The 33rd Chess Olympiad, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open[1] and women's tournament, took place between September 26 and October 13, 1998, in Elista, Kalmykia, (Russia). In the open tournament there were 110 teams, and in the women's, 72 teams.
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[edit]Chess City
The Olympiad was the first international chess event to be held at Chess City. Construction of Chess City was not complete by the start of the tournament, and some FIDE members were concerned that the facilities would not be ready in time, including the airport, telephone system, player housing, and the Chess Palace to be used as the main playing hall. Reported human rights abuses by Republic of Kalmykia President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov lead to calls for a boycott from Valery Borshchev, a deputy in the Duma from the Russian social-liberal partyYabloko. The British government did not call for a boycott but confirmed "reliable reports of human rights problems" and suggested that Kalmykian authorities might use publicity from Olympiad participation by foreign teams for its own purposes.[2]
The opening ceremony took place as scheduled, but the Chess Palace was covered in scaffolding and was missing many windows. The first round was delayed, one free day was eliminated, and the tournament was shortened to 13 rounds from the planned 14. The organizers worked around the clock and playing conditions improved as the tournament progressed, although the main playing hall was not properly heated. Living conditions, food and drink, and telephone service were generally reported to be acceptable.[3][4]
[edit]Chess competition
Both tournament sections were officiated by international arbiter Geurt Gijssen (NED). Teams were paired across the 13 rounds of competition according to the Swiss system (due to late start of the Olympiad the last round was cancelled); the open division was played over four boards per round, whilst the women's was played over three. The time control for each game permitted each player 100 minutes to make the first 40 of his or her moves, then additional 50 minutes to make the next 20 moves, then 10 minutes to finish the game, with an additional 30 seconds devolving on each player after each move, beginning with the first.
[edit]Open tournament
The open division was contested by 110 teams representing 106 nations and territories; Russia, as hosts, fielded four teams, whilst theInternational Braille Chess Association provided one squad.
[edit]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.
[edit]Top ten overall finishers
[edit]Women's tournament
The women's division was contested by 72 teams representing 69 nations and territories; Armenia, as hosts, fielded three teams, whilst theInternational Braille Chess Association entered one squad.
[edit]Notes
- ^ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.
- ^ Crowther, Mark (21 September 1998), THE WEEK IN CHESS 202:Olympiad News, London Chess Center[dead link]
- ^ Crowther, Mark (28 September 1998), THE WEEK IN CHESS 203: Olympiad News, London Chess Center[dead link]
- ^ Crowther, Mark (5 October 1998), THE WEEK IN CHESS 204: 33rd Olympiad, London Chess Center[dead link]
- ^ 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, 394 to 379, that Ukraine claimed third place overIsrael.
- ^ 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.
- ^ All players are Grandmasters except where a note to the contrary is present.
- ^ 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 2684, whilst the lowest-seeded team,United States Virgin Islands, fielded no players with international ratings (and was therefore assessed an average rating of 2000).
- ^ The ratings averaged are those of the top four players expected to compose each team.
- ^ In as much 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.
- ^ IM denotes International Master.
- ^ FM denotes FIDE Master.
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