The History of the Chess Olympiads Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In the first 41 chess Olympiads, one country has completely dominated, winning 24 of those 41 Olympiads. Which chess-mad country is that?

Answer: Soviet Union/Russia

While the United States dominated early on by winning four of the first seven Olympiads, the Soviet Union began an incredible run after winning its first one in 1952, and then continuing on to win twelve straight!

2. The 23rd Olympiad in Buenos Aires in 1978 resulted in a third gold medal for the winning country. Which country, featuring a team of Portisch, Ribli, Sax, and Adorj�n, was this?

Answer: Hungary

Hungary's team finished with 37 points, one ahead of the Soviet Union's team of Spassky, Petrosian, Polugaevsky, Gulko, and two points ahead of the USA's team of Kavalek, Browne, Lein, and Byrne.

3. Which country, fielding a team of Ivanchuk, Ponomariov, Volokitin, and Moiseenko, won its first Olympiad in 2004?

Answer: Ukraine

Ukraine also won in 2010. No Scandinavian country has won any of the first 41 Olympiads.

4. Which small country won its first Olympiad in 2006, fielding a team of Aronian, Akopian, Asrian, and Lputian?

Answer: Armenia

Armenia went on to win two of the following three Olympiads, anchored in every case by Levon Aronian, an Armenian native who in 2010 became only the sixth player in chess history to achieve a rating of over 2800.

5. Alexander Alekhine played in four Olympiads in the 1930's while he was world champion. Which country did he play for?

Answer: France

Alekhine was born in Russia in 1892, and served with the Red Cross division of the Russian army in World War One. After the war (and the Russian revolution of 1917), he left Russia and became a naturalized French citizen. He gained the world champion title in 1927 in a long match with Cuban great Jos� Ra�l Capablanca, lost it to Max Euwe in 1935 (reportedly playing many games under the influence of alcohol), and then regained the title in 1937 by staying sober in the rematch.

He died in Portugal in 1946, still holding the world championship title.

6. The next World Champion after Alekhine played in every Olympiad from 1954 through 1964--six in all. Who was this Soviet great?

Answer: Mikhail Botvinnik

Botvinnik lost his title to his fellow countryman Tigran Petrosian in 1963, and then declined to compete in the next world championship cycle, upset that FIDE (the world chess federation)_ had not granted him an automatic rematch. Botvinnik had twice lost the title earlier and then won it back the following year in a rematch.

The wrong answers are three of the strongest players who never were a world champion.

7. England did well by finishing second to the Soviet Union in three straight Olympiads in the 1980s. Who were the main players on these English teams?

Answer: Nunn, Short, Speelman, Chandler

The three wrong choices are the main players on other medal-winning teams of the 1980s era. The team headed by Hort was Czechoslavakia, that headed by Van der Wiel was the Netherlands, and the one headed by Vaganian was Armenia.

8. In the 29th Olympiad, held in Yugoslavia in 1990, the gold medals on all three boards of the women's tournament were won by three sisters. Who are these Hungarian prodigies?

Answer: the Polg�r sisters

The three sisters are Susan (Zsuzsa) Polgar, Judit Polgar, and Sofia Polgar. Their father, L�szl� Polg�r, home-schooled all three of them, with an emphasis on chess, as part of an educational experiment. All three of these amazing sisters achieved outstanding results in international play at an early age. Judit broke into the top 100 ratings list at the age of 12, the youngest ever to accomplish this.

The Polgar sisters are so unique that I had to go outside the world of chess for the alternative answers.

9. Argentina had some great Olympiad performances during the 1950s, finishing second to the Soviets three straight times. Who was the great Polish-born Grandmaster who played board one for Argentina?

Answer: Miguel Najdorf

Najdorf was born in Poland in 1910, and he played in four Olympiads for Poland prior to World War Two. He was playing in the 8th Olympiad in Buenos Aires when World War Two broke out in 1939. Najdorf, a Jew, chose to stay in Argentina rather than return to Poland. Many of the other European players also stayed in the Americas, including all five members of the German team.

The other choices are the number one players for other countries in the 1950's: Gligoric for Yugoslavia, Unzicker for West Germany, and Larsen for Denmark.

10. The 2014 Olympiad had teams competing from a record 172 countries. It was won unexpectedly by China, giving the country its first-ever gold medal. Which country, the home country of World Champion Magnus Carlsen, hosted this event?

Answer: Norway

The event was held in the city of Troms�, the northernmost city in the world with a population of over 50,000. The playing site was Mackhallen, which formerly housed the world's northernmost brewery.

Magnus Carlsen became World Champion in 2013 at the tender age of 22, and the following year he reached a rating of 2882, the highest in history.

Source: Author chessart

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor WesleyCrusher before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

This quiz focuses on the countries and the players in the chess Olympiads, first held in 1927 and continuing roughly every other year since then.

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>