10th Chess Olympiad
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The 10th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open[1] team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between August 9 and August 31, 1952, in Helsinki, Finland.
The Olympiad was especially notable for the debut of the Soviet team, who instantly won their first gold medals and went on to completely dominate the Olympiads for the next four decades.
After the tournament, it was generally agreed that the small preliminary and final groups of only 8–9 teams left too much open to chance, since a single blunder would have too big an impact on the final standings. Consequently, FIDE decided that in the future, no final should have less than 12 participants.
Results
Preliminaries
Twenty-five teams entered the competition and were divided into three preliminary groups of eight or nine teams. The top three from each group advanced to Final A, the teams placed fourth-sixth to Final B, and the rest to Final C. All groups and finals were played as round-robin tournaments.
Group 1 was won by Argentina, ahead of West Germany and Czechoslovakia. England, Denmark, and Cuba took the following places, while Iceland, Saar, and Luxembourg finished in the bottom third.
Sweden took first place in group 2, ahead of Hungary and Yugoslavia. East Germany, Austria, and Italy took places four through six, while Brazil and Norway finished seventh and eighth.
Group 3 was won by the Soviet Union, well ahead of the United States and the Finnish hosts. Israel, the Netherlands, and Poland took the following places, while Switzerland and Greece finished at the bottom.
Final
Final A # Country Players Points 1 Soviet Union
Keres, Smyslov, Bronstein, Geller, Boleslavsky, Kotov 21 2 Argentina
Najdorf, J. Bolbochán, Eliskases, Pilnik, Rossetto 19½ 3 Yugoslavia
Gligorić, Rabar, Trifunović, Pirc, Fuderer, Milić 19 4 Czechoslovakia
Filip, Pachman, Šajtar, Kottnauer, Zíta, Pithart 18 5 United States
Reshevsky, Evans, Robert Byrne, Bisguier, Koltanowski, Berliner 17 6 Hungary
Szabó, Barcza, Szily, Flórián, Pogáts, Molnár 16 7 Sweden
Ståhlberg, Stoltz, Lundin, Sköld, Johansson, Danielsson 13 8 West Germany
Teschner, Schmid, Pfeiffer, Heinicke, Lange, Rellstab 10½ 9 Finland
Böök, Ojanen, Kaila, Salo, Fred, Niemelä 10
Final B # Country Points MP 10 Netherlands
21 11 Israel
19½ 12 Poland
16½ 10 13 East Germany
16½ 7 14 Denmark
16 15 Cuba
15 16 England
14 17 Austria
13 18 Italy
12½
Final C # Country Points MP Head-to-head 19 Brazil
18½ 20 Greece
13½ 21 Norway
13 6 2½ 22 Switzerland
13 6 1½ 23 Iceland
12½ 8 24 Saar
12½ 5 25 Luxembourg
1
Individual medals
- Board 1:
Miguel Najdorf 12½ / 16 = 78.1%
- Board 2:
Vassily Smyslov 10½ / 13 = 80.8%
- Board 3:
David Bronstein 8 / 10 = 80.0%
- Board 4:
Čeněk Kottnauer 12½ / 15 = 83.3%
- 1st reserve:
Hector Rossetto 8 / 10 = 80.0%
- 2nd reserve:
Ludwig Rellstab 6½ / 9 = 72.2%
References
- ^ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
- 10th Chess Olympiad: Helsinki 1952 OlimpBase