15th Chess Olympiad
The 15th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open[1] team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between September 15 and October 10, 1962, in Varna, Bulgaria.
The Soviet team with 6 GMs, led by world champion Botvinnik, lived up to expectations and won their sixth consecutive gold medals, with Yugoslavia and Argentina taking the silver and bronze, respectively.
Results
Preliminaries
A total of 37 teams entered the competition and were divided into four preliminary groups of eight to ten teams each. The top three from each group advanced to Final A, the teams placed 4th-6th to Final B, and the rest to Final C, where they were joined by a Bulgarian "B" team that played outside the contest. All preliminary groups as well as Finals A and B were played as round-robin tournaments, while Final C with 14 teams was played as an 11 round Swiss system tournament.
The Soviet Union took first place in group 1, well ahead of the two German teams, East with half a point more than West. Sweden, Belgium, and Spain took the places 4-6, while Norway, Turkey, and Greece finished at the bottom of the group.
Group 2 was won by the United States, while the Bulgarian hosts and Romania were tied for second place. Israel, Mongolia, and Switzerland made up the middle part of the group, while Puerto Rico and Tunisia had to settle for Final C.
Yugoslavia clinched group 3, ahead of the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia. Poland, Iceland, and Finland had to settle for Final B. Meanwhile, France, Uruguay, Luxembourg, and Cyprus finished at the bottom of the group.
Group 4 was won by Argentina, ahead of Hungary and Austria. Denmark, Cuba, and England made up the middle part of the group, while Albania, India, Iran, and Ireland completed the field.
Final
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Final A # Country Players Points MP 1 
Soviet UnionBotvinnik, Petrosian, Spassky, Keres, Geller, Tal 31½ 2 
YugoslaviaGligorić, Trifunović, Matanović, Ivkov, Parma, Minić 28 3 
ArgentinaNajdorf, Bolbochán, Panno, Sanguineti, Rossett, Foguelman 26 4 
United StatesFischer, Benko, Evans, R. Byrne, D. Byrne, Mednis 25 5 
HungaryPortisch, Szabó, Bilek, Barcza, Lengyel, Honfi 23 6 
BulgariaPadevsky, Tringov, Minev, Kolarov, Milev, Popov 21½ 7 
West GermanyUnzicker, Darga, Schmid, Tröger, Hecht, Mohrlok 21 8 
East GermanyUhlmann, Pietzsch, Malich, Zinn, Fuchs, Liebert 20½ 10 9 
RomaniaCiocâltea, Ghiţescu, Gheorghiu, Soós, Radovici, Günsberger 20½ 9 10 
CzechoslovakiaFilip, Pachman, Hort, Fichtl, Blatný, Trapl 18½ 11 
NetherlandsEuwe, Donner, Bouwmeester, Langeweg, Prins, Kramer 18 12 
AustriaRobatsch, Dückstein, Beni, Gragger, Kinzel, Lokvenc 10½
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Final B # Country Points MP Matches
wonHead-to-head 13 23x15px Spain 26½ 16 14 
England26½ 14 15 
Israel25 16 
Cuba22½ 12 17 
Sweden22½ 11 4 2½ 18 
Poland22½ 11 4 1½ 19 
Belgium22 20 
Finland20½ 21 
Mongolia20 9 3 22 
Switzerland20 9 2 23 
Iceland19 24 
Denmark17
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Final C # Country Points MP 25 
Norway32½ - Bulgaria "B"29½ 26 
Albania28½ 17 27 
Tunisia28½ 16 28 
India26½ 29 
Iran25 30 
France23½ 31 
Puerto Rico22½ 32 
Uruguay22 33 
Greece18½ 34 
Luxembourg18 35 
Turkey17 36 
Ireland14½ 37 
Cyprus1½
Individual medals
- Board 1: Friðrik Ólafsson 14 / 18 = 77.8%
- Board 2: Tigran Petrosian 10 / 12 = 83.3%
- Board 3: Boris Spassky 11 / 14 = 78.6%
- Board 4: Borislav Ivkov and Raúl Sanguineti 13½ / 16 = 84.4%
- 1st reserve: Efim Geller 10½ / 12 = 87.5%
- 2nd reserve: Mikhail Tal 10 / 13 = 76.9%
At the other end of the spectrum, Milton Ioannidis of Cyprus lost all of his 20 games, the worst score ever of any player at any Olympiad.
References
- ↑ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
- 15th Chess Olympiad: Varna 1962 OlimpBase
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