The 40th
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 an ...
( tr, 40. Satranç Olimpiyatı), organised 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 open and women's tournament, as well as several 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 dist ...
, took place in
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
, Turkey,
[Chess Olympiad 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey](_blank)
Chessdom.com. from 27 August to 10 September 2012. The city also hosted the
event in 2000.
More than 1,700 players and team captains participated, including 157 teams in the open and 127 teams in the women's section. The main competitive events were held at the
Istanbul Expo Center
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, ...
. The Chief Arbiter of the event was Greece's
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 ...
Panagiotis Nikolopoulos.
Background
Istanbul's hosting the
34th Chess Olympiad in 2000 sparked a "Chess boom" in the country. Turkey has since hosted more than 100 international chess tournaments, including European Championships, World Youth Championships, and Youth Chess Olympiads. Membership in the Turkish Chess Federation has risen from 3,000 to about 250,000 in only eight years.
Ali Nihat Yazıcı
Ali Nihat Yazıcı (born 1964) is the head of Turkish Chess Federation.
After graduating from Istanbul Technical University as an electronics and communication engineer in 1987, Yazıcı worked for the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (T ...
, President of the
Turkish Chess Federation
The Turkish Chess Federation ( tr, Türkiye Satranç Federasyonu, TSF) is the governing chess organization within Turkey. The TSF was founded in 1954, and became a member of the FIDE in 1962. The federation was integrated into the General Director ...
, is credited with triggering most of the activities towards this intensive chess development in the country.
[Formal protest issued against Turkish Chess Federation](_blank)
, Chessvibes.com, 11 June 2012. He was later elected a vice-president of FIDE.
Istanbul won the right to host the 40th Chess Olympiad in November 2008, during the 78th Congress of
FIDE at the
38th Chess Olympiad in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
.
Istanbul's bid was approved by a vote of 95–40 over
Budva
Budva ( cnr, Будва, or ) is a Montenegrin town on the Adriatic Sea. It has 19,218 inhabitants, and it is the centre of Budva Municipality. The coastal area around Budva, called the Budva riviera, is the center of Montenegrin tourism, kn ...
.
The event
Competition format
The tournament was played in a
Swiss system format. 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 cloc ...
for all games was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, after which an additional 30 minutes were granted and increment of 30 seconds per move was applied. Players were permitted to
offer a draw at any time. A total of 11 rounds were played, with all teams playing in every round.
In each round, four players from each team faced four players from another team; teams were permitted one reserve player who could be substituted between rounds. The four games were played simultaneously on four boards,
scoring
Score or scorer may refer to:
*Test score, the result of an exam or test
Business
* Score Digital, now part of Bauer Radio
* Score Entertainment, a former American trading card design and manufacturing company
* Score Media, a former Canadian m ...
1 game point for a win and ½ game point for a draw. The scores from each game were summed together to determine which team won the round. Winning a round was worth 2 match points, regardless of the game point margin, while drawing a round was worth 1 match point. Teams were ranked in a table based on match points. Tie-breakers for the table were i) the
Sonneborn–Berger system; ii) total game points scored; iii) the sum of the match points of the opponents, excluding the lowest one.
Open event
The open section of the tournament was contested by 157 teams representing 152 nations. Turkey, as host nation, had three 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 ...
(IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provided one team.
[Olympiad preview](_blank)
, Chessvibes.com, 22 August 2012.[2012 Istanbul Chess Olympiad preview](_blank)
ChessBase, 21 August 2012.
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...
, led by world number 2
Levon Aronian, won their third title after previously winning the event in
2006 and
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
. The Russian team were once again the clear favourites before the Olympiad but failed to win the gold for the fifth consecutive time and occupied the second place, while the
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
team as a titleholder finished in the third place. Three teams, China, Armenia and Russia, were tied on the top of the standings before the last round of the event with China winning the tie-breaker. But in that final round the Chinese players had to play against Ukraine, led by
Vassily Ivanchuk, while Armenians played against Hungary and Russia played against Germany. The Armenians and Russians won their final matches but Ukraine edged the leading
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
team 3–1 preventing them from winning a medal. The Armenian and Russian teams had the same match points in the final standings but the Armenians won the tie-breaker taking their third title. Ukraine, thanks to the win in the final round against China, took the bronze medal.
All board prizes were given out according to
performance ratings. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on the third board had the best performance of all players in the tournament:
* Board 1:
Levon Aronian 2849
* Board 2:
David Navara
David Navara (born 27 March 1985) is a Czech chess grandmaster, the highest-ranked of his country. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2002, he is an 11-time national champion (in 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2 ...
2869
* Board 3:
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shahriyar Hamid oghlu Mammadyarov ( az, Şəhriyar Həmid oğlu Məmmədyarov; born 12 April 1985), known internationally as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. he is ranked No. 1 in Azerbaijan and No. 13 in the world. ...
2880
* Board 4:
Vladislav Tkachiev 2750
* Reserve:
Dmitry Jakovenko
Dmitry Olegovich Jakovenko (russian: Дмитрий Олегович Яковенко; born 28 June 1983) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2001. Jakovenko was European champion in 2012. He was a member ...
2783
Women's event
The women's event was contested by 127 teams representing 122 nations. Same as the open event, Turkey had three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provided one team.
Russia took the gold medal in the women's section to win their second consecutive title. China, led by the current World Chess Champion
Hou Yifan
Hou Yifan ( ; born 27 February 1994) is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and the second highest rated female player of all time. took the second place, while
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
finished in third place overall. The medal-winning teams were also the only undefeated teams on the tournament. China and Russia entered the final round against
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
and
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
respectively tied on the first place with China winning the tie-breaker. The Russian team scored an easy win 4–0 against the Kazakh team, while China faced some problems and edged Bulgaria by a minimum winning score of 2.5–1.5. Both teams were tied again in the final standings, but this time it was Russia winning the tie-breaker to secure their second consecutive title. Ukraine won their last match against Germany 3.5–0.5 and thus won the bronze medal.
All board prizes were given out according to
performance ratings. Nadezhda Kosintseva on third board had the best performance of all players in the tournament:
* Board 1:
Hou Yifan
Hou Yifan ( ; born 27 February 1994) is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and the second highest rated female player of all time. 2645
* Board 2:
Zhao Xue
Zhao Xue (; born 6 April 1985) is a Chinese chess player. She is the 24th Chinese person to achieve the title of Grandmaster. Zhao was a member of the gold medal-winning Chinese team at the Women's Chess Olympiad in 2002, 2004 and 2016, and ...
2574
* Board 3:
Nadezhda Kosintseva
Nadezhda Anatolyevna Kosintseva (russian: Надежда Анатольевна Косинцева; born 14 January 1985) is a Russian chess grandmaster. She was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team in the Women's Chess Olympiads of ...
2693
* Board 4:
Huang Qian
Huang Qian (; born July 18, 1986) is a Chinese chess player who holds the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She won the Chinese Women's Chess Championship in 2012 and the Asian Women's Chess Championship in 2013. Huang competed in the Wo ...
2547
* Reserve:
Natalia Pogonina
Natalia Andreevna Pogonina (russian: Ната́лья Андре́евна Пого́нина; born 9 March 1985) is a Russian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is the runner-up of the Women's World Chess Ch ...
2487
Gaprindashvili Trophy
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 is awarded to the nation that has the highest total number of match points in the open and women's divisions combined. Where two or more teams are tied, they are ordered by the same tie breakers as in the two separate events.
The trophy, named after the former women's World Champion (1961–78), was created by FIDE in 1997.
Controversies
On 24 November 2010, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' published an article concerning the possibilities that the
Turkish Chess Federation
The Turkish Chess Federation ( tr, Türkiye Satranç Federasyonu, TSF) is the governing chess organization within Turkey. The TSF was founded in 1954, and became a member of the FIDE in 1962. The federation was integrated into the General Director ...
has paid the voters amount of $120,000 in order to win the bids to organize the Olympiad. In the financial report published on the official website of the Turkish Chess Federation there was a footnote, which translated into English points on the allocation of these costs for stand, souvenirs, lobbying activities, as well as accommodation, transportation and food for some of the FIDE delegates to vote for the city.
[Chess Olympiad 2012 sparkles discussion – NY Times article](_blank)
Chessdom.com. The official answer of the Turkish Chess Federation denied the claim and mentioned that the sum spent is not very big when bidding to host an Olympiad. It was also clarified in the response that the costs were allocated to pay for the Turkish delegates at the FIDE Congress in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
, and the expenses documented by invoices testify that no money was given to any of the FIDE delegates and none of the expenses were reimbursed.
In June 2012,
Ali Nihat Yazıcı
Ali Nihat Yazıcı (born 1964) is the head of Turkish Chess Federation.
After graduating from Istanbul Technical University as an electronics and communication engineer in 1987, Yazıcı worked for the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (T ...
, President of the Turkish Chess Federation, announced that no arbiters from Germany, England, France,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, Switzerland,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
and the United States would be accepted for the event because of the involvement of those countries in launching or supporting court cases against FIDE, causing financial problems and a loss of distributable income for worldwide chess development. A few days later, the
English Chess Federation
The English Chess Federation (ECF) is the governing chess organisation in England. It is affiliated to FIDE. The ECF was formed in 2004 as one of the more localised successors to the British Chess Federation (BCF), an organisation founded in 1904. ...
sent a protest letter to FIDE, which was later co-signed by the other federations who announced their support.
Russian journalist Evgeny Surov was denied accreditation and was not even allowed to enter the venue as a spectator. This led to protests by the Russian Chess Federation and more than 40 top players.
Top players sign open letter supporting Russian journalist
Chessvibes.com, 5. September 2012
References
External links
OlimpBase
{{Chess Olympiads
Chess Olympiads
Women's Chess Olympiads
Olympiads 2012
Sport in Istanbul
International sports competitions hosted by Turkey
2012 in chess
2012 in Turkish sport
2012 in Istanbul