The Against Chess Olympiad (Arabic: الأولمبياد الضَاد الشطرنجal-Awlambayād aḍ-ḍādi ash-Shatranji) was arranged as an alternative to the official 22ndChess Olympiad, held in Haifa, Israel, almost simultaneously. This unofficial Olympiad took place in Tripoli, Libyan Arab Republic from October 24 to November 15, 1976.
When FIDE decided to award the hosting of the 1976 Olympiad to Israel, it caused considerable controversy, as several countries, including the Soviet Union and all of the Arab nations, did not recognize the state of Israel. After FIDE refused to change the venue, the Soviet team boycotted the tournament in Haifa in protest, as did all the Soviet satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and the Arab member nations of FIDE.
The Arab nations held their own Olympiad in Tripoli at the same time as the official one. In the promotion material, this event was called the Against Israel Olympiad, but it has later become known by the politically less volatile name Against Chess Olympiad.[1] This implies that the tournament was against chess itself, which is not correct; the intended meaning was Chess Anti-Olympiad (analogous to antipope).[2]
While the unofficial Tripoli Olympiad was a highly charged political event, the actual chess played was on quite a different level. None of the major chess nations, Eastern or Western, came to Libya, meaning the field consisted of the Arab states, a number of minor chess nations, and some that were not members of FIDE at the time. No Grandmasters were present, and very few International Masters attended.
While most Arab countries and some other countries from around the world participated in the event, the Soviet Union and its allies did not despite also boycotting the FIDE-organised Olympiad. The Philippines, Italy, and Uruguay were the only nations to send teams to both Olympiads, and none of them won any medals at either event.
Resultsedit
Thirty-four teams played a 13-round Swiss system tournament. In a somewhat surprising outcome, the completely unknown Salvadoran team, which included 17-year-old talent Boris Pineda, took home the gold medals. Silver and bronze went to Tunisia and Pakistan, respectively.
^"The Against Chess Olympiad". allermann.blogspot.ie.
^"The British Chess Magazine". Trubner & Company. July 9, 1982 – via Google Books.
Against Chess Olympiad: Tripoli 1976 OlimpBase
January 01, 1970
against, chess, olympiad, arabic, الأولمبياد, الض, اد, الشطرنج, awlambayād, aḍ, ḍādi, shatranji, arranged, alternative, official, 22nd, chess, olympiad, held, haifa, israel, almost, simultaneously, this, unofficial, olympiad, took, place, tripoli, libyan, arab. The Against Chess Olympiad Arabic الأولمبياد الض اد الشطرنج al Awlambayad aḍ ḍadi ash Shatranji was arranged as an alternative to the official 22nd Chess Olympiad held in Haifa Israel almost simultaneously This unofficial Olympiad took place in Tripoli Libyan Arab Republic from October 24 to November 15 1976 Against Chess Olympiad Dates run 24 October 15 November 1976 Competitors Teams 38 Open Nations 34 Open Venue Beach Hotel Tripoli Location Tripoli Libya Team medalists Open El Salvador Tunisia Pakistan Contents 1 Background 2 Results 3 See also 4 ReferencesBackground editWhen FIDE decided to award the hosting of the 1976 Olympiad to Israel it caused considerable controversy as several countries including the Soviet Union and all of the Arab nations did not recognize the state of Israel After FIDE refused to change the venue the Soviet team boycotted the tournament in Haifa in protest as did all the Soviet satellite states in the Eastern Bloc and the Arab member nations of FIDE The Arab nations held their own Olympiad in Tripoli at the same time as the official one In the promotion material this event was called the Against Israel Olympiad but it has later become known by the politically less volatile name Against Chess Olympiad 1 This implies that the tournament was against chess itself which is not correct the intended meaning was Chess Anti Olympiad analogous to antipope 2 While the unofficial Tripoli Olympiad was a highly charged political event the actual chess played was on quite a different level None of the major chess nations Eastern or Western came to Libya meaning the field consisted of the Arab states a number of minor chess nations and some that were not members of FIDE at the time No Grandmasters were present and very few International Masters attended While most Arab countries and some other countries from around the world participated in the event the Soviet Union and its allies did not despite also boycotting the FIDE organised Olympiad The Philippines Italy and Uruguay were the only nations to send teams to both Olympiads and none of them won any medals at either event Results editThirty four teams played a 13 round Swiss system tournament In a somewhat surprising outcome the completely unknown Salvadoran team which included 17 year old talent Boris Pineda took home the gold medals Silver and bronze went to Tunisia and Pakistan respectively Country Points Players 1 nbsp El Salvador 38 A Grimaldi R Grimaldi Infante Camacho Pineda Velasquez 2 nbsp Tunisia 36 IM Bouaziz IM Belkadi Drira Sbia 3 nbsp Pakistan 34 IM Farooqi Ali Ahmad Mirza Mohiuddin Mazhar Hussain Country Points 4 nbsp Iraq 33 5 nbsp Italy 32 6 nbsp Turkey 32 7 nbsp Afghanistan 29 8 nbsp Nicaragua 27 9 nbsp Panama 27 10 nbsp Bangladesh 27 11 nbsp Sri Lanka 27 12 nbsp Portugal 27 13 nbsp Algeria 26 14 nbsp Morocco 26 15 nbsp Philippines 26 16 nbsp Kenya 26 17 nbsp Uruguay 26 18 nbsp South Yemen 26 19 nbsp Trinidad and Tobago 25 20 nbsp Malta 25 21 nbsp North Yemen 25 22 nbsp Madagascar 25 23 nbsp Lebanon 25 24 nbsp Libya 24 25 nbsp Jordan 24 26 nbsp Uganda 24 27 nbsp Kuwait 24 28 nbsp United Arab Emirates 20 29 nbsp Mauritius 20 30 nbsp Palestine 18 31 nbsp Mauritania 18 32 nbsp Gambia 18 33 nbsp Oman 18 34 nbsp Somalia 7See also edit22nd Chess Olympiad Haifa 1976 References edit The Against Chess Olympiad allermann blogspot ie The British Chess Magazine Trubner amp Company July 9 1982 via Google Books Against Chess Olympiad Tripoli 1976 OlimpBase Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Against Chess Olympiad amp oldid 1194816088, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
