32nd Chess Olympiad
Encyclopedia
The 32nd Chess Olympiad
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...

, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs
Fédération Internationale des Échecs
The Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation is an international organization that connects the various national chess federations around the world and acts as the governing body of international chess competition. It is usually referred to as FIDE , its French acronym.FIDE...

 and comprising an open and women's tournament, took place between September 15 and October 2, 1996, in Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...

, Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

.

Chess competition

Both tournament sections were officiated by international arbiter
International Arbiter
In chess, International Arbiter is a title awarded by FIDE to individuals deemed capable of acting as arbiter in important chess matches . The title was established in 1951....

 Alesha Khachatrian (ARM
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

). Teams were paired across the 14 rounds of competition according to the Swiss system
Swiss system tournament
A Swiss-system tournament is a commonly used type of tournament where players or teams need to be paired to face each other for several rounds of competition. This type of tournament was first used in a Zurich chess tournament in 1895, hence the name "Swiss system". The Swiss system is used when...

; the open division was played over four boards per round, and the women's was played over three. The time control
Time control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game clock...

 for each game permitted each player 2 hours to make the first 40 of his or her moves, then an additional 1 hour to make the next 20 moves.

Open tournament

The open division was contested by 114 teams representing 111 nations and territories; Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

, as hosts, fielded three teams, and the International Braille Chess Association
International Braille Chess Association
The International Braille Chess Association is organization for blind and visually impaired chess players. The IBCA is a FIDE-affiliated chess organization as well as a part of the International Blind Sports Federation. The International Braille Chess Association was formed in 1948 by Reginald...

 provided one squad.

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 Team Players Seed Average July 1996
1996 in sports
1996 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Lasse Kjus, Norway** Women's overall season champion: Katja Seizinger, Germany-American football:...

 FIDE rating
Matches won Matches drawn Matches lost Total score
First
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

  Russia Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....

, Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...

, Alexey Dreev
Alexey Dreev
Alexey Dreev is a chess grandmaster from Russia. His career peak Elo rating was 2705, attained in October 2003 and again in April 2005.He qualified for the Candidates Tournament in 1991, but lost his Quarter Final match to Viswanathan Anand in Madras .Then in the FIDE World Championship...

, Peter Svidler
Peter Svidler
Peter Veniaminovich Svidler is a Russian chess grandmaster.He is six-time Russian champion ....

, Evgeny Bareev
Evgeny Bareev
Evgeny Bareev is a Russian chess Grandmaster and chess coach. In October 2003, he was in fourth place in the world rankings, with an Elo rating of 2739....

, Sergei Rublevsky
Sergei Rublevsky
Sergei Rublevsky is a Russian chess grandmaster . He won the prestigious Aeroflot Open in 2004, and became the 58th Russian chess champion after winning the Russian Superfinal in Moscow , one point clear from Dmitry Jakovenko and Alexander Morozevich.He finished in the top 10 in the 2005 FIDE...

1 2714 12 2 0 38½
Second
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

  Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

Vasyl Ivanchuk
Vasyl Ivanchuk
Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk, also transliterated as Vasyliy or Vasyl , is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster....

, Vladimir Malaniuk
Vladimir Malaniuk
Vladimir Pavlovich Malaniuk is a Ukrainian chess Grandmaster....

, Oleg Romanishin
Oleg Romanishin
Oleg Mikhailovich Romanishin is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster and former European junior champion.Many honours and awards were bestowed on him as a young man. After winning the European Junior Championship in 1973, he became an International Master the same year...

, Igor Novikov
Igor Novikov (chess player)
Igor A. Novikov is a chess Grandmaster and former Chess Champion of Ukraine. He has American citizenship and is currently registered with the US Chess Federation who lists him as one of their top players. While living in Brooklyn he won the Marshall Chess Club Championship in 2002...

, Alexander Onischuk
Alexander Onischuk
Alexander Onischuk is an American chess grandmaster. Originally from Ukraine, he immigrated to the US in 2001 and currently lives in Northern Virginia. He was the 2006 U.S. Chess Champion...

, Stanislav Savchenko
Stanislav Savchenko
Stanislav Savchenko is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster . He took part in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2002, but was knocked out in the first round by Francisco Vallejo Pons....

4 2633 10 4 0 35
Third
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

  United States of America Boris Gulko, Alex Yermolinsky
Alex Yermolinsky
Alex Yermolinsky is an American chess Grandmaster. In 1993, Yermolinsky won the U.S. Chess Championship, tying for first place with Alexander Shabalov...

, Nick de Firmian
Nick de Firmian
Nicholas Ernest de Firmian , is a chess grandmaster and three-time U.S. chess champion, winning in 1987 , 1995, and 1998. He also tied for first in 2002, but Larry Christiansen won the playoff...

, Gregory Kaidanov
Gregory Kaidanov
Gregory Kaidanov is a Grandmaster of chess.As of April 2007, his Elo rating was 2587, making him the #9 player in the US and the 179th-highest rated player in the world. His peak rating was 2646 in 2002....

, Joel Benjamin
Joel Benjamin
Joel Benjamin is an American chess Grandmaster. In 1998, he was voted "Grandmaster of the Year" by the U.S. Chess Federation. , his Elo rating was 2576, making him the No. 12 player in the U.S. and the 214th-highest rated player in the world.-Life and career:Benjamin is a native of Brooklyn, New...

, Larry Christiansen
9 2595 8 3 3 34
Fourth   England Nigel Short
Nigel Short
Nigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...

, Michael Adams, Jonathan Speelman, Matthew Sadler
Matthew Sadler (chess player)
Matthew Sadler is an International Grandmaster of chess, and a chess writer.Sadler won the British Championship in 1995 at the age of 21 and again in 1997...

, Julian Hodgson
Julian Hodgson
Julian Michael Hodgson is an English International Grandmaster and former British Champion of chess.He first came to the notice of the chess world for his phenomenal prowess as a junior; he was London under-18 champion at 12 years of age and won the British Boys under-21 title aged just...

, Stuart Conquest
Stuart Conquest
Stuart Conquest is an English chess Grandmaster.-Chess career:In 1981, at the age of 14 he won the World Youth Chess Championship in the under-16 category. Conquest was British Rapidplay Chess Champion in 1997...

2 2655 10 3 1 34
Fifth   Armenia 'A'
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

Vladimir Akopian, Rafael Vaganian
Rafael Vaganian
Rafael Artemovich Vaganian, also transliterated Vahanyan is an Armenian chess grandmaster known for his sharp tactical style of play...

, Smbat Lputian
Smbat Lputian
Smbat Gariginovich Lputian is an Armenian chess Grandmaster. He was first at tournament in Berlin 1982, shared first at Athens 1983 and at Irkutsk 1983, first at Sarajevo 1985 and at Irkutsk 1986, shared first at Hastings 1986-87 and first at Dortmund 1988...

, Artashes Minasian
Artashes Minasian
Artashes Minasian is an Armenian chess Grandmaster.-Chess career:He participated in eight Chess Olympiads with a record of +23,=28,-12. In 2006 the Armenian team took the first place at the 37th Chess Olympiad...

, Ashot Anastasian
Ashot Anastasian
Ashot Anastasian is an Armenian chess Grandmaster. On the March 2011 FIDE list, he has an Elo rating of 2556, making him ranked number 14 in Armenia....

, Arshak Petrosian
Arshak Petrosian
Arshak B. Petrosian is an Armenian chess player and National Coach. FIDE awarded him the International Grandmaster title in 1984. He became a prominent Soviet tournament player during the 1980s, winning games against such noted grandmasters as Alexey Shirov, Rafael Vaganian, and Alexander...

10 2593 7 5 2 33½
Sixth   Spain Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...

, Miguel Illescas Córdoba, Jordi Magem Badals, David Garcia Ilundain, Pablo San Segundo Carrillo, Felix Izeta Txabarri
7 2605 9 3 2 33½
Seventh   Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

Ivan Sokolov
Ivan Sokolov
Ivan Sokolov is a chess grandmaster born in Jajce, SFR Yugoslavia, who currently resides in the Netherlands. Sokolov won the 1988 Yugoslav Championship....

, Predrag Nikolić
Predrag Nikolic
Predrag Nikolić is a Bosnian chess grandmaster.He first competed for the Yugoslav Championship in 1979, taking a share of second place. The following year and again in 1984, he went one step further and became the Yugoslav national champion...

, Bojan Kurajica
Bojan Kurajica
Bojan Kurajica is a Croatian-Bosnian chess grandmaster .Kurajica grew up in Split. He earned the International Master title in 1965 by winning the World Junior Championship...

, Emir Dizdarevic, IM Nedeljko Kelecevic, IM Muhamed Sinanovic
12 2584 6 6 2 33½
Eighth   Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

Zurab Azmaiparashvili
Zurab Azmaiparashvili
Zurab Azmaiparashvili is a chess Grandmaster from Georgia. In the September 2010 FIDE list, he has an Elo rating of 2637, making him 114th in the world and Georgia's number two.-Career:He became a Grandmaster in 1988...

, Giorgi Giorgadze, Zurab Sturua
Zurab Sturua
Zurab Sturua is a Georgian chess grandmaster .He won the Georgian Chess Championship in 1975, 1977, 1981, 1984 and 1985 and played for Georgia in the Chess Olympiads of 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002 and 2004....

, Gennadi Zaichik, Lasha Janjgava, IM Khvicha Supatashvili
11 2590 7 4 3 33
Ninth   Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....

, Kiril Georgiev
Kiril Georgiev
Kiril Dimitrov Georgiev is a Bulgarian chess master and three times the national champion. He should not be confused with fellow Bulgarian chess player Krum Georgiev....

, Vasil Spasov
Vasil Spasov
Vasil Spasov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. Spasov won the 1989 World Junior Chess Championship. Spasov has been Bulgarian Champion several times: 1990, 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2008....

, Vladimir Dimitrov, IM Vladimir Georgiev
Vladimir Georgiev (chess player)
Vladimir Georgiev is a Bulgarian chess Grandmaster. He became an International Master in 1995 and a Grandmaster in 2000.Vladimir Georgiev first caught the eye of the chess world in 1992, when he became silver on the European Champion....

, IM Boris Chatalbashev
5 2619 9 2 3 33
Tenth   Germany Artur Yusupov
Artur Yusupov
Artur Mayakovich Yusupov is a German International Grandmaster of chess, and a chess writer.-Chess career:...

, Robert Hübner
Robert Hübner
Robert Hübner is a respected German chess Grandmaster, chess writer, and papyrologist . At eighteen, he was joint winner of the West German Chess Championship...

, Rustem Dautov
Rustem Dautov
Rustem Hazitovich Dautov is a German chess Grandmaster of Tatar origin.In 1983 he won the USSR U18 youth championship and in 1986 the Belarusian Chess Championship. He completed his military service in the 1980s in the sports department of the Soviet army, which was stationed in East Germany...

, Eric Lobron
Eric Lobron
Eric Lobron is a German chess player of American descent. A former two-time national champion, he has been awarded the title Grandmaster by the World Chess Federation ....

, Jorg Hickl, Christopher Lutz
Christopher Lutz
Christopher Lutz is a German chess grandmaster and the German chess champion in 1995 and 2001. In 2000 he was a member of the German team that won a silver medal in the 34th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul....

6 2619 9 1 4 33

Women's tournament

The women's division was contested by 74 teams representing 72 nations and territories; Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

, as hosts, fielded two teams, and the International Braille Chess Association
Braille
The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...

 entered one squad.

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 Team Players Seed Average July 1996
1996 in sports
1996 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Lasse Kjus, Norway** Women's overall season champion: Katja Seizinger, Germany-American football:...

 FIDE rating 
Matches won Matches drawn Matches lost Total score
First
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

  Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

GM Maia Chiburdanidze
Maia Chiburdanidze
Maia Chiburdanidze is a Georgian chess grandmaster, and the seventh Women's World Chess Champion. She is the only chess player in history who has won nine Chess Olympiads....

, IM Nana Ioseliani
Nana Ioseliani
Nana Mikhailovna Ioseliani is a Georgian woman chess player. She has held the FIDE Woman Grandmaster title since 1980, and the International Master title since 1993....

, IM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant
Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant
Ketevan Revazovna Arakhamia-Grant is a Georgian -born Scottish Grandmaster of chess.-Chess career:...

, WGM Nino Gurieli
1 2498 10 4 0 30
Second
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

  People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

GM Xie Jun
Xie Jun
Xie Jun is a chess grandmaster from China. She had two reigns as Women's World Chess Champion, from 1991 to 1996 and again from 1999 to 2001. Xie is only the second woman to have two reigns, the other being Elisabeth Bykova....

, WGM Zhu Chen
Zhu Chen
Zhu Chen is a chess Grandmaster. In 2001, she became China's second women's world chess champion after Xie Jun, and China's 13th Grandmaster.She today plays for Qatar.-Biography:...

, WGM Wang Lei
Wang Lei (chess player)
Wang Lei is a Chinese chess Woman Grandmaster. She was in the FIDE Top 50 Women rating list from 2000 to 2003. Her highest position was 5th in the world on October 2001. Her peak rating was 2512 in October 2001...

, WGM Wang Pin
Wang Pin
Wang Pin is a Chinese Woman Grandmaster chess player. She is currently the 50th highest rated female player in the world, and she used to be the 6th highest rate female player in January to April 2001. Her peak rating was 2506 in October 2000 to January 2001...

3 2425 10 1 3 28½
Third
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

  Russia IM Alisa Galliamova
Alisa Galliamova
Alisa Galliamova is a Russian chess player, who was born to Russian father and Tatar mother. She holds the FIDE titles Woman Grandmaster and International Master. In 1988 she won the World Junior Girls Chess Championship...

, WGM Svetlana Matveeva
Svetlana Matveeva
Svetlana Matveeva is a chess player from Russia. She is a Woman Grandmaster and an International master.In 1984, she tied for first with Anna Akhsharumova in the Women's Soviet Chess Championship...

, WGM Svetlana Prudnikova
Svetlana Prudnikova
Svetlana Prudnikova , is a Russian woman chess player.Prudnikova has the title Woman Grandmaster. Her Elo rating in October 2006 was 2355, but has been over 2400...

, WGM Ludmila Zaitseva
2 2443 8 3 3 28½
Fourth   Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

WGM Inna Gaponenko, WGM Marta Litinskaya, WIM Elena Sedina, WIM Natalia Zhukova
Natalia Zhukova
Natalia Zhukova is a Ukrainian Grandmaster of chess. She won several age-group titles as a teenager, both at the European and World levels. She has also triumphed in several international women's tournaments...

8 2343 6 6 2 26½
Fifth   Hungary IM Zsofia Polgar
Zsófia Polgár
Sofia Polgar Sofia Polgar Sofia Polgar (born November 2, 1974 as Polgár Zsófia is a Hungarian-born International Master of chess and former chess prodigy. She is an International Master and Woman Grandmaster, and is the middle sister of Grandmasters Susan and Judit Polgár. Since 2006, she has...

, IM Ildikó Mádl
Ildiko Madl
Ildikó Mádl is a Hungarian chess player.Madl learned to play chess from her father. In 1978 she became a pupil of the chess school Mereszjev that helped to promote talented Hungarian children and teenagers....

, Nora Medvegy, WIM Nikoletta Lakos
Nikoletta Lakos
Nikoletta Lakos is a Hungarian chess woman grandmaster. She is a three-time Hungarian Chess Championship winner, having taken the title in 1997, 2002 and 2005....

5 2387 8 3 3 26
Sixth   Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

WGM Cristina Foisor, WGM Corina Peptan
Corina Peptan
Corina Isabela Peptan is a Romanian chess master. Her peak FIDE rating was 2485 in July 2003, the highest ranked Romanian woman player ever....

, WGM Elena Luminita Radu-Cosma, WIM Gabriela Olarasu
6 2355 8 3 3 25½
Seventh   Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

WIM Masha Madl, WGM Anna Segal
Anna Segal
Anna Segal is an Australian freestyle skier. She won the gold medal in slopestyle at the 2011 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships.....

, Ludmila Tsifanskaya, WFM Ela Pitam
13 2310 7 3 4 25
Eighth   Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

WGM Elvira Sakhatova, WIM Fliura Uskova, WIM Tamara Girkiyan-Klink, Tatyana Sergeeva 14 2305 9 1 4 24½
Ninth   Poland WGM Agnieszka Brustman
Agnieszka Brustman
Agnieszka Brustman is a female Polish chess master.-Biography:Brustman played on the Polish team in nine Women's Chess Olympiads...

, WGM Monika Bobrowska, WIM Joanna Dworakowska
Joanna Dworakowska
Joanna Dworakowska is a Polish chess player. She won the Polish women's championship three times , and holds the FIDE ranks of International Master and Woman Grandmaster....

, WFM Marta Zielińska
10 2330 8 2 4 24½
Tenth   England WGM Susan Lalic
Susan Lalic
Susan Lalic is an English chess player, holding both International Master and Woman Grandmaster titles. She is five-time British Women's Chess Champion - 1986, 1990–1992, 1998....

, WIM Harriet Hunt
Harriet Hunt
Harriet Vaughan Hunt is an English chess player and four times British Ladies' champion.-Biography:A high profile player from an early age, she won five British Junior Girls titles between 1989 and 1991...

, WFM Ruth Sheldon, WGM Jana Bellin
Jana Bellin
Jana Bellin , chess player, was awarded her WIM of chess title in 1969, and WGM title in 1982....

15 2303 7 3 4 24
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