Ben Gurion and the winning USSR team - Chess Olympiad 1964

The 16th

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 ...

( he, אולימפיאדת השחמט ה-16, ''Olimpiada ha-shachmat ha-16''), 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 November 2 and November 25, 1964, in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. The Soviet team with 6 GMs, led by world champion Petrosian, lived up to expectations and won their seventh consecutive gold medals, with Yugoslavia and West Germany taking the silver and bronze, respectively.

Results

Preliminaries

A total of 50 teams entered the competition and were divided into seven preliminary groups of seven or eight teams each. With Australia making its debut, this was the first Olympiad where all six continents were represented. 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 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. The preliminary results were as follows: * Group 1: * Group 2: * Group 3: * Group 4: * Group 5: * Group 6: * Group 7:

Final

: : : :

Final «A»

Final «B»

Final «C»

Final «D»

Individual medals

* Board 1:

Wolfgang Uhlmann Wolfgang Uhlmann (29 March 193524 August 2020) was a German chess grandmaster. He was East Germany's most successful chess player, reaching the 1971 Candidates Tournament. During his career, Uhlmann played many of the top players of the time a ...

15 / 18 = 83.3% * Board 2: Tudev Ujtumen 13½ / 17 = 79.4% * Board 3:

Vassily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 t ...

11 / 13 = 84.6% * Board 4:

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 ...

(10/12),

Helmut Pfleger Helmut Pfleger (born August 6, 1943) is a German chess grandmaster and author. He was one of the most promising chess players in the 1960s and 1970s. From 1977 until 2005, Pfleger hosted a series of chess programs on German public TV, including ' ...

(12½/15), and

David Friedgood David Friedgood (born 11 July 1946, in Cape Town) is a South African–British chess master. He won South African Chess Championship in 1967, 1971 and 1973. He shared 7th at Caorle 1972 (zonal). Friedgood represented South Africa in Chess Oly ...

(10/12) = 83.3% * 1st reserve:

Leonid Stein Leonid Zakharovich Stein (; November 12, 1934 – July 4, 1973) was a Soviet chess Grandmaster from Ukraine. He won three USSR Chess Championships in the 1960s (1963, 1965, and 1966), and was among the world's top ten players during that era. ...

10 / 13 = 76.9% * 2nd reserve:

Milan Matulović Milan Matulović (10 June 1935 – 9 October 2013) was a chess grandmaster who was the second or third strongest Yugoslav player for much of the 1960s and 1970s behind Svetozar Gligorić and possibly Borislav Ivkov. He was primarily active befor ...

and Günther Möhring 11 / 13 = 84.6% At the other end of the spectrum, Milton Ioannidis of Cyprus lost all of his 4 games, giving him a total score at the Olympiads of 0 / 24 = 0.0%.

References

16th Chess Olympiad: Tel Aviv 1964
OlimpBase {{Chess Olympiads 16 Olympiad 16 Chess Olympiad 16 Chess Olympiad 16 Chess Olympiad 16 Chess Olympiad 16 Chess Olympiad 16 1960s in Tel Aviv