The first world team competition took place in Paris in 1924 to coincide with the Olympic Games. There were 54 players from 18 countries. Czechoslovakia won the Gold Medal. The Silver went to Hungary and the Bronze went to Switzerland. The individual Gold went to Herman Mattison of Latvia.

Another world team competition took place in Budapest in 1926, but only 4 teams showed up. Hungary won that event.

The very first official Chess Olympiad (called Tournament of Nations) began in London in 1927. Hungary won the gold medal. 16 teams participated. The women did not participate until 1957. However, the first Women’s World Chess Championship took place during the Olympiad. The official title of Chess Olympiad did not happen until 1952. Havasi of Hungary played all of his 8 games with the White pieces. He was nicknamed The White Horse.

The 2nd Chess Olympiad was held in The Hague, Netherlands in 1928. Professional chess players were banned from the event. The Chess Olympiad was held at the same time as the 9th Summer Olympiad Games. An Amateur World Championship also took place at the same time. Max Euwe won that event.

The 3rd Chess Olympiad was held in Hamburg in 1930. Alekhine was the first player to score 100% out of 9 games. Flohr won 14 out of 17 games. Every player scored at least ½ point. Tartakower played for Poland, but was not Polish, nor ever lived in Poland.

The 4th Chess Olympiad was held in Prague in 1931. It was the only Olympiad in which no player avoided a loss. The USA team won for the first time.

In 1933 at the 5th Chess Olympiad in Folkestone, Combe of Scotland lost to Hasenfuss of Latvia in 4 moves, the shortest chess olympiad game ever. The game went Combe – Hasenfuss, 1.d4 c5 2.e4 cxd4 3.Nf3 e5 4.Nxe5? Qa5+ and White resigned as he loses his knight. Only 15 teams showed up, the lowest number ever for a Chess Olympiad. All the players played at least 4 games, a record.

The 6th Chess Olympiad was held in Warsaw in 1935. The USA team won for the 3rd time in a row.

A chess olympiad was held in Munich in 1936 to coincide with the Olympic Games. However, Germany was not a member of FIDE, so it was an unofficial olympiad.

The 7th Chess Olympiad was held in Stockholm in 1937. It was held just before the World Chess Championship between Euwe and Alekhine. The USA team won its 4th gold medal in a row.

The 8th Chess Olympiad has held in Buenos Aires in 1939. It was the first Chess Olympiad to be held outside Europe. It was the only Olympiad that awarded individual prizes for the final rounds, ignoring their preliminary record. 27 new teams took part for the first time in a Chess Olympiad. World War II broke out during the Olympiad and the English team withdrew and sailed home.

The 9th Chess Olympiad was held in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia (now Croatia). Chaude de Silans played on the French team, the first woman to do so. The USA team went undefeated, but did not win a medal. 13 matches ended with a 4-0 result. Helle of Finland drew 9 of his 10 games. Four grandmasters participated.

The 10th Chess Olympiad was held in Helsinki in 1952. It was the first time that the USSR had a team, which they won.

The 11th Chess Olympiad was held in Amsterdam in 1954. Bent Larsen was the only player to play all 19 games. Philippe of Luxembourg scored 0 out of 11. Keres drew his first game and won his next 13 games.

The 12th Chess Olympiad was held in Moscow in 1956. 14 players went through the event undefeated. For the first time, over a thousand games were played in an Olympiad. The USSR team lost a match for the first time.

The 13th Chess Olympiad was held in Munich in 1958. De Greiff played 15 draws, a record. The USSR team won the event, winning 48 games and only losing 1 game.

At the 14th Chess Olympiad, held in 1960 at Leipzig, Max Euwe won 3 games, drew 7 games, and lost 6 games for the worst score by a Grandmaster in olympiad history. Paidousis of Greece won no games, drew 13, and lost 7 for the record of scoring the most points without a win.

The 15th Chess Olympiad was held in Varna, Bulgaria in 1962. A new rule was added that players were forbidden to agree to a draw before move 30. Milton Ioannidis had the worst score of any player in the chess olympics, with 20 losses. Cypress only scored 3 points out of 80. Paul Keres played in his 5th Olympiad without a loss, a record.

The 16th Chess Olympiad was held in Tel Aviv in November, 1964. It was the first Olympiad held in Asia. For the first time, players from all 5 continents played in the Chess Olympiad as Australia participated for the first time. The USSR team was the only team to have 6 grandmasters. The USSR scored 23.5 out of 24 in the preliminaries, but lost 4 matches in the finals. They still won the gold for the 7th time in a row.

The 17th Chess Olympiad was held in Havana in 1966. Just before the beginning of the olympiad, Tal was hit in the head with a bottle in a bar and was beaten up because he was flirting with some husband’s wife. Tal was taken to the hospital and missed the first 5 rounds. Four players scored a perfect 100% score. Mrs. Carrasco of Chile was the 3rd woman to play in an Olympiad, but she lost every game.

The 18th Chess Olympiad was held in Lugano, Switzerland, in 1968. The only woman in the Olympiad, Mrs. Cababe, scored 0 out of 7. Dris Benabud of Morocco only played 1 game in an Olympiad, a record. The Virgin Islands played for the first time, even though they were not members of FIDE, the World Chess Federation. For the first time, Fischer and Reshevsky were on the same USA team., but Fischer was unhappy with the lighting and wanted to play in a private room. The organizers refused the request and Fischer withdrew.

The 19th Chess Olympiad was held in Siegen, West Germany, in 1970. The Olympiad organizers expected only 60 teams. 64 teams showed up and the last four that showed up were unable to play. Andrew Sherman played for the Virgin Islands at the age of 11. International Master Jonathan Penrose of England blundered a piece and fainted from the shock. He was unable to play any further games in the Olympiad. Albania refused to play against South Africa as a protest against apartheid, and lost 4-0. Oscar Panno drew 14 games, a record.

The 20th Chess Olympiad was held in Skopje, Yugoslavia (now Macedonia), in 1972. Communist Albania refused to play the team from Israel and was forfeited. Tringov sealed a move against Korchnoi and was supposed to put his score sheet in the envelope to be sealed. When they opened the envelope, Tringov’s score sheet was not in the envelope and he was forfeited. Tringov absent-mindlessly put his score sheet in his pocket and forgot about sealing it in the envelope. Savon of the USSR was the first non-grandmaster to play for the Soviet team.

The 21st Chess Olympiad was held in Nice, France, in 1974. Tunisia refused to play Israel and was forfeited. South Africa and Rhodesia were expelled from FIDE with 3 rounds to go due to their apartheid policies. South Africa withdrew from the Olympiad, but Rhodesia finished and won the Final E section as Iraq and Algeria refused to play their team. Reussner of the U.S. Virgin Islands lost 19 games, a record.

The 22nd Chess Olympiad was held in Haifa in 1976. For the first time, the event comprised both an open and a women’s tournament. It was the first Swiss system Olympiad. Computer pairings were used for the first time. The USSR did not participate and the USA won the gold.

An unofficial chess olympics was held in Tripoli, Libya in protest to the main chess olympiad in Haifa. Italy was the only country to send teams to both events.

The 23rd Chess Olympiad was held in Buenos Aires in 1978. During the Olympiad, a member of a Middle East team tried to buy one of the girls working at the site for $1 million. The offer was not taken up. For the first time, the Soviet team did not win the gold when they participated in an Olympiad. Hungary won the gold.

The 24th Chess Olympiad was held in Valletta, Malta in 1980. John Jarecki played for the Virgin Islands at the age of 11.

The 25th Chess Olympiad was held in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1982. The Soviet team had Karpov, Kasparov, and Tal (3 world chess champions). The Ugandan team showed up in Lugano, site of the 1968 Olympiad team. They finally showed up at Lucerne after the first round. The Kenyan team got lost while traveling to Lucerne and missed the first two rounds.

The 26th Chess Olympiad was held in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1984. Ion Gudju of Romania served on the appeals committee. He was 87 years old and may be the oldest player to participate in the chess Olympics (although he didn’t play). He played in the first unofficial chess olympiad in 1924 in Paris. The was the first time that the Soviet team did not have a former or present or future world chess champion. Spassky played, but he represented France.

The 27th Chess Olympiad was held in Dubai in 1986. Israel was not allowed to participate. 10 year old Heidi Cueller represented Guatamala and may be the youngest player to participate in the chess olympics.

The 28th Chess Olympiad was held in Thessaloniki in 1988. The Seirawan-Xu game lasted 190 moves and was a draw. East Germany re-appeared after 16 years. They beat their rival, West Germany, 3-1. Portisch was playing in his 16th Olympiad – a record.

The 29th Chess Olympiad was held in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) in 1990. The organizers refused to let Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to field their own teams. This would be the last Olympiad to have the Soviet Union, East Germany, and Yugoslavia teams. For the first time, the host country was allowed to field three teams.

The 30th Chess Olympiad was held in Manila in 1992. 12 of the 15 former Soviet republics had their own team for the first time. All finished in the top half (including Gold, Silver, and Bronze). An all-German team was present for the first time since 1939. Of the five Yugoslav republics, three had their own teams. This was the last appearance of Czechoslovakia and the re-appearance of South Africa.

The 31st Chess Olympiad was held in Moscow in 1994. A team that represented the International Braille Chess Association participated. Russia A and Russia B won the gold and bronze medal. It was the first and only time that the same nation won more than one medal. Several chess players were robbed during the Olympiad. Ivanchuk played all 14 games without a loss. Hungary had a woman, Judit Polgar, as board 1, a first for the Olympiad.

The 32nd Chess Olympiad was held in Yerevan, Armenia in 1996. The Afghanistan team showed up after the 7th round and still played.

The 33rd Chess Olympiad was held in Elista, Kalmykia in 1998. The organizers had a web page for the Olympiad, but it was hacked with a message that said “hacked to Kasparov.” Russia fielded four teams.

The 34th Chess Olympiad was held in Istanbul in 2000. A record 129 countries participated. From 1956 to 2000, Lajos Portisch has played in 20 chess olympiads, more than anyone else.

The 35th Chess Olympiad was held in Bled, Slovenia, in 2002. 135 teams representing 132 nations participated. It was the first Chess Olympiad to test for drugs through a urine sample. All 802 players passed. Robert Gwaze of Zimbabwe became the second person (after Alekhine) to score 100%, winning 9 out of 9 games.

The 36th Chess Olympiad was held in Calvia on the Spanish island of Majorca in 2004. Prior to the closing ceremony, FIDE vice-president Zurab Azmaiparashvili was roughed up and arrested as he attempted to ascend the stage to give out the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy. Two players, Shaun Press of Papua New Guinea and Bobby Miller of Bermuda, refused to submit urine samples at the end of the tournament. Their scores were cancelled from their team scores. Bill Hook played for the Virgin Islands at the age of 79. The USA team was made up of 6 ex-Soviet players: Onischuk, Shabalov, Goldin, Kaidanov, Novikov, and Gulko.

In 2006, there were 1,307 players registered in the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy. Armenia won its first gold medal at this Olympiad. They would win again in 2008 and 2012. The Russian team finished in 6th place, the worst Olympic result for a Soviet or Russian team since they first played in a Chess Olympiad in 1952.

In 2008, an old rule was instituted – no draws by agreement were permitted before 30 moves have been completed. However, some games ended as early as 16 moves due to draw by repetition. Any player not present at the board at the start of a round automatically forfeited the game.

In 2010, the rule that no draws were permitted before 30 moves was abolished. In the first round, the Yemen team refused to play the team from Israel, so each of the four Israeli players was awarded a point. Three French players were caught cheating with a chess computer program. Germany, usually a strong chess country, finished in an all time low of 64th place. FIDE Master (FM) Jan Roozeof Belgium, age 63, played in the 1968 and 1976 Chess Olympiads. After a 34-year gap, he played in the 2010 Chess Olympiad, a record.

The 2012 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul was the largest yet, with 157 teams and over 1,700 players.

Here is the list of chess olympiads:

# YEAR PLACE Teams WINNERS
1924 Paris 18 Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Switzerland
1926 Budapest 04 Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania
01 1927 London 16 Hungary, Denmark, England
02 1928 The Hague 17 Hungary, United States, Poland
03 1930 Hamburg 18 Poland, Hungary, Germany
04 1931 Prague 19 USA, Poland, Czechoslovakia
05 1933 Folkestone 15 USA, Czechoslovakia, Sweden
06 1935 Warsaw 20 USA, Sweden, Poland
1936 Munich 21 Hungary, Poland, Germany
07 1937 Stockholm 19 US, Hungary, Poland
08 1939 Buenos Aires 26 Czechoslovakia, Poland, England
09 1950 Dubrovnik 16 Yugoslavia, Argentina, West Germany
10 1952 Helsinki 25 USSR, Argentina, Yugoslavia
11 1954 Amsterdam 26 USSR, Argentina, Yugoslavia
12 1956 Moscow 34 USSR, Yugoslavia, Hungary
13 1958 Munich 36 USSR, Yugoslavia, Argentina
14 1960 Leipzig 40 USSR, USA, Yugoslavia
15 1962 Varna 37 USSR, Yugoslavia, Argentina
16 1964 Tel Aviv 50 USSR, Yugoslavia, West Germany
17 1966 Havana 52 USSR, USA, Hungary
18 1968 Lugano 53 USSR, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria
19 1970 Siegen 60 USSR, Hungary, Yugoslavia
20 1972 Skopje 62 USSR, Hungary, Yugoslavia
21 1974 Nice 73 USSR, Yugoslavia, USA
22 1976 Haifa 48 USA, Netherlands, England
1976 Tripoli 34 El Salvador, Tunisia, Pakistan
23 1978 Buenos Aires 66 Hungary, USSR, USA
24 1980 Malta 82 USSR, Hungary, Yugoslavia
25 1982 Lucerne 91 USSR, Czechoslovakia, USA
26 1984 Thessalonika 88 USSR, England, USA
27 1986 Dubai 108 USSR, England, USA
28 1988 Thessalonika 107 USSR, England, Netherlands
29 1990 Novi Sad 108 USSR, USA, England
30 1992 Manila 102 Russia, Uzbekistan, Armenia
31 1994 Moscow 124 Russia I, Bosnia, Russia II
32 1996 Yerevan 114 Russia, Ukraine, USA
33 1998 Elista 110 Russia, USA, Ukraine
34 2000 Istanbul 136 Russia, Germany, Ukraine
35 2002 Bled 135 Russia, Hungary, Armenia
36 2004 Calvia 129 Ukraine, Russia, Armenia
37 2006 Turin, Italy 148 Armenia, China, USA
38 2008 Dresden 146 Armenia, Israel, USA
39 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk 148 Ukraine, Russia, Israel
40 2012 Istanbul 157 Armenia, Russia, Ukraine
41 2014 Tromdo, Norway

– Bill Wall