The 36th Chess Olympiad (Template:Langx; Template:Langx), organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open<ref group="note">Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.</ref> and a women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 14 and October 31, 2004, in Calvià on the Spanish island of Mallorca. There were 129 teams in the open event and 87 in the women's event. In total, 1204 players were registered (some of whom did not play, though).
Both tournament sections were officiated by international arbiter Ignatius Leong (Singapore). Teams were paired across the 14 rounds of competition according to the Swiss system. 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 by 1. The Buchholz system; 2. Match points; 3. The Sonneborn-Berger system; and 4. The Median Buchholz system.
The time control for each game permitted each player 90 minutes for all their moves, with an additional 30 seconds increment for each player after each move, beginning with the first.
Open eventEdit
The open division was contested by 129 teams representing 125 nations. Spain, as hosts, fielded three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) and the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA) each provided one squad.
Led by first board Vasyl Ivanchuk, the seventh highest-rated player at the tournament, who recorded 9½ points over 13 rounds, and second reserve Sergey Karjakin who, aged just 14 years, won 6 of his 7 games (surrendering a draw only to American Gregory Kaidanov), Ukraine scored all four possible points in each of their first three matches before "only" defeating Russia 2½-1½ in the fourth round, eventually accumulating a nearly insurmountable three-point lead after the penultimate round. The Ukrainian team nevertheless scored three points against France and claimed their first title, three points ahead of Russia, who had entered the tournament as the top seed, having brought four of the tournament's nine highest-rated players, and as defending six-time champions.
Armenia, one of just four teams to draw a match with Ukraine, paced by second board Levon Aronian, who did not lose in 12 games, and third board Rafael Vaganian, who scored 8½ points in 11 games, lost 1½-2½ to Russia in the eighth round. Ultimately, on the strength of a 3½-½ final round defeat of Georgia, they tied Russia's 36½ points. Armenia were placed after Russia, though, on the Buchholz tie-breaker system employed by the Olympiad, and finished, as in the previous Olympiad, with the bronze medals. Hosts Spain, led by Alexei Shirov, just managed to squeeze into the top ten.
Notable absentees from the tournament were the no. 1 player in the world, Garry Kasparov, as well as classical World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and his challenger Peter Leko, who were just finishing their championship match (Kramnik retained his title with a 7–7 tie). FIDE Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov was present, however, and led Uzbekistan to 14th place by going undefeated in his 8 games (+4-0=4).
# Country Average
ratingPoints Buchholz MP 11 Template:GRE 2569 32½ 427.5 12 Template:Flagu 2624 32 445.5 13 Template:Flagu 2559 32 442.5 14 Template:UZB 2550 32 440.5 15 Template:Flagcountry 2568 32 435.0 16 Template:Flagu 2617 32 430.0 17 Template:SLO 2575 32 427.5 18 Template:Flagcountry 2609 32 424.0 19 Template:PHI 2502 32 422.5 20 Template:ROM 2590 32 417.5 21 {{#invoke:flag name=Georgia}} 2621 31½ 462.0 22 Template:AZE 2615 31½ 450.5 23 Template:Flagu 2621 31½ 449.0 24 Template:Flagu 2612 31½ 438.5 25 {{#invoke:flag Bosnia and Herzegovina}} 2532 31½ 428.0 26 Template:KAZ 2483 31½ 425.0 27 {{#invoke:flag Lithuania}} 2542 31½ 420.0 28 Template:DEN 2563 31½ 419.5 29 {{#invoke:flag Czech Republic}} 2589 31 445.0 30 Template:Flagu 2653 31 427.0 31 {{#invoke:flag }} 2614 31 425.5 32 {{#invoke:flag Estonia}} 2544 31 423.5 17 33 Template:LAT 2539 31 423.5 15 34 Template:ARG 2544 31 419.5 35 Template:Flagu 2488 31 418.5 36 {{#invoke:flag Moldova}} 2589 30½ 432.5 37 {{#invoke:flag Slovakia}} 2545 30½ 431.0 38 Template:Flagu 2494 30½ 426.0 39 {{#invoke:flag Norway}} 2549 30½ 419.5 40 Template:Flagu 2486 30½ 407.5 41 Template:BAN 2485 30½ 396.5 42 {{#invoke:flag North Macedonia}} 2521 30 419.0 43 {{#invoke:flag Ireland}} 2454 30 403.0 44 Template:Flagu "B" 2494 29½ 424.0 45 Template:Flagu 2569 29½ 422.0 46 Template:CRO 2562 29½ 415.5 47 {{#invoke:flag Iceland}} 2496 29½ 413.5 48 Template:INA 2397 29½ 408.0 49 {{#invoke:flag Finland}} 2456 29½ 406.5 50 {{#invoke:flag Turkey}} 2365 29½ 404.0 51 Template:VIE 2515 29 416.5 52 Template:SCO 2497 29 411.5 53 Template:IRI 2460 29 405.0 54 Template:Flagu 2473 29 403.0 55 Template:Flagu 2387 29 395.0 16 56 Template:COL 2427 29 395.0 13 57 IPCA 2348 29 394.5 58 Template:Flagu 2444 28½ 406.5 59 Template:Flagu 2481 28½ 406.0 60 Template:Flagu 2476 28½ 400.5 14 61 Template:TJK 2303 28½ 400.5 12 62 {{#invoke:flag Austria}} 2444 28½ 396.5 63 Template:DOM 2354 28½ 387.0 14 64 Template:ECU 2431 28½ 387.0 13 65 Template:BOL 2332 28½ 383.5 66 Template:PER 2410 28½ 355.0 67 Template:SIN 2437 28 403.5 68 {{#invoke:flag Andorra}} 2400 28 393.0 69 Template:PAK 2298 28 381.5 70 Template:MYS 2241 28 370.0 71 Template:MGL 2381 27½ 402.0 72 Template:POR 2424 27½ 401.0 73 Template:KGZ 2341 27½ 397.0 74 {{#invoke:flag Albania}} 2410 27½ 385.5 75 Template:FRO 2281 27½ 377.0 76 Template:MAR 2342 27½ 356.0 77 Template:Flag 2354 27 398.0 78 Template:Flagcountry 2305 27 390.0 79 Template:CRC 2399 27 386.0 80 Template:TUN 2363 27 384.5 81 Template:Flagu "C" 2334 27 383.5 82 {{#invoke:flag Luxembourg}} 2325 27 381.5 83 Template:Flag 2276 27 369.5 84 Template:URU 2370 26½ 397.5 85 Template:Flagu 2316 26½ 383.0 86 Template:NCA 2281 26½ 375.5 87 Template:GUA 2252 26½ 372.0 88 Template:Flagu 2136 26½ 351.0 89 Template:WAL 2289 26 382.5 90 Template:LIB 2337 26 379.0 91 Template:SRI 2188 26 368.5 92 Template:THA 2264 26 367.5 93 Template:HON 2226 26 365.0 94 Template:PUR 2212 26 358.0 95 Template:BOT 2174 25½ 358.5 96 Template:KEN 1986 25½ 340.5 97 IBCA 2358 25 370.5 98 Template:BRB 2279 25 368.5 99 Template:Flag 2260 25 358.5 100 Template:ANG 2245 24½ 376.5 101 Template:HKG 2141 24½ 363.0 102 Template:Flag 2070 24½ 362.5 103 Template:JAM 2184 24½ 355.5 104 Template:UGA 2187 24½ 350.0 105 Template:MON 2137 24½ 347.0 106 Template:NEP 2179 24½ 301.0 107 Template:PAN 1906 24 352.5 108 Template:NAM 2186 24 336.0 109 Template:Flagcountry 2202 23½ 360.5 110 {{#invoke:flag Liechtenstein}} 2119 23½ 348.5 111 Template:Flagcountry 2207 23½ 341.0 112 Template:Flagcountry 2122 23½ 301.0 113 {{#invoke:flag Malta}} 2157 23½ 300.5 114 Template:MAC 2127 23½ 299.0 115 Template:Flag 1866 23½ 248.0 116 Template:TRI 2137 23 357.5 117 Template:SUR 2201 23 344.5 118 Template:VGB 1904 23 314.5 119 Template:AHO 2098 22 293.5 120 Template:NGR 2152 22 276.5 121 Template:JEY 2170 21½ 313.5 122 Template:FIJ 2003 21½ 282.5 123 Template:GGY 1812 21 124 Template:ABW 1832 20½ 125 Template:BER 1824 18½ 1 126 Template:RWA 1750 17 127 Template:PNG 1866 15½ 1 128 Template:VIR 1600 13½ 129 Template:SYC 1766 11½
1 Bermuda actually scored 22 and Papua New Guinea 23 points, but because some of their players refused to submit to doping tests, the points scored by those players were deducted from the final scores: 3½ points from Bermuda and 7½ from Papua New Guinea.
Group prizesEdit
In addition to the overall medals, prizes were given out to the best teams in five different seeding groups—in other words, the teams who exceeded their seeding the most. Overall medal winners were not eligible for group prizes.
Group Prizes Group Seeding
rangeTeam Seed Overall
finishA 1–25 Template:Flagu 10 4 B 26–51 Template:Flagu 29 13 C 52–77 {{#invoke:flag Ireland}} 54 43 D 78–103 Template:TJK 83 61 E 104–129 Template:Flagu 112 87
Individual medalsEdit
- Performance rating: Template:Flagicon Baadur Jobava 2842
- Board 1: Template:Flagicon Evgenij Ermenkov 10½ / 12 = 87.5%
- Board 2: Template:Flagicon Mohamed Tissir 7½ / 9 = 83.3%
- Board 3: Template:Flagicon Rafael Vaganian 9½ / 12 = 79.2%
- Board 4: Template:Flagicon Baadur Jobava 8½ / 10 = 85.0%
- 1st reserve: Template:Flagicon Vaidas Sakalauskas 6 / 7 = 85.7%
- 2nd reserve: Template:Flagicon Sergey Karjakin and Template:Flagicon Ibrahim Chahrani 6½ / 7 = 92.9%
Women's eventEdit
The women's division was contested by 87 teams representing 84 nations. Spain, as hosts, fielded two teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) and the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA) each provided one squad.
China, led by first board Xie Jun (ex-World Champion) and second board Xu Yuhua (future champion), entered the competition as top seed and defending triple champions and quickly took the lead, conceding just two draws in their first five matches. They then defeated the silver and bronze medallists from the previous Olympiad, Russia and Poland (each 2–1), in the sixth and eighth rounds, respectively. Eventually they carried a six-point lead into a tenth round match with second placed United States.
Susan Polgar (another ex-World Champion), who entered the tournament as the second highest-rated player and achieved the best performance rating of all, drew Xie Jun, while Irina Krush won her second board game against Xu Yuhua. A draw by Anna Zatonskih against Zhao Xue gave the Americans a 2–1 win over the Chinese team. In rounds eleven and twelve, China drew Hungary and lost to Georgia, whilst the US team defeated Slovakia and then scored a 2½-½ victory over Hungary, drawing within three points of China with two rounds remaining. China, though, defeated sixth-seed India and 12th-seed Slovakia in the final two rounds, scoring four points to preserve what was ultimately a three-point win and to clinch the Vera Menchik Trophy for a fourth consecutive time.
Second-seed Russia were led by Nadezhda Kosintseva, who won top honours on the first reserve board for scoring 10 points in 12 rounds. The Russians were only in eighth place after ten rounds but had advanced to fourth place entering the penultimate round, where they faced Georgia, who they trailed by half a point. Although first board Maya Chiburdanidze (ex-World Champion) and second board Nana Dzagnidze, who both scored 8½ points for their team over the event, drew their matches, third board Lela Javakhishvili lost to Kosintseva, giving the Russian team a half-point lead over Georgia; although Georgia defeated Ukraine 2½-½ in the final round, Russia managed to secure two points against France, equalling Georgia's total and winning the bronze medals on tie-breaks.
Newly crowned World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova disappointed as captain of the Bulgarian team, scoring only 5½ points in 11 games. Bulgaria eventually finished in 14th place.
# Country Players Average
ratingPoints Buchholz 1 Template:Flagu Xie Jun, Xu Yuhua, Zhao Xue, Huang Qian 2514 31 2 Template:Flagu Polgar, Krush, Zatonskih, Shahade 2490 28 3 Template:Flagu Kosteniuk, T. Kosintseva, Kovalevskaya, N. Kosintseva 2491 27½ 346.0 4 {{#invoke:flag name=Georgia}} Chiburdanidze, Dzagnidze, Javakhishvili, Lomineishvili 2470 27½ 339.0 5 Template:Flagu Skripchenko, Marie Sebag, Silvia Collas, Sophie Milliet 2417 25½ 6 {{#invoke:flag }} Mádl, Vajda, Gara, Lakos 2376 25 348.5 7 {{#invoke:flag Slovakia}} Repkova, Pokorná, Hagarova, Borošová 2377 25 337.0 8 Template:Flagu Hunt, Houska, Richards, Buckley 2293 25 334.5 9 Template:Flagu Humpy Koneru, Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi, Dronavalli Harika, Nisha Mohota 2435 24½ 352.0 10 Template:Flagu Radziewicz, Soćko, Dworakowska, Zielinska 2428 24½ 340.0
# Country Average
ratingPoints Buchholz MP 11 {{#invoke:flag Armenia}} 2374 24½ 330.5 12 Template:Flagu 2372 24½ 317.5 13 {{#invoke:flag Lithuania}} 2311 24 329.5 14 Template:BUL 2410 24 329.0 15 Template:Flagu 2301 24 327.0 16 Template:Flagcountry 2406 24 324.5 17 Template:Flagu 2365 24 323.5 18 {{#invoke:flag Ukraine}} 2456 23½ 342.0 19 Template:SLO 2288 23½ 325.5 20 Template:ROM 2408 23½ 318.5 21 Template:VIE 2308 23½ 317.0 22 Template:AZE 2317 23 325.0 23 Template:LAT 2294 23 323.0 24 Template:CUB 2303 23 321.0 25 Template:ISR 2247 23 320.5 26 {{#invoke:flag Moldova}} 2296 23 313.5 27 Template:Flagcountry 2278 23 308.0 28 {{#invoke:flag Czech Republic}} 2308 22½ 313.5 29 Template:GRE 2343 22½ 311.5 30 Template:ARG 2274 22½ 302.0 31 Template:Flagu 2250 22½ 298.0 32 Template:UZB 2235 22½ 293.0 33 Template:KAZ 2317 22 315.5 34 Template:IRI 2208 22 313.5 35 Template:MGL 2263 22 313.0 36 {{#invoke:flag Estonia}} 2229 22 290.0 37 Template:COL 2115 21½ 303.0 38 {{#invoke:flag Norway}} 2149 21½ 302.5 39 Template:CRO 2243 21½ 299.5 40 Template:MYS 2084 21½ 299.0 41 Template:Flagu 2123 21½ 277.0 42 {{#invoke:flag Finland}} 2144 21 299.0 43 Template:Flagu 2242 21 297.0 44 Template:Flagu "B" 2187 21 296.5 45 {{#invoke:flag Bosnia and Herzegovina}} 2146 21 293.0 46 Template:Flagu 2213 21 292.0 47 Template:Flagu 2243 20½ 306.0 48 Template:PHI 1940 20½ 295.0 49 Template:POR 2124 20½ 292.0 50 Template:Flag 2147 20½ 288.5 51 {{#invoke:flag Iceland}} 2148 20½ 288.0 52 Template:WAL 1975 20½ 285.0 53 {{#invoke:flag Turkey}} 2082 20½ 283.5 54 Template:Flagu 2072 20½ 282.5 55 {{#invoke:flag Austria}} 2122 20 292.0 56 {{#invoke:flag North Macedonia}} 2002 20 288.5 57 Template:Flagu 2134 20 281.5 58 Template:KGZ 1760 20 279.0 59 Template:INA 1775 20 277.5 60 Template:GUA 1748 20 276.0 61 Template:PER 2138 20 274.5 62 {{#invoke:flag Albania}} 1749 20 265.0 63 Template:ECU 2224 19½ 295.0 64 Template:DEN 2133 19½ 289.0 65 Template:LIB 1942 19½ 282.0 66 IPCA 2080 19½ 270.0 67 Template:Flag 1704 19½ 229.5 68 Template:Flagu 1875 19 291.0 69 Template:BAN 2120 19 276.5 70 Template:TJK 1600 19 261.5 71 Template:BOL 1763 19 259.0 72 Template:CRC 1764 19 226.5 73 Template:BOT 1884 19 220.5 74 {{#invoke:flag Luxembourg}} 1981 18½ 292.5 75 IBCA 1875 18½ 257.0 76 Template:PUR 1878 18½ 231.5 77 Template:DOM 2023 18 275.5 78 Template:Flagu 1899 18 242.0 79 Template:SRI 1600 18 233.0 80 {{#invoke:flag Ireland}} 1891 17½ 81 Template:FIJ 1600 16½ 82 Template:Flag 1695 13½ 83 Template:Flagu 1716 12½ 84 Template:TRI 1600 12 209.0 85 Template:HON 1600 12 206.5 86 Template:KEN 1600 11 87 Template:VIR 1600 8
Group prizesEdit
In addition to the overall medals, prizes were given out to the best teams in five different seeding groups—in other words, the teams who exceeded their seeding the most. Overall medal winners were not eligible for group prizes.
Group Prizes Group Seeding
rangeTeam Seed Overall
finishA 1–17 {{#invoke:flag name=Georgia}} 4 4 B 18–34 Template:Flagu 27 8 C 35–51 Template:UZB 37 32 D 52–69 Template:COL 55 37 E 70–87 Template:KGZ 75 58
Individual medalsEdit
- Performance rating: Template:Flagicon Susan Polgar 2622
- Board 1: Template:Flagicon Viktorija Čmilytė 8½ / 11 = 77.3%
- Board 2: Template:Flagicon Szidonia Vajda and Template:Flagicon Corina Peptan 9 / 12 = 75.0%
- Board 3: Template:Flagicon Zhao Xue and Template:Flagicon Irine Kharisma Sukandar 10 / 12 = 83.3%
- Reserve: Template:Flagicon Nadezhda Kosintseva 10 / 12 = 83.3%
Overall titleEdit
The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy 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.
| # | Team | Open division |
Women's division |
Average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagu | 2 | 3 | 2½ | |
| 2 | Template:Flagu | 4 | 2 | 3 | |
| 3 | {{#invoke:flag | Armenia}} | 3 | 11 | 7 |
ControversiesEdit
Azmaiparashvili incidentEdit
Prior to the closing ceremony of the Olympiad, FIDE vice president Zurab Azmaiparashvili attempted to ascend the stage in order to inform the presenter of the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy that the latter ought more clearly to explain Gaprindashvili's contributions to the game of chess (Gaprindashvili had been World Champion for 17 years). Security officers, in conjunction with local police, did not permit Azmaiparashvili access to tournament organizers, and a struggle ensued after which Azmaiparashvili, having sustained several injuries, was arrested by the local law enforcement. He secured his release on bail for € 500 after having been held for 40 hours, and the charges against him were later dropped.
Azmaiparashvili and FIDE averred that Azmaiparashvili was detained and physically accosted despite he had properly and clearly [displayed] his VIP credentials,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> whilst representatives of the Spanish chess federation ("Federación Española de Ajedrez") and tournament organizers blamed Azmaiparashvili for the incident, saying that he without any previous provocation, assaulted [an] agent with a head butt to [the] mouth.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Drug testingEdit
Having been formally recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 1999, in preparation for prospective inclusion in future iterations of the Olympic Games, FIDE implemented (in 2001) doping restrictions consistent with those adopted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Two players, Shaun Press of Papua New Guinea and Bobby Miller of Bermuda, refused, for various reasons, to submit urine samples for analysis.<ref>Decision of the FIDE Doping Hearing Panel (Miller)</ref><ref>Decision of the FIDE Doping Hearing Panel (Press)</ref> Both players appeared before the FIDE Doping Hearing panel, which decided to cancel the players' performances (Press had scored 7½ points in 14 games, while Miller had scored 3½ points in 9 games), reducing the final score of Papua New Guinea to 15½ (from 23) and that of Bermuda to 18½ (from 22).
Associated eventsEdit
Concomitant to the tournaments were several chess-related events planned by the organizing committee of the Olympiad, some under the auspices of FIDE; the events were known collectively as the First Chess Festival Calvià 2004. Within the festival were held simultaneous exhibitions, game demonstrations and lectures by top Spanish players, and several secondary tournaments, including one for amateur players, a rapid chess event for players aged under 16, and one for senior players.
Chess classes were introduced into the primary and secondary schools, as well as senior centers, in and around Calvià in an effort to promote chess generally, and chess films were screened on the beaches of Calvià every weeknight during the Olympiad. Chess-oriented art was displayed at an International Chess Fair, with prizes for top works awarded by a jury.