Chess team world championship / events

This article provides information on the results and further details on the World Team Chess Championships .

1985 World Cup

The 1st World Team Championship was held in Lucerne in 1985 . In contrast to later tournaments, each competition was played on 6 boards.

Attendees

• Soviet Union, China and Argentina as winners of the respective continental championships
• England, Hungary, Romania, Germany and France after placing in the previous Chess Olympiad
• Switzerland as the host
• Africa (continental selection with players from Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Angola and Nigeria)

The US team waived and was replaced by France as a successor.

Result

Pl.	team	Points
1.	Soviet Union	37.5
2.	Hungary	34.5
3.	England	30.5
4th	France	28.5
5.	Romania	28.5
6th	Switzerland	27.5
7th	People's Republic of China	27
8th.	Argentina	25.5
9.	Germany	23.5
10.	Africa	07th

Winning team

Anatoly Karpow , Artur Jussupow , Rafael Vaganian , Andreï Sokolov , Alexander Beliavsky , Vasily Smyslow , Alexander Csernyin and Lev Polugajewski played for the Soviet Union .

particularities

• The World Team Championship was the first test for Karpov after losing the world title to Garry Kasparov . He scored 5 out of 7 points.
• The Soviet Union was defeated by Hungary 2.5: 3.5. Hungary lost to China with the same result.
• Outstanding individual player was Viktor Korchnoi with 7.5 points from 9 games on the top board in Switzerland.

German team

The German team disappointed badly and only managed to win against the African selection. Grandmaster Hans-Joachim Hecht was the best player of the tournament on the 5th board. Other players in the German national team were Eric Lobron , Helmut Pfleger , Stefan Kindermann , Ralf Lau , Klaus Bischoff and Gerald Hertneck .

Web links

• Team World Cup 1985 on olimpbase.org (English)

World Cup 1989

The 2nd World Team Championship was held in Lucerne in 1989. A team only consisted of four players and a maximum of two substitutes.

Attendees

• China and Cuba as winners of the respective continental championships - Since two Asian championships had taken place in the meantime, a play-off of the two winners was necessary, which China won against the Philippines.
• Soviet Union, England, Netherlands, USA, Hungary and Yugoslavia after placing in the previous Chess Olympiad
• Switzerland as the host
• Africa (continental selection with players from Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Angola)

Result

Pl.	team	Points
1.	Soviet Union	27.5
2.	Yugoslavia	22.5
3.	England	21.5
4th	Hungary	18.5
5.	United States	17th
6th	Switzerland	17th
7th	Cuba	16.5
8th.	People's Republic of China	15.5
9.	Netherlands	12.5
10.	Africa	11.5

Winning team

Anatoly Karpov, Alexander Beliavsky, Jaan Ehlvest , Rafael Waganjan, Wassyl Ivanchuk and Michail Gurewitsch played for the Soviet Union .

particularities

• The Soviet Union only tied against Hungary.
• Outstanding single player was Ivanchuk with 6.5 points from 7 games.

World Cup 1993

The 3rd team World Cup was held in Lucerne in 1993.

Attendees

• China and Cuba as winners of the respective continental championships
• Russia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, the USA, Latvia and Iceland after placing in the previous Chess Olympiad
• Switzerland as the host

Africa champions Egypt and runner-up Algeria did without. This moved Iceland into the field of participants.

Result

Pl.	team	Points
1.	United States	22.5
2.	Ukraine	21st
3.	Russia	20.5
4th	Armenia	19th
5.	Iceland	18.5
6th	Latvia	18th
7th	People's Republic of China	18th
8th.	Uzbekistan	16
9.	Switzerland	13.5
10.	Cuba	13

Winning team

Gata Kamsky , Alex Yermolinsky , Boris Gulko , Gregory Kaidanov , Joel Benjamin and Larry Christiansen played for the USA .

particularities

• The USA team remained undefeated in four draws.
• The winning team consisted of four players who were born in the former Soviet Union.
• In an even field, all other teams suffered at least two defeats.
• Wassyl Iwantschuk got 6 points from 8 games on the top board. The "reservists" Joel Benjamin and Alexei Drejew had the best yield in terms of percentage, each with 5 points from 6 games.

World Cup 1997

The 4th World Team Championship was held in Lucerne in 1997.

Attendees

• England, Kazakhstan and Cuba as winners of the respective continental championships - Since two Asian championships had taken place in the meantime, a play-off of the two winners was necessary, which Kazakhstan won against the Philippines.
• Russia, Ukraine, USA and Armenia after placing in the previous Chess Olympiad
• Switzerland as the host
• Georgia as the winner of the Women's Chess Olympiad
• Croatia (invited)

Africa champion Egypt waived. This moved Armenia into the field of participants.

Result

Pl.	team	Points
1.	Russia	23.5
2.	United States	23
3.	Armenia	21st
4th	England	20.5
5.	Ukraine	18th
6th	Croatia	17.5
7th	Switzerland	17th
8th.	Kazakhstan	15th
9.	Cuba	14th
10.	Georgia (women)	10.5

Winning team

Yevgeny Bareev , Peter Swidler , Alexander Khalifman , Sergej Rublewski , Alexei Drejew and Vadim Swjaginzew played for Russia .

particularities

• The three medal winners remained undefeated.
• The women's team from Georgia, which took part for the first time, only finished last, but celebrated victories against Croatia and Kazakhstan. After 5.5 points in the first 3 rounds you only get 5 points in the remaining 6 rounds.
• Defending champions USA led to the last round and was only overtaken by the Russians when they beat the Georgians 4-0, while the USA only beat Kazakhstan 3-1.
• Ivanchuk again achieved an outstanding result with 6 out of 8 on the top board. The best single player was the American Kaidanov (as reserve player) with 5 points from 6 games.

World Cup 2001

The 5th World Team Championship was held in 2001 in Yerevan .

Attendees

• Hungary, Cuba and Uzbekistan as winners of the respective continental championships, with Hungary replacing the European champions Armenia, who were already qualified as hosts.
• Russia, Germany and Ukraine after placing in the previous Chess Olympiad
• Armenia as a host
• Iran and Macedonia (invited)

The selection of Africa did not participate, so that only nine teams were at the start.

Result

Pl.	team	Points
1.	Ukraine	21.5
2.	Russia	21st
3.	Armenia	20th
4th	Germany	18.5
5.	Hungary	16.5
6th	Uzbekistan	15.5
7th	Cuba	14.5
8th.	Macedonia	09.5
9.	Iran	07th

Winning team

Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomarjow , Volodymyr Baklan , Vyacheslav Ejnhorn , Oleg Romanischin and Wadym Malachatko played for the Ukraine .

particularities

• Ukraine remained undefeated. The pursuers lost several times, but recorded higher wins against the weaker teams.
• The two teams invited without athletic qualifications proved to be non-competitive.
• Outstanding individual players were Ponomarjow with 5.5 points from 7 games on the 2nd board and Rublewski with 4.5 points from 5 games.
• The decision about the world title was made in the final round by Ukraine's victory against the defending champion up to then. Ponomarjow won against Drejew, the other games ended in a draw. Armenia could have overtaken both teams with a big win against Cuba, but lost to the Cubans.

German team

Artur Jussupow, Christopher Lutz , Alexander Graf and Thomas Luther played for the German national team . Alexander Graf had already participated in the World Cup for Uzbekistan in 1993 under his former name Nenashev.

World Cup 2005

The 6th World Team Championship was held in Beersheba in 2005 .

Attendees

• Georgia, China and Cuba as winners of the respective continental championships - Georgia qualified as third in the European championship, as Russia and Israel were already otherwise eligible to start.
• Ukraine, Russia, Armenia and the USA after placing in the previous Chess Olympiad
• Israel as a host
• China wins the women's chess Olympiad

Africa champion Egypt waived. The Netherlands also did not take part, so that again only 9 teams were at the start.

Result

Pl.	team	Points
1.	Russia	22nd
2.	People's Republic of China	21.5
3.	Armenia	18.5
4th	Ukraine	17.5
5.	United States	16.5
6th	Israel	14.5
7th	Georgia	13.5
8th.	Cuba	13
9.	China (women)	07th

Winning team

Peter Swidler, Alexei Drejew, Alexander Grishchuk , Alexander Morosewitsch , Jewgeni Barejew and Sergej Rublewski played for Russia .

particularities

• Russia won all 8 team fights. Nevertheless, a dramatic final of the world championship developed.
• After 7 laps China had a very clear 4 point lead over Russia. In the 8th round the Chinese conceded their first defeat against Armenia with 1.5: 2.5. Nevertheless, their lead of 2.5 points remained reassuring, as their women's team at least got a board point in the 1: 3 against Russia. The two top teams met in the last round and China could have afforded a 3-1 defeat. But Russia won with 3.5: 0.5 and sensationally managed to win the title.
• The best individual players were the Russians Barejew (5.5 out of 6) and Morosewitsch (5.5 out of 7).

World Cup 2010

The 7th Team World Cup was held in January 2010 in Bursa , Turkey. Officially, it is run as the 2009 World Team Championship , as it would have been scheduled to take place in 2009.

Attendees

• Russia as European champion in 2007
• Azerbaijan as European champion in 2009 at the invitation of the FIDE President
• Brazil and Egypt as winners of the respective continental championships
• India as the winner of the Asian championship that had just ended and representative of the 2008 Asian champions in China
• Armenia, Israel and the USA as medal winners at the 2008 Chess Olympiad in Dresden
• Turkey as the host
• Greece at the invitation of the FIDE President

Result

Pl.	team	B points	M points
1.	Russia	24	15: 03
2.	United States	21.5	13: 05
3.	India	21st	13: 05
4th	Azerbaijan	22nd	12: 06
5.	Armenia	20.5	12: 06
6th	Greece	18th	08:10
7th	Israel	17th	07:11
8th.	Brazil	12.5	04:14
9.	Egypt	12	03:15
10.	Turkey	11.5	03:15

Winning team

Alexander Grishchuk , Dmitri Jakowenko , Alexander Morosewitsch , Evgeni Tomaschewski , Vladimir Malachow and Nikita Vitjugow played for Russia .

particularities

• In contrast to the previous world championships, the number of team points served as the primary evaluation criterion, and if they were equal, the number of board points.
• Outstanding single player was Şəhriyar Məmmədyarov from Azerbaijan with 8 points from 9 games. Nikita Witjugow got 5.5 points from 6 games.
• In the middle of the tournament, the USA and Russia separated from the rest of the field. The preliminary decision was made in the games against Armenia. Here the Russians scored 2-2, while the USA lost.
• The players from Greece caused the biggest surprises of the competition with victories against Russia and Armenia.
• No team remained unbeaten, none without a win.

World Cup 2011

The 8th World Team Championship took place from July 17th to 26th, 2011 in Ningbo .

Attendees

• Russia as defending champion
• Ukraine, Israel and Hungary as the best teams of the 2010 Chess Olympiad . Third-placed Russia was qualified as defending champion here.
• China as host
• Azerbaijan as European champion
• Armenia at the invitation of the FIDE President as the best remaining team in the Olympics and the European Championship
• India as Asian champions from 2009
• the USA and Egypt as continental representatives nominated by FIDE

Result

Pl.	team	B points	M points
1.	Armenia	22.5	14: 04
2.	People's Republic of China	22.5	13: 05
3.	Ukraine	19.5	12: 06
4th	Russia	21st	10: 08
5.	Hungary	19.5	10: 08
6th	United States	18.5	10: 08
7th	Azerbaijan	19th	09: 09
8th.	India	15.5	07:11
9.	Israel	13	05:13
10.	Egypt	09	00:18

Winning team

For Armenia, Levon Aronjan (5/8), Sergej Movsesjan (6/9), Wladimir Hakobjan (6/9), Gabriel Sarkissjan (4.5 / 9) and Robert Howhannisjan (1/1) played.

particularities

• Armenia were the only team to remain undefeated and set themselves apart from their pursuers in the middle of the tournament. With two draws in the last few rounds, the first-time world title was secured.
• Outstanding individual players were the Chinese Wang Yue (7 points from 9 games) and the Ukrainian Oleksandr Mojissejenko (6 points from 8 games).
• Wladimir Hakobjan and the Ukrainian Vasyl Ivanchuk contested their sixth team World Cup, which they caught up with the previous record holder Rafael Vaganian.
• The teams from India and Israel placed far back had to do without world champion Viswanathan Anand or his challenger Boris Gelfand because of the preparations for the World Cup .

World Cup 2013

The 9th World Team Championship took place in Antalya from November 26th to December 5th, 2013 .

Attendees

• Armenia as defending champion
• Russia, Ukraine and the Netherlands as the best unqualified teams of the 2012 Chess Olympiad .
• Germany as European champion in 2011 ; The 2013 European Championship, which was held immediately before, was not taken into account.
• the USA as America champions from 2013
• China as the 2012 Asian champion
• Egypt won the 2011 Pan-African Games
• Turkey as the host
• Azerbaijan at the invitation of the FIDE President. The team became European champions immediately before.

Result

Pl.	team	B points	M points
1.	Russia	23	15: 03
2.	People's Republic of China	22nd	14: 04
3.	Ukraine	21st	14: 04
4th	United States	20.5	10: 08
5.	Armenia	20th	10: 08
6th	Netherlands	17th	09: 09
7th	Germany	17th	08:10
8th.	Azerbaijan	18th	07:11
9.	Turkey	12	03:15
10.	Egypt	09.5	00:18

Winning team

Vladimir Kramnik , Sergej Karjakin , Alexander Grishchuk , Jan Nepomnjaschtschi and Nikita Vitjugow played for Russia .

particularities

• The outstanding single player of the tournament was Levon Aronjan with 6 points from 8 games.
• World champion Russia made a classic false start. A 2-2 win against defending champions Armenia was followed by a 3-1 defeat against the USA.
• The Ukrainian team dominated the tournament for a long time. After the fourth round, the Ukrainians had a lead of three team points. After five wins in a row, they surprisingly lost to the Netherlands. The decision about the world title was made on the penultimate day. By winning the direct duel, the Russians took the lead in the table.
• Wassyl Iwantschuk and Wladimir Hakobjan contested their seventh World Team Championship and set a new record.
• Azerbaijan, who became European champions just before the World Cup, competed without their two strongest individual players, Rəcəbov and Məmmədyarov .

German team

Igor Khenkin , Georg Meier , Daniel Fridman , Arkadij Naiditsch and David Baramidze played for the German team . The team defeated world champions Armenia and European champions Azerbaijan.

Web links

Tournament website of the organizer

World Cup 2015

The 10th World Cup took place from April 18 to 28, 2015 in Zaghkadzor , Armenia.

Attendees

• Armenia as a host
• China, Hungary, India, Russia, Ukraine, Cuba and Israel were the top teams of the 2014 Chess Olympiad
• Egypt won the 2011 African Games
• USA as the winner of the Pan American Championship 2013

Azerbaijan, fifth in the Olympics, decided not to participate because of the tense relationship with the host country.

Result

Pl.	team	B points	M points
1.	People's Republic of China	23	15: 03
2.	Ukraine	21st	12: 06
3.	Armenia	18th	11: 07
4th	Russia	20.5	10: 08
5.	United States	19.5	10: 08
6th	Hungary	17th	09: 09
7th	Israel	18.5	08:10
8th.	Cuba	16.5	07:11
9.	India	16	07:11
10.	Egypt	10	01:17

Winning team

Ding Liren , Yu Yangyi , Bu Xiangzhi , Wei Yi and Wang Chen played for China .

particularities

Not all teams could compete with the best line-up. So were missing u. a. the former world champion Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik as well as the two top US player Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So . Some of these players were at the start of the second Shamkir Chess tournament in neighboring Azerbaijan.

Initially, the Cubans surprisingly dominated with 7: 1 points from the first four rounds. After that, however, they couldn't win any more points. The last two world champions Armenia and Russia were already out of the title race at this point with 2: 6 points each. After Cuba could not keep up the pace, Olympic winners China and Ukraine pulled away from the field with equal points. After a 2-2 draw, they were four points ahead of third place with two laps to go. The decision was made when the Ukrainians lost to the USA in the penultimate round.

The best single player was the Chinese Wei Yi, who scored 7 points from 9 games. Levon Aronjan had 6 points.

Web links

Tournament website of the organizer

World Cup 2017

The 11th World Championship took place in Khanty-Mansiysk in June 2017 .

Attendees

• Russia as the host
• the USA, Ukraine, India, Norway, Turkey and Poland as the best-placed teams at the 2016 Chess Olympiad
• Egypt as a representative of Africa
• China as the winner of the Asian Nations Cup 2016
• Belarus by invitation

Result

Pl.	team	B points	M points
1.	People's Republic of China	24.5	16: 02
2.	Russia	25th	15: 03
3.	Poland	20.5	12: 06
4th	India	20.5	11: 07
5.	Turkey	18.5	10: 08
6th	Ukraine	17.5	08:10
7th	Belarus	17.5	08:10
8th.	United States	16	08:10
9.	Norway	11	02:16
10.	Egypt	09	00:18

Winning team

Ding Liren , Yu Yangyi , Wei Yi , Li Chao and Wen Yang played for the Chinese team .

particularities

• Again, some teams did not offer their best players. So were missing u. a. World champion Magnus Carlsen from Norway and his last challenger Sergei Karjakin . Host Russia also did without ex-world champion Vladimir Kramnik . The USA team missed the three top players Wesley So , Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana from the winning team of the Chess Olympiad . In contrast, u. a. Ukraine and China with the best cast.
• Two players achieved an Elo performance of over 2800 points: the Russian Ian Nepomnjashchi got 2820 points, the Chinese Li Chao got 2809 points.
• China was the only team to remain undefeated. Against Turkey and the USA they were both drawn 2-2.

Web links

Tournament website of the organizer

World Cup 2019

The 12th World Championship took place in Astana in March 2019 .

Attendees

• China as defending champion
• Azerbaijan as European Champion 2017
• Iran as the winner of the Asian Nations Cup 2018
• the USA as the American team with the highest average rating
• Egypt as the African team with the highest average rating
• Kazakhstan as a host
• Russia and England as the best-placed and not otherwise qualified teams at the 2018 Chess Olympiad
• India at the invitation of the FIDE President
• Sweden

Poland was originally qualified because of its placement in the Olympics. After the Poles waived, Sweden moved up to the starting field, while the teams placed before that (Vietnam, Armenia, France and Ukraine) had also waived.

Result

Pl.	team	B points	M points
1.	Russia	23.5	16: 02
2.	England	21st	13: 05
3.	People's Republic of China	21st	12: 06
4th	India	22nd	11: 07
5.	United States	20.5	11: 07
6th	Iran	18th	08:10
7th	Azerbaijan	16.5	08:10
8th.	Kazakhstan	14.5	04:14
9.	Sweden	10.5	04:14
10.	Egypt	12.5	03:15

Winning team

The Russian team consisted of the players Sergej Karjakin , Jan Nepomnjaschtschi , Alexander Grishchuk , Dmitri Andreikin and Vladislav Artemjew .

particularities

• Several teams did without some of their top players. Of the favorites, only Russia and China sent teams that came close to being a full senior national team.
• The most successful individual players were Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Alireza Firouzja . Both achieved seven points from nine games each. Vladislav Artemjew got 6.5 points from eight games.

Web links

Complete results with chess-results