28th Chess Olympiad
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The 28th Chess Olympiad (Greek: Η 28η Σκακιστική Ολυμπιάδα, I 28i Skakistikí Olympiáda), organized by FIDE and comprising an open[1] and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 12 and November 30, 1988, in Thessaloniki, Greece.
After the successful 26th Olympiad in Thessaloniki in 1984, FIDE had agreed to hold every other Olympiad (the ones in Olympic years) in the home country of the Olympic movement - provided the Greek Chess Federation and government could provide the necessary funding. This was only the case once, in 1988; after that the Olympiad went back to a new host city every two years.
Israel was back, having been effectively banned from the previous Olympiad in Dubai, as were the countries that had stayed away in sympathy: The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Also reappearing in the Olympic arena—after a 16-year absence—was East Germany, who celebrated their return by beating their West German rivals 3–1.
The Soviet Union dominated as usual. With world champions Kasparov (reigning) and Karpov (former) on the top boards, they won by no less than six points. A strong English team took their third consecutive silver medals, while the returning Dutch team took the bronze.
Open event
There were 107 teams from 106 different nations playing in a 14-round Swiss system tournament. Chile had also been signed up, but never arrived.
In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by using the Buchholz system, then by match points.
Open event # Country Players Average
ratingPoints Buchholz 1 Soviet Union
Kasparov, Karpov, Yusupov, Beliavsky, Ehlvest, Ivanchuk 2694 40½ 2 England
Short, Speelman, Nunn, Chandler, Mestel, Watson 2635 34½ 457.0 3 Netherlands
Van der Wiel, Sosonko, Van der Sterren, Piket, Kuijf, Douven 2513 34½ 455.0
# Country Average
ratingPoints Buchholz MP 4 United States
2580 34 459.0 5 Hungary
2604 34 456.5 6 Yugoslavia
2574 33½ 7 Philippines
2435 33 449.5 8 China
2441 33 447.0 9 Cuba
2520 33 439.5 10 Argentina
2486 33 434.5 11 Israel
2481 33 432.5 12 Sweden
2538 32½ 458.0 13 Czechoslovakia
2518 32½ 446.0 14 Italy
2420 32½ 423.0 15 Iceland
2550 32 449.5 16 Denmark
2475 32 449.0 17 East Germany
2508 32 444.5 18 West Germany
2540 32 435.5 19 India
2466 32 393.5 20 Switzerland
2480 31½ 423.0 21 Poland
2460 31½ 419.0 17 22 Spain
2479 31½ 419.0 13 23 Brazil
2406 31½ 416.0 24 Bulgaria
2520 31 449.0 25 Romania
2476 31 441.0 26 Indonesia
2453 31 431.5 27 Greece
2449 31 419.0 28 Austria
2415 31 411.0 29 Guatemala
2251 31 325.0 30 Scotland
2383 30½ 431.0 31 France
2473 30½ 429.5 32 Finland
2420 30½ 421.0 33 Albania
2364 30½ 415.0 34 Belgium
2388 30½ 412.0 35 Colombia
2406 30 431.5 36 Peru
2460 30 428.0 37 Canada
2439 30 411.0 38 New Zealand
2321 30 405.0 39 Paraguay
2354 30 365.5 40 Australia
2414 29½ 412.0 41 Venezuela
2261 29½ 376.0 42 Thailand
2280 29½ 368.5 43 Norway
2450 29 418.5 44 Mexico
2398 29 413.0 45 Dominican Republic
2348 29 412.0 46 Wales
2290 29 411.0 47 Singapore
2280 29 410.5 48 Egypt
2250 29 401.5 49 Uruguay
2284 29 394.5 50 Ireland
2260 28½ 403.0 51 Syria
2278 28½ 391.5 52 Turkey
2305 28 403.0 53 Luxembourg
2221 28 373.0 54 Portugal
2381 27½ 410.0 55 Greece "B"
2288 27½ 407.0 56 Pakistan
2345 27½ 403.5 57 Faroe Islands
2270 27½ 395.0 58 Malaysia
2211 27½ 393.0 59 Puerto Rico
2239 27½ 391.0 60 Morocco
2201 27½ 390.0 61 Angola
2200 27½ 381.0 62 Costa Rica
2240 27½ 380.5 63 Bangladesh
2293 27½ 377.5 64 Bolivia
2230 27½ 371.0 65 Jamaica
2231 27 375.5 66 Algeria
2200 27 372.5 67 Japan
2203 26½ 390.0 68 United Arab Emirates
2209 26½ 383.0 69 Barbados
2206 26½ 377.5 70 Nigeria
2201 26½ 368.5 71 Libya
2201 26½ 361.0 72 Zimbabwe
2204 26½ 344.0 73 El Salvador
2228 26 383.5 74 Cyprus
2203 26 371.0 75 Qatar
2233 26 354.5 76 Malta
2200 26 347.5 77 Jordan
2210 25½ 376.0 78 Lebanon
2234 25½ 369.5 79 Honduras
2200 25½ 364.0 80 Suriname
2200 25½ 279.5 81 Zambia
2201 25 356.0 82 Senegal
2201 25 334.0 83 Botswana
2200 25 322.0 84 Hong Kong
2226 24½ 382.0 85 Bahrain
2201 24½ 372.0 86 Andorra
2210 24½ 371.5 87 North Yemen
2201 24½ 360.0 88 Palestine
2206 24½ 359.5 89 Netherlands Antilles
2201 24½ 350.0 90 Mauritania
2203 24½ 305.5 91 Haiti
2204 24 350.0 92 Panama
2200 24 317.0 93 Liechtenstein
2200 24 295.0 94 Monaco
2200 24 293.5 95 Uganda
2203 23½ 372.5 96 San Marino
2201 23½ 365.0 97 Mali
2203 23½ 288.5 98 Guernsey and
Jersey
2220 23 327.5 99 Sudan
2203 23 315.5 100 British Virgin Islands
2200 23 295.5 101 Kenya
2203 22½ 346.0 102 United States Virgin Islands
2200 22½ 293.0 103 Bermuda
2201 21 104 Bahamas
2201 18 105 Mauritius
2201 16 106 Fiji
2201 14 107 Seychelles
2200 10
Individual medals
- Performance rating:
Garry Kasparov 2877
- Board 1:
Garry Kasparov 8½ / 10 = 85.0%
- Board 2:
Anatoly Karpov 8 / 10 = 80.0%
- Board 3:
Carlos Antonio Reyes Nájera 7½ / 10 = 75.0%
- Board 4:
Suchart Chaivichit 8 / 9 = 88.9%
- 1st reserve:
Ennio Arlandi and
Eduardo Vásquez 5½ / 7 = 78.6%
- 2nd reserve:
Tahmidur Rahman and
Jorge Gómez Baillo 6 / 7 = 85.7%
Best combination
The 'Best combination' prize went to Carsten Høi (Denmark) - Boris Gulko (USA) from round 4.
Women's event
56 teams from 55 different nations took part. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by using the Buchholz system, then by match points.
The Soviet Union had won 10 of the previous 11 Olympiads, but this time they were bested by a Hungarian teenage team featuring 19-year-old Mádl as well as all three Polgár sisters: Zsuzsa (also 19), Zsófia (14), and Judit (12). The biggest star of the women's event was 12-year-old prodigy Judit, who scored 12½ points in 13 games and won her board as well as the overall performance rating.
# Country Players Average
ratingPoints 1 Hungary
Zsuzsa Polgár, J. Polgár, Mádl, Zsófia Polgár 2400 33 2 Soviet Union
Chiburdanidze, Akhmilovskaya, Levitina, Litinskaya 2455 32½ 3 Yugoslavia
Marić, Marković, Maksimović, Bašagić 2300 28
# Country Average
ratingPoints Buchholz 4 China
2095 27 5 Bulgaria
2275 24 344.5 6 Romania
2267 24 344.0 7 Greece
2207 24 343.0 8 Cuba
2170 24 336.5 9 United States
2278 23½ 342.5 10 Netherlands
2203 23½ 319.5 11 Poland
2282 23 349.5 12 England
2300 23 322.5 13 France
2160 23 317.0 14 India
2128 23 316.0 15 West Germany
2277 22½ 333.5 16 Argentina
2130 22½ 315.5 17 Spain
2200 22½ 312.5 18 Israel
2228 22½ 311.5 19 Denmark
2123 22½ 303.5 20 Brazil
2073 22½ 302.5 21 Switzerland
2115 22 309.0 22 Philippines
2205 22 259.5 23 Czechoslovakia
2242 21½ 343.0 24 Sweden
2240 21½ 329.5 25 Greece "B"
2013 21½ 297.0 26 Canada
2125 21½ 296.0 27 Colombia
2088 21½ 295.0 28 Dominican Republic
2002 21½ 294.5 29 Ireland
2012 21½ 291.0 30 Finland
2000 21½ 286.0 31 Mexico
2003 21½ 283.0 32 New Zealand
2005 21½ 271.0 33 Austria
2088 21 313.5 34 Australia
2023 21 309.0 35 Belgium
2008 21 296.5 36 Indonesia
2035 21 285.0 37 Italy
2010 21 276.0 38 Uruguay
2003 21 253.0 39 Venezuela
2013 20½ 302.0 40 Norway
2025 20½ 286.0 41 Wales
2075 20½ 277.5 42 Bangladesh
2000 20½ 267.5 43 Portugal
2000 20 275.5 44 Turkey
2000 20 262.0 45 Scotland
2012 19½ 46 Malaysia
2018 19 280.5 47 Jamaica
2002 19 238.0 48 Puerto Rico
2003 19 236.0 49 Nigeria
2002 17 234.0 50 Lebanon
2000 17 229.5 51 Barbados
2000 16½ 52 Zimbabwe
2000 14½ 53 Netherlands Antilles
2000 14 54 Malta
2000 12½ 55 Seychelles
2000 8 56 United States Virgin Islands
2000 2½
Individual medals
- Performance rating:
Judit Polgár 2694
- Board 1:
Pia Cramling 12½ / 14 = 89.3%
- Board 2:
Judit Polgár 12½ / 13 = 96.2%
- Board 3:
Peng Zhaoqin (10½/14) and
Maria Horvath (9/12) = 75.0%
- Reserve:
Yesmin Begum 6½ / 8 = 81.3%
References
- ^ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
- 28th Chess Olympiad: Thessaloniki 1988 OlimpBase
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