The 34th

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 ...

( tr, 34. Satranç Olimpiyatı), organized by the

Fédération Internationale des Échecs 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 all players. and women's tournament, took place between October 28 and November 12, 2000, in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. There were 126 teams in the open event and 86 in the women's event. Both tournament sections were officiated by

international arbiter {{No footnotes, date=April 2022 In chess tournaments, an arbiter is an official who oversees matches and ensures that the rules of chess are followed. International Arbiter ''International Arbiter'' is a title awarded by FIDE to individuals deemed ...

Geurt Gijssen (

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

). Teams were paired across the 14 rounds of competition according to the

Swiss system A Swiss-system tournament is a non-eliminating tournament format that features a fixed number of rounds of competition, but considerably fewer than for a round-robin tournament; thus each competitor (team or individual) does not play all the other ...

. The open division was played over four boards per round, whilst the women's was played over three. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by the

Buchholz system The Buchholz system (also spelled Buchholtz) is a ranking or scoring system in chess developed by Bruno Buchholz (died ca. 1958) in 1932, for Swiss system tournaments . It was originally developed as an auxiliary scoring method, but more recently ...

and secondly by match points. The

time control A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game clock, ...

for each game permitted each player 100 minutes to make the first 40 of their moves, then an additional 50 minutes to make the next 20 moves, and then 10 minutes to finish the game, with an additional 30 seconds devolving on each player after each move, beginning with the first. In addition to the overall medal winners, the teams were divided into seeding groups, with the top finishers in each group receiving special prizes.

Open event

The open division was contested by 126 teams representing 124 nations. Turkey, as hosts, fielded two teams, whilst the

International Braille Chess Association The International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) is organization for blind and visually impaired chess players. The IBCA is a FIDE-affiliated chess organization as well as a part of the International Blind Sports Federation. The International ...

provided one squad.

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

, and

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

were signed up but never arrived. Once again, Russia had to do without their strongest players, the "Three Ks". Classical World Champion

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...

and challenger

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Cha ...

were in the midst of their

championship match A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, and ex-champion

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov ( rus, links=no, Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈkarpəf; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Ches ...

was still at odds with the national federation. Captained by the new

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 ...

champion Khalifman, however, Russia were still favourites, and the team did win their fifth consecutive title, although only by a single point. Germany took the silver medals, while Ukraine clinched the bronze, beating Hungary on tie-break. Pre-tournament medal favourites England, whose average rating was a mere 13 points below Russia's, finished a disappointing seventh. : :

Individual medals

Performance rating The PR (Performance Rating, P-rating) system was a figure of merit developed by AMD, Cyrix, IBM Microelectronics and SGS-Thomson in the mid-1990s (Cyrix announced it in February 1996) as a method of comparing their x86 processors to those of ri ...

Alexander Morozevich Alexander Sergeyevich Morozevich (russian: Александр Серге́евич Морозе́вич, translit=Aleksandr Sergéevich Morozévich; born July 18, 1977) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE ...

2804 * Board 1:

Utut Adianto Utut Adianto Wahyuwidayat (born 16 March 1965), commonly known as Utut Adianto is an Indonesian politician and chess player, who is serving as a member of the People's Representative Council since 2009. A member of the Indonesian Democratic Par ...

7½ / 9 = 83.3% * Board 2:

Ruslan Ponomariov Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov ( uk, Русла́н Оле́гович Пономарьо́в; born 11 October 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004. He won the Ukrainian Chess Championship in ...

8½ / 11 = 77.3% * Board 3: Dragoljub Jacimović 7 / 9 = 77.8% * Board 4:

Ashot Anastasian Ashot Anastasian ( hy, Աշոտ Անաստասյան; 10 July 1964 – 26 December 2016) was an Armenian chess Grandmaster. He won two team bronze medals and one individual gold medal at Chess Olympiads. On the March 2011 FIDE list, he had an ...

9 / 12 = 75.0% * 1st reserve: Taleb Moussa 6 / 7 = 85.7% * 2nd reserve: Alexei Barsov 5½ / 7 = 78.6%

Women's event

The women's division was contested by 86 teams representing 84 nations.

, as hosts, fielded two teams, whilst the

entered one squad. Defending champions China were huge favourites on rating and retained their title, led by reigning world champion

Xie Jun Xie Jun (born October 30, 1970) is a Chinese chess grandmaster and is not just the first Chinese female but the first Asian female to become a chess grandmaster. She had two separate reigns as Women's World Chess Champion, from 1991 to 1996 ...

and with two future champions in the team:

Zhu Chen Zhu Chen (, ar, زو تشن; born March 13, 1976) is a Chinese-born Qatari chess Grandmaster. In 1999, she became China's second women's world chess champion after Xie Jun, and China's 13th Grandmaster. In 2006, she obtained Qatari c ...

and

Xu Yuhua Xu Yuhua (born 29 October 1976) is a Chinese chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster and former Women's World Chess Championship, Women's World Champion (2006–2008). She was China's third women's world chess champion after Xie Jun and Zhu Che ...

. Georgia and Russia took the silver and bronze medals, respectively. : :

Individual medals

2641 * Board 1:

Viktorija Čmilytė Viktorija may refer to: * Viktorija (given name), including a list of people with this name * Viktorija (singer), Serbian singer See also * Viktoriya * Viktoria (disambiguation) * Victoria (disambiguation) Victoria most commonly refers to: * ...

9½ / 12 = 79.2% * Board 2:

9 / 11 = 81.8% * Board 3:

Nino Khurtsidze Nino Khurtsidze (28 September 1975 – 22 April 2018) was a Georgian chess player. She was awarded the FIDE titles of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) in 1993 and International Master (IM) in 1999. She won the World Girls U-20 Chess Championship in 1993 ...

11 / 13 = 84.6% * Reserve: Zahira El-Ghabi 6½ / 7 = 92.9%

Overall title

The

Nona Gaprindashvili Nona Gaprindashvili ( ka, ნონა გაფრინდაშვილი; born 3 May 1941) is a former Soviet and Georgian chess player, and the first woman ever to be awarded the FIDE title Grandmaster in 1978. She was the fifth women's ...

Trophy A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achievement, and serves as a recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics. In many sports medals (or, in ...

is awarded to the nation that has the best average rank in the open and women's divisions. Where two or more teams are tied, they are ordered by best single finish in either division and then by total number of points scored. The trophy, named after the former women's world champion (1961–78), was created by FIDE in 1997.

Notes

34th Chess Olympiad: Istanbul 2000
OlimpBase {{Chess Olympiads Chess Olympiads Women's Chess Olympiads Olympiads 2000 Chess Olympiad 2000 Olympiad 2000 Chess Olympiad 2000 International sports competitions hosted by Turkey 2000s in Istanbul October 2000 sports events in Turkey November 2000 sports events in Turkey