The 13th

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 2020 and ...

(german: Die 13. Schacholympiade), organized by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

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

chess 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 disti ...

, took place between September 30 and October 23, 1958, in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. The Soviet team with 6 GMs, led by world champion Botvinnik, lived up to expectations and won their fourth gold medals in a row, with Yugoslavia and Argentina taking the silver and bronze, respectively. The West German hosts finished 7th, right behind rivals East Germany. The two neighbouring nations were tied on both game and match points, but the East Germans had won the match between the two.

Results

Preliminaries

A total of 36 teams entered the competition and were divided into four preliminary groups of nine teams each. The top three from each group advanced to Final A, the teams placed 4th–6th to Final B, and no. 7–9 to Final C. All groups and finals were played as

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

s. Group 1 was won by the Soviet hosts, well ahead of Bulgaria and Austria. The Netherlands, Denmark, and France took the places 4–6, while Italy, Puerto Rico, and Ireland finished at the bottom of the group. Spain caused a small surprise by taking first place in group 2, ahead of the resurrected US team and the host nation. Finland, Iceland, and Israel made up the middle part of the group, while Norway, South Africa, and Iran had to settle for the bottom. Group 3 was won by Argentina, ahead of East Germany and England. Traditional chess power Hungary surprisingly had to settle for Final B, along with Poland and Colombia. Meanwhile, The Philippines, Scotland, and Lebanon finished at the bottom of the group. Czechoslovakia clinched group 4, ahead of Yugoslavia and Switzerland. Canada, Sweden, and Belgium made up the middle part of the group, while Portugal, Tunisia, and Greece completed the field. * Group 1: * Group 2: * Group 3: * Group 4:

Final

: : : Final A Final B Final C

Individual medals

* Board 1:

Svetozar Gligorić Svetozar Gligorić (Serbian Cyrillic: Светозар Глигорић, 2 February 1923 – 14 August 2012) was a Serbian and Yugoslav chess grandmaster and musician. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is consider ...

12 / 15 = 80.0% * Board 2: Frank Anderson 10½ / 13 = 80.8% * Board 3:

Paul Keres Paul Keres (; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five ...

9½ / 12 = 79.2% * Board 4:

David Bronstein David Ionovich Bronstein (russian: Дави́д Ио́нович Бронште́йн; February 19, 1924 – December 5, 2006) was a Soviet and Ukrainian chess player. Awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in 1950, he narr ...

9½ / 12 = 79.2% * 1st reserve:

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal; rus, Михаил Нехемьевич Таль, ''Mikhail Nekhem'yevich Tal' '', ; sometimes transliterated ''Mihails Tals'' or ''Mihail Tal'' (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player ...

13½ / 15 = 90.0% * 2nd reserve:

Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style, ...

and

Győző Forintos Győző Victor Forintos (30 July 1935 – 5 December 2018) was a Hungarian chess player and by profession, an economist. He was awarded the titles International Master, in 1963, and Grandmaster, in 1974, by FIDE. He first participated in the ...

10½ / 13 = 80.8%

References

13th Chess Olympiad: Munich 1958
OlimpBase {{Chess Olympiads 13 Olympiad 13 Chess Olympiad 13 Olympiad 13 Chess Olympiad 13 1950s in Munich Chess in West Germany October 1958 sports events in Europe