spásskiy; born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. Spassky played three world championship matches: he lost to Tigran Petrosian in 1966; defeated Petrosian in 1969 to become world champion; then lost to Bobby Fischer in a famous match in 1972. Spassky won the Soviet Chess Championship twice outright (1961, 1973), and twice lost in playoffs (1956, 1963), after tying for first place during the event proper. He was a World Chess Championship candidate on seven occasions (1956, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1977, 1980 and 1985). In addition to his candidates wins in 1965 and 1968, Spassky reached the semi-final stage in 1974 and the final stage in 1977. Spassky immigrated to France in 1976, becoming a French citizen in 1978. He continued to compete in tournaments but was no longer a major ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wolfgang Unzicker
Wolfgang Unzicker (26 June 1925 – 20 April 2006) was one of the strongest German chess Grandmasters from 1945 to about 1970. He decided against making chess his profession, choosing law instead. Unzicker was at times the world's strongest amateur chess player, and World Champion Anatoly Karpov called him the "world champion of amateurs". Unzicker was born in Pirmasens, a small town near Kaiserslautern in the province of Rhineland-Palatinate noted for shoemaking. His father taught him how to play chess at age 10. His brother, four years older, was also a chess player but was killed in World War II. Unzicker began to play tournaments abroad in 1948 as Germany was struggling to rebuild after the war, and achieved the grandmaster title in 1954. He won the German Championship six times from 1948 to 1963 and tied for first in 1965. From 1950 to 1978 Unzicker played in twelve Chess Olympiads, and was first board on ten of them. He played nearly 400 times representing Germany's nation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Hübner
Robert Hübner (born November 6, 1948) is a German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and papyrologist. He was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. Chess career At eighteen, he was joint winner of the West German Chess Championship. In 1965 he won, together with Hans Ree, the Niemeyer tournament for European players under 20. His International Master (IM) title was awarded in 1969 and his Grandmaster (GM) title in 1971. He reached third place in the FIDE world ranking list in 1980. Between 1971 and 1991 (loss to Jan Timman), Hübner played in four Candidates Tournaments for the World Championship. Three ended in controversial circumstances: * In 1971, he forfeited a closely contested quarter final to Tigran Petrosian, after blundering a piece in the 7th game in a drawn position. * In 1980–81, his best result, after winning the quarter and semi final (against the Hungarian players Adorjan and Portisch), he reached the final before losing to V ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William Lombardy
William James Joseph Lombardy (December 4, 1937 – October 13, 2017) was an American chess grandmaster, chess writer, teacher, and former Catholic priest. He was one of the leading American chess players during the 1950s and 1960s, and a contemporary of Bobby Fischer, whom he seconded during the World Chess Championship 1972. He won the World Junior Championship in 1957, the only person to win that tournament with a perfect score. Lombardy led the U.S. Student Team to Gold in the 1960 World Student Team Championship in Leningrad. Formative years Lombardy was born to an Italian-American father and Polish-American mother. Lombardy grew up at 838 Beck Street, Bronx, New York City, in an apartment with his parents and two other families. "Bill recalls that his family had financial problems when he was young. His parents both worked and they all shared an apartment with his grandmother, an aunt and a cousin, until his second year in grammar school, when they moved to their own apa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Tarjan
James Edward Tarjan (born February 22, 1952 in Pomona, California) is an American chess Grandmaster. Tarjan was 17 when he was selected to the American team for the 1969 World Students' Olympiad, at Dresden. He was a member of the winning American side at Haifa 1970, and was selected again at Graz 1972. He finished second at an invitational junior tournament at Norwich 1972, with 12/15, behind Hungarian Gyula Sax. He earned his International Master title in 1974, and was promoted to Grandmaster in 1976. He played for the American team at five straight chess Olympiads. He began at Nice 1974, then played at Haifa 1976, Buenos Aires 1978, Valletta 1980, and Lucerne 1982. His best results in international tournaments include first at Subotica 1975, first at Vancouver 1976, and first equal at Vršac 1983, along with Predrag Nikolić and Georgy Agzamov. Other good finishes included tied for third at Chicago 1973 with 7/11; tied for fifth at Venice 1974 with 7.5/13; and an excell ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Byrne (chess Player)
Robert Eugene Byrne (April 20, 1928 – April 12, 2013) was an American chess player and chess author who held the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). He won the U.S. Championship in 1972, and was a World Chess Championship Candidate in 1974. Byrne represented the United States nine times in Chess Olympiads from 1952 to 1976 and won seven medals. He was the chess columnist from 1972 to 2006 for ''The New York Times'', which ran his final column (a recounting of his 1952 victory over David Bronstein) on November 12, 2006. Byrne worked as a university professor for many years, before becoming a chess professional in the early 1970s. Early years Byrne was born in Brooklyn, the son of Elizabeth Eleanor (Cattalier) and Robert Byrne. He and his younger brother Donald grew up in New York City and were among the "Collins Kids", promising young players who benefited from the instruction and encouragement of John W. Collins. Both ultimately became college professors and among the leading ch ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Anatoly Lein
Anatoly Yakovlevich Lein (russian: Анатолий Яковлевич Лейн; March 28, 1931 – March 1, 2018) was a Soviet-born American chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1968. Chess career FIDE awarded Lein the International Master title in 1964 and the Grandmaster title in 1968. Lein finished equal first at Moscow 1970, and won the 1971 Moscow championship after a play-off. He placed first at Cienfuegos 1972, first at Novi Sad 1972 and 1973, and equal first at Grand Manan 1984. In 1976 Lein emigrated to the United States, finishing equal first with Leonid Shamkovich in the U.S. Open, and equal first with Bernard Zuckerman in the World Open that year. He also played on the U.S. team in the 1978 Chess Olympiad. Lein was New Jersey champion from 1992 through 1994. In 2005 he was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in Miami. He resided in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, until his death in 2018. Among his notable victims were t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Walter Browne
Walter Shawn Browne (10 January 1949 – 24 June 2015) was an Australian-born American chess and poker player. Awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1970, he won the U.S. Chess Championship six times. Early years Browne was born to an American father and an Australian mother in Sydney. His family moved to the New York area when he was age 3. Browne moved to California in 1973. Browne won the U.S. Junior Championship in 1966. Browne had dual Australian and American citizenship until he was 21, and represented Australia for a short time. He won the 1969 Australian Chess Championship. He tied first with Renato Naranja while representing Australia at the 1969 Asian Zonal tournament in Singapore, earning the International Master title, though Naranja qualified for the 1970 Interzonal on tie breaks. His zonal result earned him an invitation to an international grandmaster tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There, he gained the Grandmaster title by tying for 2nd–4th plac ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lubomir Kavalek
Lubomir (Lubosh) Kavalek ( cz, Lubomír Kaválek, August 9, 1943 – January 18, 2021) was a Czech-American chess player. He was awarded both the International Master and International Grandmaster titles by FIDE in 1965.Hooper & Whyld 1992, p. 195. He won two Czechoslovak and three U.S. championships, and was ranked as the world's no. 10 player in 1974. He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 2001. Kavalek was also a chess coach, organizer, teacher, commentator, author and award-winning columnist. Biography Kavalek was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). He studied at the University of Žilina. He did not complete his studies and became a chess professional. His official occupation was reporter for the news "Prace" and the newspaper Mladá fronta. He won the championship of Czechoslovakia in 1962 and 1968. When Soviet tanks rolled into Prague in August 1968, Kavalek was playing in the Akiba Rubinstein Memorial in Poland, in which he finished ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rafael Vaganian
Rafael Artemovich Vaganian ( hy, Ռաֆայել Արտյոմի Վահանյան, Rrafayel Artyomi Vahanyan, russian: link=no, Рафаэль Артёмович Ваганян, ''Rafael Artemovich Vaganyan''; born 15 October 1951) is an Armenian chess player holding the title of grandmaster (GM). He was Soviet champion in 1989. Chess career Vaganian achieved his Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster title in 1971, at the age of 19. This followed an excellent result at the Vrnjacka Banja tournament the same year, where he took first place ahead of Leonid Stein and Ljubomir Ljubojević. It was also the year that he finished fourth at the World Junior Chess Championship, a competition won by the Swiss player Werner Hug. His international tournament record includes victories at Kragujevac 1974, São Paulo 1977, Kirovakan 1978, Las Palmas 1979, Manila 1981, Hastings International Chess Congress, Hastings 1982/83, Biel 1985 (the Interzonal), Leningrad 1987, Toronto 1990 and Ter Apel 1992. A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Oleg Romanishin
Oleg Mikhailovich Romanishin ( uk, Олег Михайлович Романишин, translit=Oleh Mykhailovych Romanyshyn; born 10 January 1952) is a Ukrainian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster and former European junior champion. Career Many honours and awards were bestowed on Romanishin as a young man. After winning the European Junior Chess Championship, European Junior Championship in 1973, he became an International Master the same year. In 1974, Romanishin was a member of the victorious USSR team at the World Student Team Championship held in Teesside, England, where he scored the best result for board 4 (8/9). The following year, he had a terrific result at the Soviet Chess Championship, USSR Championship, sharing second place with Boris Gulko, Mikhail Tal and Rafael Vaganian, after Tigran Petrosian. In 1976, his Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster title was ratified. Romanishin has an impressive collection of tournament victories, including Odessa 1974, Novi Sad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |