At the 75th FIDE Congress, Dresden, Germany was chosen as the host city for the Olympiad 2008. By secret ballot, the FIDE General Assembly voted 69:29 in favour of Dresden over Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The Lord Mayor of Dresden, the Prince of Saxony and German Chess Federation secretary Horst Metzing presented the bid. Both Dresden and Tallinn actively campaigned for the right to host the Olympiad. Visit the Dresden site http://www.schacholympiade.org.

Based on news from http://www.fide.com

Few know that the Olympiads and the World Team Championship are separate events. But this is no longer a problem as dazzling team Ukraine unified the world's team supremacy today having reached Olympic gold to replenish the WTCh title attained in 2001. The last round was a piece of cake as they easily ran over France by 3-1 sealing their gold in a splendid style. Russia had to fight hard to retain silver medal position as Armenia were close to pass them after they had scored a thumping 3½-½ victory over Georgia. The 6-time Olympic champions managed 3-1 vs China anyway to take the runner-up position thanks to superior Buchholz, yet just by as little as by 1 point. USA smashed Norway to end in 4th, with no hope for reaching the medal zone though. Israel came 5th as they barely drew against robust Cuba, who finished in excellent 7th. India managed only 6th as they beat Bulgaria today by 2½-1½. The Bulgarians went down to 9th, still not bad as for 20th seeds.

The Netherlands sneaked into decent 8th because of their impressive final spurt after dismal performance in the first part of the Olympiad. Spain, the host nation recovered from halfway collapse hammering Finland 3½-½ to fight their way into prestigious 10th. Greece were unlucky to be thrown out of top 10 because of inferior tie-break. Poland drew Germany in the ultimate round to finish down in 12th, far below their expectations. Georgia last round's disaster made them fall down to 21st. England and Hungary, two major chess nations struggled throughout all the event to finish in dismal 30th and 31st, respectively.

China won women's event comfortably clear three points ahead of USA, led by famous Zsuzsa Polgar. Russia won bronze lying in tied 3rd with Georgia.

As far as the World Team Championship is concerned top three from Calvia qualified for 2005 event scheduled in India.

FINAL RESULTS OF OPEN SECTION:
Ukraine 39½; Russia 36½; Armenia 36½; USA 35, Israel 34½; India 34; Cuba 33½; Netherlands 33; Bulgaria, Spain and Greece 32½.

Visit our Calvia page: http://calvia.olimpbase.org (rounds 1-13)

That Ukraine are the winners of the 2004 Chess Olympiad is as certain as tomorrow's sunrise. A brisk four-draw match vs Georgia conserved their safe advantage over the rest as Russia managed only 2½-1½ vs surprising Cuba and Armenia barely halved vs France. Ukraine were heading towards quick draw and it was all over after less than 2 hours of play. Today their top star Ivanchuk had his first rest day. Spain, the host nation, go on with their downwards slump as they lost to Uzbekistan. Disappointing Shirov lost his second consecutive game, this time vs FIDE World Champion Kasimdzhanov. Paco Vallejo was another let-down of the day for the Spaniards. Joel Lautier of France, the ACP president, beat Akopian to hurt Armenian hopes for medals. Israel did not make advantage of Armenia's slip-up as they only managed four draws vs USA. Poland lost to India in most exciting match of the day. Anand easily defeated Macieja at top board and Sasikirian sacrificed a Queen for pair of minor pieces and pair of passed pawns to go on for one of most brilliant victories of the Olympiad. All in all India won 2½-1½ -- enough to clamber to the medal zone? In a generation clash veteran Kortschnoj didn't feel like fighting and took a swift draw with white pieces vs Radjabov of Azerbaijan.

Standings: Ukraine 36½; Russia 33½; Armenia 33; Israel 32½; Cuba, USA and India 31½; Georgia and Bulgaria 31; France and China 30½.

Last round's top pairings: France-Ukraine, Russia-China, Armenia-Georgia (sweet revenge for 2002 debacle for the Georgians?), Israel-Cuba, India-Bulgaria, USA-Norway.

Visit our Calvia page: http://calvia.olimpbase.org (rounds 1-12)

Now a surprise! Enjoy Novi Sad 1990 coverage added today! http://1990.olimpbase.org

The 14-year-old Ukrainian prodigy GM Serhiy Kariakin stunningly beat passive Soćko of Poland to secure Ukraine's 9th win of the event. Fancy Ukrainians went on for a priceless win 2½-1½ despite of Volokitin's greediness that led him to a spectacular loss vs Poland's no. 2 Michał Krasenkow. Georgia's newly emerged star Baadur Jobava earned another precious point beating Grischuk of Russia and Azmaiparaschvili let out gallant Morozevich despite of extra pawn advantage in a KvB ending. Russia who were lucky to lose as modestly as 1½-2½ are now 3½ points behind the leaders with two rounds two go - virtually impossible to make up for a lost ground. Aronian of Armenia went on for a superb win in a Ruy Lopez-Marshall vs shaky Shabalov of USA yet Kaidanov defeated Lputian on board 4 to make the match even. India's no. 1 Anand agreed draw vs Gelfand to anyone's amazement since he was dominant all over the board. Sasikirian's pair of Bishops proved ample defence against black Knights bonanza, yet not enough for a win and the most exciting game of the day ended up in a draw. Bulgaria-France was a lacklustre 2-all draw. Azerbaijan halved vs China despite Radjabov's excellent win over Ye. But it was Cuba who were the winners of the day as they smashed Slovenia by cold-blooded 4-0 to climb up to excellent 5th.

Pairings of round 13 include Ukraine-Georgia at top table followed by Cuba-Russia, France-Armenia, USA-Israel and Poland-India.

Standings after 12th round: Ukraine 34½; Russia and Armenia 31; Israel 30½; Cuba 30; USA 29½; India and Georgia 29; Poland, Greece, France and Bulgaria 28½.

Visit our Calvia page: http://calvia.olimpbase.org (sorry, only rounds 1-10 available, please complain to those who put game files on the web)

The almighty Ukrainian team goes on with their unstoppable run for first ever Olympic gold as they beat Cuba today by 3-1, with only Ponomariov losing at board 2, and extended their lead over big favourites Russia up to 2½ points. The Russians, who have been chasing the leaders for last couple of rounds were lucky to narrowly beat their ex-Soviet compatriots, now representing USA by 2½-1½ with latecomer GM Svidler sealing their win at board 1. Armenia who are hunting for second consecutive bronze ran over surprising Switzerland thanks to superb veteran Rafael Vaganian. The Swiss star, Viktor Kortschnoj, 73, fought off Akopian's punches at board 1 of that match. The volatile Israeli took all their chances crushing young Azerbaijan to grab 4th place at the moment. India wiped out Canada recovering from yesterday's losses. Poland rose from scratch ripping Slovakia 3-1 thanks to GM Macieja's excellent play vs Movsesian. Desperate Spain did not manage to rebuild their morale barely halving vs disappointing Hungarians.

The Ukrainian lions retained the lead ahead of Russia and Armenia. Israel are lying in tied 4th with US, a full point behind Armenia though. Poland climbed up to 7th to match Ukraine at table 1 in a top clash of Wednesday's round. Another juicy pairings of the day include Georgia-Russia, Israel-India with Gelfand-Anand possibly at board 1, and Armenia-USA.

Standings: Ukraine 32; Russia 29½; Armenia 29; Israel 28; India and USA 27½; Poland 27; Bulgaria, Georgia and France 26½.

Visit our Calvia page: http://calvia.olimpbase.org (full coverage of rounds 1-10)

Our partner service www.chess-olympiad.com provides full results and standings data for the Calvia Olympiad. They are reliable and fast and because of that we may offer you full details of Calvia Olympiad updated daily as soon as possible (as the games from last round are put at the Olympiad server which usually happens circa 12AM GMT). The game sets offered by 36chessolympiad.com are not always complete and correct, but we are able to extricate what you expect from them!

You will not only enjoy all Calvia games and results available in a standard OlimpBase format but also enjoy the overview of the games, updated on the daily basis and have the unique possibility to watch current standings in the chase for individual medal at each boards (see 'Information' section for details). Enjoy!

Visit our Calvia page: http://calvia.olimpbase.org

We promised to be fast and here we are. That wasn't easy but finally we added coverage of all of the Olympiads held in 80's, starting from Lucerne, 1982, through maze of complicated political issues hanging over Dubai Olympiad, until 1988 Thessaloniki event. Watch the growing power of the K's duo, England's stiff chase and US, taking one bronze after another. Follow the twilight of Yugoslavia and Hungary - permanent medal winners in 60's and 70's. And - of course - you are as usual kindly asked for support. We are so happy to read from you every day!

Please note that as for today we cannot offer you Manila 1992 coverage, and for Moscow 1994 we may provide only partial data. We urge you to get in touch with us once you can support. Please follow the e-mail envelope of the left.

Follow the Lucerne 1982 Olympiad here.
Follow the Thessaloniki 1984 Olympiad here.
Follow the Dubai 1986 Olympiad here.
Follow the Thessaloniki 1988 Olympiad here.

After two years of hard work, hundreds of e-mail, countless trips to the publishers and a few hurricanes, "Magnificence in Bled: The 35th Chess Olympiad" will be unfurled at the 36th Olympiad in Mallorca, Spain. There will be 330 games in this handsome book with over 300 diagrams and analysis by leading Grandmasters such as Michael Adams, Etienne Bacrot and Peter Svidler. In addition, Zambian star Amon Simutowe provided analysis on his key games. What is interesting about this analysis is that these star players did the analysis especially for the project and were gracious in their replies (...) With Wilkinson's entertaining style of prose and his certain passion for the sport of chess, he will certainly add a much-needed boost to the beleaguered chess world. This book will represent the coming of chess through the ages and go where no other books have gone before. It stands as a symbol of chess greatness, national pride and competitive spirit and will perhaps allow us to appreciate the activity that has, in large part, served as a life-enriching discourse.

Wilkinson, Ian. Magnificence in Bled: The 35th Chess Olympiad (softbound); 412 pages, 330 games, 312 diagrams, 114 photographs (on 20 pages); foreword by Dr. Daaim Shabazz.

Originally posted by www.thechessdrum.net