37th Chess Olympiad

The tournament hall

The 37th Chess Olympiad, comprising an open^[1] and women's tournament and the general assembly of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), took place between 20 May and 6 June 2006, in Turin, Italy.

Human chess competition

Open tournament

The open division was contested by 148 teams representing 143 nations and territories; Italy, as hosts, fielded three teams, whilst the International Blind Chess Association, the International Physically Disabled Chess Association, International Silent Chess Committee each provided one squad; neither Somalia nor Sierra Leone, each of which had registered a team, participated.

Led by first board Grandmaster (GM) Levon Aronian, the second highest-rated player at the Olympiad, and first reserve GM Gabriel Sargissian, who scored 10 points in 11 games, Armenia improved on their third place performance at the 36th Olympiad, claiming the gold medal by two full points over the silver medal-winning People's Republic of China, whose fourth board, GM Wang Yue, went undefeated, winning eight games and drawing four; Armenia ended the tournament without having lost a match, winning 10 and drawing three, including in the final round against Hungary, when four draws were cursorily recorded. Aronian was the only Armenian player to lose a game during the tournament, falling in the fifth round to Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik. Kramnik, playing internationally for the first time in six months, scored six-and-one-half points in his nine games, recording the best rating performance of any player. His Russian team, though, did not perform as expected; fielding six of the tournament's top 17 players by ranking [1], Russia stood in second place, just one point behind Armenia, through the seventh round but lost matches to France (2½-1½), the United States (2½-1½), and, in the final round, Israel (3-1), and ultimately finished sixth; the finish was the first non-podium finish for the side representing the Soviet Union or Russia since the 9th Chess Olympiad, played in 1950. Although they defeated the United States, 2½-1½, in the penultimate round, Israel settled for a tie for third place; the Americans claimed the bronze medal on Buchholz tiebreaks. Hungary, seeded 16th, finished fifth, getting strong performances from third board GM Ferenc Berkes and fourth board GM Csaba Balogh, while India, who entered the tournament seeded second, finished in 30th place, with first board GM Viswanathan Anand's and fourth board GM Shekhar Ganguly Surya's scoring just 50 per cent.

Team results

The teams finishing first through third overall receive medals, as do those finishing in the top three amongst teams organized by seed; overall medal winners are not eligible to receive group prizes.

Top ten overall finishers

Place of finish[2]	Team	Players[3][4]	Seed[5]	Average April 2006 FIDE rating[6]	Matches won	Matches drawn	Matches lost	Total score[7]
First	Armenia	Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Karen Asrian, Smbat Lputian, Gabriel Sargissian, Artashes Minasian	3	2682	10	3	0	36
Second	People's Republic of China	Bu Xiangzhi, Zhang Zhong, Zhang Pengxiang, Wang Yue, Ni Hua, Zhao Jun	12	2628	8	1	4	34
Third	United States	Gata Kamsky, Alexander Onischuk, Hikaru Nakamura, Ildar Ibragimov, Gregory Kaidanov, Varuzhan Akobian	7	2656	9	3	1	33
Fourth	Israel	Boris Gelfand, Ilia Smirin, Emil Sutovsky, Boris Avrukh, Alexander Huzman, Victor Mikhalevski	6	2663	9	3	1	33
Fifth	Hungary	Zoltán Almási, Zoltan Gyimesi, Ferenc Berkes, Csaba Balogh, Robert Ruck, Adam Horvath	16	2610	7	4	2	32½
Sixth	Russia	Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, Alexander Morozevich, Evgeny Bareev, Sergei Rublevsky	1	2730	7	2	4	32
Seventh	France	Étienne Bacrot, Joël Lautier, Andrei Sokolov, Laurent Fressinet, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Christian Bauer	5	2665	7	5	1	32
Eighth	Ukraine	Vasyl Ivanchuk, Andrei Volokitin, Sergey Karjakin, Pavel Eljanov, Alexander Moiseenko, Zahar Efimenko	4	2680	8	2	3	32
Ninth	Bulgaria	Kiril Georgiev, Ivan Cheparinov, Aleksander Delchev, Vasili Spasov, IM [8] Vladimir Petkov, IM Valentin Iotov	10	2633	7	2	4	32
Tenth	Spain	Alexei Shirov, Francisco Vallejo Pons, Miguel Illescas Córdoba, Julien Arizmendi Martinez, Pablo San Segundo Carrillo, Marc Narciso Dublan	11	2628	7	4	2	32

Group prizes

Group A (from amongst teams seeded 1st to 29th without best three teams)

Team	Overall place of finish[9]	Seed[5]	Average April 2006 FIDE rating[6]	Total score[7]
Israel	4	6	2663	33
Hungary	5	16	2610	32½
Russia	6	1	2730	32

Group B (from amongst teams seeded 30th to 59th)

Team	Overall place of finish	Seed[5]	Average April 2006 FIDE rating[6]	Total score[7]
Sweden	17	31	2549	30½
Slovenia	23	32	2545	30
Latvia	28	42	2516	30

Group C (from amongst teams seeded 60th to 89th)

Team	Overall place of finish	Seed[5]	Average April 2006 FIDE rating[6]	Total score[7]
Italy (team B)	48	70	2371	28½
Kazakhstan	53	73	2348	28
Colombia	57	62	2437	27

Group D (from amongst teams seeded 90th to 119th)

Team	Overall place of finish	Seed[5]	Average April 2006 FIDE rating[6]	Total score[7]
Tajikistan	54	106	2215	28
Algeria	69	91	2285	26½
International Silent Chess Committee	76	90	2308	26

Group E (from amongst teams seeded 120th to 148th)

Team	Overall place of finish	Seed[5]	Average April 2006 FIDE rating[6]	Total score[7]
Japan	87	121	2139	25½
Pakistan	98	123	2123	24½
Cyprus	103	122	2125	24

Individual results

Individual medals are awarded to the three players to achieve the best rating performance having played at least eight games. Medals are also awarded to the top three finishers, by percentage of points won from total points possible, from amongst those to have played primarily on each of boards one through four (having played at least eight games) as well as to those reserves who have otherwise played at least seven games across all boards, who are classified as playing on boards five and six. Teams typically feature their better players on the lower-numbered boards, but illness, fatigue, and absence often affect playing rotations. Ties are resolved in favor of the player who played more games; where ties remain, the player with a better rating performance is awarded the superior placing.

Best rating performance

Player [4]	Team represented	April 2006 FIDE rating	Principal board played	Games played	Points scored	Rating performance
Vladimir Kramnik	Russia	2729	1	9	6½	2847
Wang Yue	People's Republic of China	2598	4	12	10	2837
Étienne Bacrot	France	2708	1	8	6	2833
Magnus Carlsen	Norway	2646	1	8	6	2820
Sergey Karjakin	Ukraine	2661	3	11	8½	2798
Bu Xiangzhi	People's Republic of China	2640	1	12	8	2790
David Navara	Czech Republic	2658	1	12	8½	2786
Vladimir Akopian	Armenia	2706	2	12	9	2778
Levon Aronian	Armenia	2756	1	11	7	2768
Joël Lautier	France	2682	2	11	8	2759

Board prizes

First board

Player	Team represented	April 2006 FIDE rating	Games played	Points scored	Percentage attained [10]
Mohyuddin Gillani Tanveer	Pakistan	2279	8	7	87½
GM [11] Evgenij Ermenkov	Palestine	2462	10	8½	85.0
GM Hichem Hamdouchi	Morocco	2559	10	7½	75.0

Second board

Player	Team represented	April 2006 FIDE rating	Games played	Points scored	Percentage attained [10]
IM [8] Josep Oms Pallise	Andorra	2496	11	9	81.8
Brian Dew	Hong Kong	2147	9	7	77.8
IM Eduardo Iturrizaga	Venezuela	2397	11	8½	77.3

Third board

Player	Team represented	April 2006 FIDE rating	Games played	Points scored	Percentage attained [10]
Manuel Larrea	Uruguay	2278	8	7	87.5
GM [11] Rafael Leitão	Brazil	2575	10	8	80.0
GM Miguel Illescas Córdoba	Spain	2608	9	7	77.8

Fourth board

Player	Team represented	April 2006 FIDE rating	Games played	Points scored	Percentage attained [10]
GM [11] Wang Yue	People's Republic of China	2598	12	10	83.3
GM Robert Zelcic	Croatia	2525	12	9	75.0
GM Boris Avrukh	Israel	2633	10	7½	75.0

Fifth (first reserve) board

Player	Team represented	April 2006 FIDE rating	Games played	Points scored	Percentage attained [10]
FM [12] Basheer Al-Qudaimi	Yemen	2396	7	7	100.0
Amer Karim	Pakistan	2260	8	7½	93.8
Ali Laith	Iraq	2179	7	6½	92.9

Sixth (second reserve) board

Player	Team represented	April 2006 FIDE rating	Games played	Points scored	Percentage attained [10]
Phiri Richmond	Zambia	no rating [13]	7	6½	92.9
Hirawan Pg Mohd Omar Ak	Brunei	2335	7	6½	92.9
Hameedullah Haidary	Afghanistan	no rating [13]	9	7½	83.3

Women's tournament

Italy's Marina Brunello (12), with Ruki and Turin Mayor Sergio Chiamparino

The women's division was contested by 106 teams representing 102 nations and territories; Italy, as hosts, fielded two teams, whilst the International Blind Chess Association, the International Physically Disabled Chess Association, International Silent Chess Committee each provided one squad; neither Somalia nor Sudan, each of which had registered a team, participated, whilst Afghanistan, Uganda, and Rwanda each withdrew after one round.

Ukraine, who had finished in 18th place at the 36th Olympiad but entered the tournament seeded second, trailed top-seeded Russia by one half-point through the seventh round, despite having taken defeated the Russians in the fifth round, 2-1, but took the tournament lead in the eighth round, defeating Hungary while Russia managed only to halve their match with the United States. Ukraine, behind Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Natalia Zhukova, who scored seven-and-one-half points in her nine games, defeating the top- and second-rated players, Grandmaster (GM) Humpy Koneru of India and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia, and third board International Master (IM) Inna Yanovska-Gaponenko, who won six games, drew two, and lost only one, never trailed during the remainder of the tournament, all but securing the gold medal and Vera Menchik Trophy with twelfth round win over India (2½-½) and eventually finishing one-and-one-half points ahead of silver medallist Russia. Defending champion China, on the strength of first board WGM Zhao Xue, who entered the tournament seeded 22nd yet, having played in each round, went undefeated in the Olympiad, conceding only six draws in 13 games, claimed the bronze medal by three points over the United States, with whom the Chinese team drew in the penultimate round to secure third place; the American team, on Buchholz tiebreaks, narrowly outpointed Hungary and Georgia for fourth place. Three double-digit seeds, the Netherlands (seeded 18th, finished seventh), Slovenia (seeded 17th, finished ninth), and the Czech Republic (seeded 22nd, finished tenth), finished in the top ten, while 12th-seeded Poland managed only a 20th place finish.

Team results

The teams finishing first through third overall receive medals, as do those finishing in the top three amongst teams organized by seed; overall medal winners are not eligible to receive group prizes.

Top ten overall finishers

Place of finish [14]	Team	Players [15][16]	Seed [17]	Average April 2006 FIDE rating [18]	Matches won	Matches drawn	Matches lost	Total score [19]
First	Ukraine	WGM [20] Natalia Zhukova, IM [8] Kateryna Lahno, IM Inna Yanovska-Gaponenko, WGM Anna Ushenina	2	2441	12	1	0	29½
Second	Russia	GM [11] Alexandra Kosteniuk, IM Tatiana Kosintseva, IM Nadezhda Kosintseva, IM Ekaterina Kovalevskaya	1	2499	9	3	1	28
Third	People's Republic of China	WGM Zhao Xue, WGM Wang Yu, Shen Yang, WFM [21] Hou Yifan	6	2408	8	3	2	27½
Fourth	United States	WGM Anna Zatonskih, IM Irina Krush, WGM Rusudan Goletiani, WGM Camilla Baginskaite	5	2414	7	5	1	24½
Fifth	Hungary	IM Hoang Thanh Trang, IM Ildikó Mádl, IM Szidonia Vajda, WGM Anita Gara	4	2426	8	1	4	24½
Sixth	Georgia	IM Nino Khurtsidze, IM Nana Dzagnidze, IM Lela Javakhishvili, IM Maia Lomineishvili	3	2430	7	3	3	24½
Seventh	Netherlands	GM Peng Zhaoqin, IM Tea Bosboom-Lanchava, FM [12] Petra Schuurman, WIM [22] Bianca Muhren	18	2344	7	3	3	24½
Eighth	Armenia	IM Lilit Mkrtchian, IM Elina Danielian, WGM Nelly Aginian, WIM Siranush Andriasian	7	2402	7	4	2	24
Ninth	Slovenia	WGM Anna Muzychuk, WGM Ana Srebrnič, WIM Jana Krivec, WFM Ksenija Novak	17	2348	7	2	4	24
Tenth	Czech Republic	IM Jana Jacková, WIM Katerina Cedikova, WIM Olga Sikorova, WIM Petra Blazkova	22	2299	8	0	5	24

Group prizes

Group A (from amongst teams seeded 1st to 20th)

Team	Overall place of finish [9]	Seed [5]	Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6]	Total score [7]
United States	4	5	2414	24½
Hungary	5	4	2426	24½
Georgia	6	3	2430	24½

Group B (from amongst teams seeded 21st to 42nd)

Team	Overall place of finish	Seed [5]	Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6]	Total score [7]
Czech Republic	10	22	2302	24
Vietnam	15	23	2302	23
Cuba	16	26	2289	23

Group C (from amongst teams seeded 43rd to 64th)

Team	Overall place of finish	Seed [5]	Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6]	Total score [7]
Philippines	26	60	2083	22
Turkmenistan	36	43	2182	21
Canada	41	51	2132	21

Group D (from amongst teams seeded 65th to 86th)

Team	Overall place of finish	Seed [5]	Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6]	Total score [7]
Indonesia	40	68	1986	21
Venezuela	43	71	1941	20½
El Salvador	49	63	2007	20

Group E (from amongst teams seeded 87th to 108th)

Team	Overall place of finish	Seed [5]	Average April 2006 FIDE rating [6]	Total score [7]
Algeria	79	87	1721	17½
New Zealand	80	84	1759	17½
Nigeria	82	82	1723	17

Individual results

Individual medals are awarded to the three players to achieve the best rating performance having played at least eight games. Medals are also awarded to the top three finishers, by percentage of points won from total points possible, from amongst those to have played primarily on each of boards one through three (having played at least eight games) as well as to those reserves who have otherwise played at least seven games across all boards, who are classified as playing on board four. Teams typically feature their better players on the lower-numbered boards, but illness, fatigue, and absence often affect playing rotations. Ties are resolved in favor of the player who played more games; where ties remain, the player with a better rating performance is awarded the superior placing.

Best rating performance

Player	Team represented	April 2006 FIDE rating	Principal board played	Games played	Points scored	Rating performance
WGM [20] Zhao Xue	People's Republic of China	2423	1	13	10	2617
IM [8] Tatiana Kosintseva	Russia	2489	2	12	9½	2598
WFM [21] Hou Yifan	People's Republic of China	2298	3	13	11	2596
GM [11] Antoaneta Stefanova	Bulgaria	2502	1	12	9	2563
IM Hoang Thanh Trang	Hungary	2487	1	13	9½	2539
WGM Natalia Zhukova	Ukraine	2425	1	10	7½	2537
IM Inna Yanovska-Gaponenko	Ukraine	2430	3	9	7	2531
IM Viktorija Čmilytė	Lithuania	2470	1	12	9½	2530
IM Nadezhda Kosintseva	Russia	2469	3	10	7½	2521
IM Irina Krush	United States	2437	2	11	8	2512

Board prizes

First board

Player	Team represented	April 2006 FIDE rating	Games played	Points scored	Percentage attained [10]
WIM [22] Lubov Zsiltzova-Lisenko	International Blind Chess Association	2263	10	9	90.0
WIM Eman Mohammed	Iraq	2118	8	7	87.5
WIM Sarai Sanchez	Venezuela	2176	11	9	81.8

Second board

Player	Team represented	April 2006 FIDE rating	Games played	Points scored	Percentage attained [10]
Fiona Steil-Antoni	Luxembourg	1968	12	10	83.3
IM [8] Katerina Lahno	Ukraine	2468	10	8	80.0
IM Tatiana Kosintseva	Russia	2489	12	9½	79.2

Third board

Player	Team represented	April 2006 FIDE rating	Games played	Points scored	Percentage attained [10]
WFM [21] Mohd Saleh Nora	United Arab Emirates	1925	8	7	87.5
IM [8] Inna Yanovska-Gaponenko	Ukraine	2430	9	7	77.8
IM Lela Javakhishvili	Georgia	2410	11	8½	77.3

Fourth (reserve) board

Player	Team represented	April 2006 FIDE rating	Games played	Points scored	Percentage attained [10]
WIM [22] Tatiana Berlin	Belarus	2207	8	7	87.5
WFM [21] Hou Yifan	People's Republic of China	2298	13	11	84.6
Rahal Mawadda	Libya	1601	8	6½	81.3

Overall title

The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is awarded to the entity the average place of finish of which in the open and women's division is the best (where two or more teams are tied, they are ordered by single-best finish in either division and then by total points scored); with an average finish of two-and-one-half, the People's Republic of China won the 2006 trophy.

Top ten finishers

Team	Open division placing	Women's division placing	Average placing
People's Republic of China	2	3	2½
United States	3	4	3½
Russia	6	2	4
Ukraine	8	1	4½
Armenia	1	8	4½
Hungary	5	5	5
Netherlands	12	7	9½
Georgia	14	6	10
Czech Republic	11	10	10½
Bulgaria	9	13	11

Participating teams

Squads representing 133 nations, three international organizations, three constituent countries, two autonomous entities, two crown dependencies, two special administrative regions, two insular areas, and one associated state were entered into the Olympiad, comprising 1307 players (some registered players, though, did not play).

Entering teams in the open and women's division were

Entering teams only in the open division were

Countries that participated only in the open division are shown in dark green, while the rest of the participants are shown in light green.

FIDE Congress

Concomitant to the chess competition was the 77th FIDE Congress, in which delegates from national chess federations met to transact business. Incumbent FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov faced criticisms for alleged mismanagement and corruption, primarily from Western federations, including those of the United States, England, France, and Canada, but, with the support of most Asian and African delegates, notably those representing Russia and Singapore, staved off a challenge from Dutch businessman Bessel Kok to retain his position through 2010, winning 96 votes (to Kok's 54). [2]

The general assembly also awarded the 38th Chess Olympiad, to be held in 2010, to Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the site of the 2005 World Chess Cup and one of five locales that made bids. The city led after every round of the exhaustive ballot runoff voting, eventually winning, 71-64, over Budva, Montenegro.

Associated events

Held in conjunction with the Olympiad, though not officially sponsored by FIDE, were two computer chess events: the 14th World Computer Chess Championship, played at classical time controls, and the 14th World Computer Speed Chess Championship. Junior won its fifth championship and third in five years in the slower event, while newcomer Ikarus defeated four-time defending champion Shredder to win the blitz chess event.

External links

• Turin Olympiad 2006 official homepage
• FIDE press release on Olympiad results
• Detailed Olympiad results
• This Week in Chess round-by-round Olympiad summaries

Notes

1. ^ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this division is open to both male and female players; several women, including Grandmaster Zhu Chen, the 2001 women's world champion, who represented Qatar, contested the division in 2006.
2. ^ Where teams share the same total score, they are ordered by Buchholz tiebreak scores, calculated by summing the final scores of each opponent played by a given team. It was on the basis of a superior sum of opponents' scores, 392½ to 380½, that the United States claimed third place over Israel.
3. ^ Players are ordered by board, from first to last, in the same fashion in which they principally played; the fifth and sixth players of each team may have played on higher boards during the Olympiad but played fewer games than the players who primarily occupied the positions.
4. ^ ^{a b} All players are Grandmasters except where a note to the contrary is present.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Teams were initially seeded into the Olympiad on the basis of the average Elo rating of the top four players expected to compose each team; for example, the highest-seeded team, Russia, entered the tournament with an average FIDE rating of 2718, whilst the lowest-seeded team, Somalia, fielded no players with international ratings (and was therefore assessed an average rating of 1600).
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} The ratings averaged are those of the top four players expected to compose each team.
7. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Inasmuch as the tournament consisted of 13 rounds, with four games played by each team per round, the maximum number of points one team could accumulate was 52.
8. ^ ^{a b c d e f} IM denotes International Master.
9. ^ ^{a b} Rank is after the application of tiebreaks, where applicable.
10. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} A player's percentage attained is the fraction of possible points he/she actually earned; a player winning five games, drawing three, and losing two would, having scored 6½ points over 10 games, achieve a 65 per cent success rate.
11. ^ ^{a b c d e} GM denotes Grandmaster.
12. ^ ^{a b} FM denotes FIDE Master.
13. ^ ^{a b} Players with no rating have not played the required ten rated, FIDE-approved games before the April rating list was issued.
14. ^ Where teams share the same total score, they are ordered by Buchholz tiebreak scores, calculated by summing the final scores of each opponent played by a given team. Georgia, for example, was placed ahead of the Netherlands because Georgia's opponents finished the tournament having scored 305½ points, whilst those of the Netherlands scored but 276½.
15. ^ Players are ordered by board, from first to last, in the same fashion in which they principally played; the fourth player on each team will have played on a higher board during the Olympiad but will have played fewer games than the players who primarily occupied the positions.
16. ^ Titles for all FIDE-titled players are provided.
17. ^ Teams were initially seeded into the Olympiad on the basis of the average Elo rating of their expected players; for example, the highest-seeded team, Russia, entered the tournament with an average FIDE rating of 2490, whilst the lowest-seeded team, Yemen, fielded no players with international ratings (and was therefore assessed an average rating of 1600).
18. ^ The ratings averaged are those of the top three players expected to compose each team.
19. ^ Inasmuch as the tournament consisted of 13 rounds, with three games played by each team per round, the maximum number of points one team could accumulate was 39.
20. ^ ^{a b} WGM denotes Woman Grandmaster.
21. ^ ^{a b c d} WFM denotes Woman FIDE Master.
22. ^ ^{a b c} WIM denotes Woman International Master.