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36th Chess Olympiad

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Official logo of the Olympiad

The36thChess Olympiad(Spanish:La 36aOlimpíada de ajedrez;Catalan:La 36aOlimpíada d'escacs), organized by theFédération Internationale des Échecs(FIDE) and comprising an open[note 1]and a women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game ofchess,took place between October 14 and October 31, 2004, inCalviàon the Spanish island ofMallorca.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 byinternational arbiterIgnatius Leong(Singapore). Teams were paired across the 14 rounds of competition according to theSwiss 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. TheBuchholz system;2. Match points; 3. TheSonneborn-Bergersystem; and 4. TheMedian Buchholzsystem.

Thetime controlfor 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 event

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The open division was contested by 129 teams representing 125 nations. Spain, as hosts, fielded three teams, whilst theInternational Braille Chess Association(IBCA) and theInternational Physically Disabled Chess Association(IPCA) each provided one squad.

Led by first boardVasyl Ivanchuk,the seventh highest-ratedplayer at the tournament, who recorded 9½ points over 13 rounds, and second reserveSergey Karjakinwho, aged just 14 years, won 6 of his 7 games (surrendering adrawonly to AmericanGregory Kaidanov),Ukrainescored 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 topseed,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 boardLevon Aronian,who did not lose in 12 games, and third boardRafael 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 ofGeorgia,they tied Russia's 36½ points. Armenia were placed after Russia, though, on theBuchholztie-breakersystem employed by the Olympiad, and finished, as in theprevious Olympiad,with thebronze medals.Hosts Spain, led byAlexei 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 ChampionVladimir Kramnikand his challengerPeter Leko,who were just finishing theirchampionship match(Kramnik retained his title with a 7–7 tie). FIDE ChampionRustam Kasimdzhanovwas present, however, and ledUzbekistanto 14th place by going undefeated in his 8 games (+4-0=4).

Open event
# Country Players Average
rating		 Points Buchholz
1 Ukraine Ivanchuk,Ponomariov,Volokitin,Moiseenko,Eljanov,Karjakin 2680 39½
2 Russia Morozevich,Svidler,Grischuk,Dreev,Khalifman,Zvjaginsev 2718 36½ 460.0
3 Armenia Akopian,Aronian,Vaganian,Lputian,Sargissian,Minasian 2660 36½ 459.0
4 United States Onischuk,Shabalov,Goldin,Kaidanov,Novikov,Gulko 2623 35
5 Israel Gelfand,Sutovsky,Smirin,Avrukh,Huzman,Roiz 2670 34½
6 India Viswanathan Anand,Krishnan Sasikiran,Pendyala Harikrishna,
Surya Shekhar Ganguly,Abhijit Kunte,Chanda Sandipan		 2655 34
7 Cuba Domínguez,Bruzón,Delgado,Nogueiras,Arencibia,Quezada 2596 33½
8 Netherlands Van Wely,Sokolov,Tiviakov,Timman,Van den Doel,Nijboer 2641 33
9 Bulgaria Georgiev,Delchev,Cheparinov,Spasov,Chatalbashev,Radulski 2584 32½ 453.0
10 Spain Shirov,Vallejo Pons,Illescas Córdoba,Cifuentes Parada,Romero Holmes,Arizmendi Martínez 2643 32½ 439.5

1Bermuda 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 prizes

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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
range		 Team Seed Overall
finish
A 1–25 United States 10 4
B 26–51 Switzerland 29 13
C 52–77 Ireland 54 43
D 78–103 Tajikistan 83 61
E 104–129 Japan 112 87

Individual medals

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Women's event

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The women's division was contested by 87 teams representing 84 nations. Spain, as hosts, fielded two teams, whilst theInternational Braille Chess Association(IBCA) and theInternational Physically Disabled Chess Association(IPCA) each provided one squad.

China, led by first boardXie Jun(ex-World Champion) and second boardXu Yuhua(future champion), entered the competition as topseedand defending triple champions and quickly took the lead, conceding just twodrawsin their first five matches. They then defeated the silver and bronze medallists from theprevious 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, whileIrina Krushwon her second board game against Xu Yuhua. A draw byAnna ZatonskihagainstZhao Xuegave the Americans a 2–1 win over the Chinese team. In rounds eleven and twelve, China drew Hungary and lost toGeorgia,whilst the US team defeatedSlovakiaand 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-seedSlovakiain the final two rounds, scoring four points to preserve what was ultimately a three-point win and to clinch theVera MenchikTrophy for a fourth consecutive time.

Second-seed Russia were led byNadezhda 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 facedGeorgia,who they trailed by half a point. Although first boardMaya Chiburdanidze(ex-World Champion) and second boardNana Dzagnidze,who both scored 8½ points for their team over the event, drew their matches, third boardLela Javakhishvililost to Kosintseva, giving the Russian team a half-point lead over Georgia; although Georgia defeatedUkraine2½-½ in the final round, Russia managed to secure two points against France, equalling Georgia's total and winning the bronze medals ontie-breaks.

Newly crownedWorld ChampionAntoaneta Stefanovadisappointed as captain of theBulgarianteam, scoring only 5½ points in 11 games. Bulgaria eventually finished in 14th place.

# Country Players Average
rating		 Points Buchholz
1 China Xie Jun,Xu Yuhua,Zhao Xue,Huang Qian 2514 31
2 United States Polgar,Krush,Zatonskih,Shahade 2490 28
3 Russia Kosteniuk,T. Kosintseva,Kovalevskaya,N. Kosintseva 2491 27½ 346.0
4 Georgia Chiburdanidze,Dzagnidze,Javakhishvili,Lomineishvili 2470 27½ 339.0
5 France Skripchenko,Marie Sebag,Silvia Collas,Sophie Milliet 2417 25½
6 Hungary Mádl,Vajda,Gara,Lakos 2376 25 348.5
7 Slovakia Repkova,Pokorná,Hagarova,Borošová 2377 25 337.0
8 England Hunt,Houska,Richards,Buckley 2293 25 334.5
9 India Humpy Koneru,Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi,Dronavalli Harika,Nisha Mohota 2435 24½ 352.0
10 Poland Radziewicz,Soćko,Dworakowska,Zielinska 2428 24½ 340.0

Group prizes

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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
range		 Team Seed Overall
finish
A 1–17 Georgia 4 4
B 18–34 England 27 8
C 35–51 Uzbekistan 37 32
D 52–69 Colombia 55 37
E 70–87 Kyrgyzstan 75 58

Individual medals

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Overall title

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TheNona GaprindashviliTrophy 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 Russia 2 3 2½
2 United States 4 2 3
3 Armenia 3 11 7

Controversies

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Azmaiparashvili incident

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Prior to the closing ceremony of the Olympiad, FIDE vice presidentZurab Azmaiparashviliattempted to ascend the stage in order to inform the presenter of theNona GaprindashviliTrophy that the latter ought more clearly to explain Gaprindashvili's contributions to the game of chess (Gaprindashvili had beenWorld Championfor 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 locallaw enforcement.He secured his release onbailfor€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 andclearly [displayed] hisVIPcredentials,[1]whilst representatives of the Spanish chess federation ( "Federación Española de Ajedrez" ) and tournament organizers blamed Azmaiparashvili for the incident, saying that hewithout any previous provocation, assaulted [an] agent with a head butt to [the] mouth.[2]

Drug testing

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Having been formally recognized by theInternational Olympic Committeein 1999, in preparation for prospective inclusion in future iterations of theOlympic Games,FIDE implemented (in 2001)dopingrestrictions consistent with those adopted by theWorld Anti-Doping Agency(WADA). Two players,Shaun PressofPapua New GuineaandBobby MillerofBermuda,refused, for various reasons, to submit urine samples foranalysis.[3][4]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 events

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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 theFirst Chess Festival Calvià 2004.Within the festival were heldsimultaneous exhibitions,game demonstrations and lectures by top Spanish players, and several secondary tournaments, including one for amateur players, arapid chessevent for players aged under 16, and one for senior players.

Chess classes were introduced into theprimaryandsecondary schools,as well assenior centers,in and around Calvià in an effort to promote chess generally, and chess films were screened on thebeachesof Calvià every weeknight during the Olympiad. Chess-oriented art was displayed at anInternational Chess Fair,with prizes for top works awarded by a jury.

Footnotes

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Notes

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  1. ^Although commonly referred to as themen's division,this section is open to both male and female players.

Sources

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  1. ^"FIDE Vice President held in custody by Spanish Police, after being heavily beaten up".FIDE.2004-10-30. Archived fromthe originalon 2004-12-04.Retrieved2021-12-23.
  2. ^"FIDE Olympiad - Calvia, ESP Press Release by organisers on the Azmaiparashvilli arrest".Chess Center.2004-10-31. Archived fromthe originalon 2004-12-07.Retrieved2021-12-23.
  3. ^Decision of the FIDE Doping Hearing Panel (Miller)
  4. ^Decision of the FIDE Doping Hearing Panel (Press)
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