The official logo of the Olympiad

The 11th Chess Olympiad (Dutch: De 11e Schaakolympiade), organized by the FIDE and comprising an open[1] team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between September 4 and September 25, 1954, in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

30 teams had applied, but only 26 took part. The most notable absentees were the United States, who couldn't afford the travelling expenses due to financial difficulties in the USCF.

The Soviet team once again won the event, followed by Argentina and Yugoslavia. Unlike the previous Olympiad, however, they dominated this one completely and crushed all opposition, winning the final by an astounding seven points. Keres' amazing score of 96.4% was an all-time record; he drew his first game (against Nilsson of Sweden) and won the rest.

Results

Award ceremony at the 1954 Chess Olympiad. Left-right: Kotov, Geller, Smyslov, Bronstein, Keres, Botvinnik, and Bondarevsky (carrying the Hamilton-Russell Cup)

Preliminaries

A total of 26 teams entered the competition and were divided into four preliminary groups of six or seven teams. The top three from each group advanced to Final A, and the rest to Final B. All groups and finals were played as round-robin tournaments.

Group 1 was won by the Soviet Union, well ahead of the Dutch hosts and Iceland. Austria, Finland, and Greece finished in the bottom half.

Argentina took first place in group 2, ahead of Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. Canada, Italy, and Ireland made up the rest of the group.

Group 3 was won by Israel, ahead of Yugoslavia and Sweden. Denmark, Norway, France, and Saar had to settle for a place in the consolation final.

Hungary clinched group 4, ahead of West Germany and England. Switzerland, Colombia, Belgium, and Luxembourg rounded up the group.

Group 1

Final Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 + = Points
«A» Soviet Union - 2 3 4 4 4 0 1 16½
«A» Netherlands 2 - 3 3 4 0 1 13
«A» Iceland ½ - 3 3 2 0 11
«B» Austria 1 1 1 - 3 2 3 0
«B» Finland 0 1 ½ 1 - 3 1 4 0
«B» Greece 0 ½ 1 - 0 5 0

Group 2

Final Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 + = Points
«A» Argentina - 2 2 3 3 4 3 0 2 14
«A» Bulgaria 2 - 2 3 0 2 13½
«A» Czechoslovakia 2 2 - 3 4 3 0 2 13½
«B» Canada 1 - 2 3 0 10
«B» Italy 1 ½ 1 - 1 4 0
«B» Ireland 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ - 0 5 0

Group 3

Final Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 + = Points
«A» Israel - 3 3 3 3 5 1 0 16
«A» Yugoslavia - 2 3 4 1 1 14
«A» Sweden 1 2 - 2 4 3 1 2 14
«B» Denmark 1 2 - 2 1 3 2 11½
«B» Norway 1 - 2 2 3 1 11
«B» France 1 ½ 2 - 3 1 4 1
«B» Saar 1 0 2 1 - 1 4 1 8

Group 4

Final Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 + = Points
«A» Hungary - 3 4 3 4 5 1 0 18
«A» West Germany - 3 2 4 4 1 1 16½
«A» England - 4 3 3 0 13½
«B» Switzerland 1 1 - 4 3 3 0 13½
«B» Colombia 0 2 - 4 3 2 1 12½
«B» Belgium 1 ½ ½ - 3 2 4 0 9
«B» Luxembourg 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 0 6 0 1

Final

Final A
#CountryPlayersPointsMP
1 Soviet UnionBotvinnik, Smyslov, Bronstein, Keres, Geller, Kotov34
2 ArgentinaNajdorf, J. Bolbochán, Panno, Guimard, Rossetto, Pilnik27
3 YugoslaviaPirc, Gligorić, Trifunović, Rabar, Fuderer, Matanović26½
4 CzechoslovakiaPachman, Filip, Zíta, Šajtar, Fichtl, Ujtelky24½
5 West GermanyUnzicker, Schmid, Pfeiffer, Rellstab, Darga, Joppen23½
6 HungarySzabó, Kluger, Barcza, Sándor, Gereben23
7 IsraelPorath, Czerniak, Oren, Aloni, Kniazer22
8 NetherlandsEuwe, Donner, Cortlever, Prins, Kramer, Van Scheltinga21
9 EnglandAlexander, Penrose, Golombek, Wade, Barden, Clarke177
10 BulgariaMinev, Neikirch, Milev, Tsvetkov, Bobotsov, Bobekov176
11 SwedenStåhlberg, Lundin, Stoltz, Hörberg, Nilsson, Goode15
12 IcelandFriðrik Ólafsson, Guðmundur Guðmundsson, Guðmundur Pálmason,
Guðmundur Ágústsson, Ingi Randver Jóhannsson, Guðmundur Arnlaugsson
13½
Final B
#CountryPlayersPointsMPHead-to-head
13  SwitzerlandKupper, Blau, Nievergelt, Bhend, Zimmermann, Walther37
14 CanadaYanofsky, Anderson, Vaitonis, Bohatyrchuk, Fox, Divinsky36213
15 AustriaRobatsch, Beni, Prameshuber, Lokvenc, Kovács36211
16 DenmarkLarsen, Nielsen A., Nielsen P., Nielsen V., Enevoldsen, Andersen B.34½
17 ItalyPaoli, Porreca, Norcia, Scafarelli, Calà28½
18 ColombiaCuéllar, de Greiff, Sánchez, Rivera, Tejada H., Hernández G.27½
19 BelgiumO'Kelly, Dunkelblum, Gobert, Lemaire, Franck, Thibaut27
20 FinlandSalo, Vesterinen, Katajisto, Fred, Rantanen26½
21 FranceBernstein, Raizman, Thiellement, Bergraser, Noradounguian, Burstein26
22 SaarBenkner, Lorson, Morena, Kastel, Weichselbaumer, Haas24
23 NorwayMorcken, Vestøl, Lindblom, Støre, Flater, Ramm22
24 GreeceParliaros, Anagnostou, Panagopoulos, Papapavlou21
25 IrelandReilly, Kelly, Maher, Walsh, Nash, Rohan11
26 LuxembourgDoerner, Neu, Philippe, Schneider, Kremer, Jerolim J.7

Final A

Place Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 + = Points
1 Soviet Union - 3 3 2 3 4 10 0 1 34
2 Argentina ½ - 3 2 3 3 3 8 2 1 27
3 Yugoslavia - 2 3 3 2 7 2 2 26½
4 Czechoslovakia 1 2 - 3 2 2 3 5 3 3 24½
5 West Germany 1 1 - 2 ½ 4 4 3 5 5 1 23½
6 Hungary 1 2 2 2 - 1 3 2 2 2 3 2 6 23
7 Israel 2 1 1 3 - 3 ½ 3 2 5 4 2 22
8 Netherlands ½ 1 2 1 1 - 3 3 2 4 5 2 21
9 England ½ 1 ½ 1 2 1 - 1 3 7 1 17
10 Bulgaria 1 2 0 2 1 - 2 7 2 17
11 Sweden ½ 1 ½ 0 2 2 1 3 - 2 1 7 3 15
12 Iceland 0 ½ 1 ½ 2 2 - 0 9 2 13½

Final B

Place Country 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 + = Points
13 Switzerland - 3 3 2 3 3 4 1 11 1 1 37
14 Canada 1 - 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 4 9 1 3 36
15 Austria 1 1 - 3 3 3 2 3 3 3 4 4 10 2 1 36
16 Denmark 2 2 1 - 2 3 3 2 4 7 2 4 34½
17 Italy 1 1 1 2 - 2 3 1 2 4 3 5 5 3 28½
18 Colombia ½ ½ 1 2 - 2 1 3 4 7 4 2 27½
19 Belgium 2 2 1 1 2 - 3 2 2 4 4 4 5 27
20 Finland 1 ½ - 2 4 3 6 6 1 26½
21 France 1 ½ 1 3 3 1 - 3 3 6 7 0 26
22 Saar 1 1 2 2 ½ 2 1 - 1 4 4 3 7 3 24
23 Norway 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 2 3 - 4 3 5 7 1 22
24 Greece 3 2 ½ ½ ½ 2 1 - 3 3 8 2 21
25 Ireland ½ 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 11 0 11
26 Luxembourg ½ 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 1 ½ 0 1 1 - 0 13 0 7

Individual medals

Notes and references

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