Chess Counter Olympiad 1976

The 1976 Chess Counter Olympiad or "Anti-Israel Olympiad" ( Against Chess Olympiad or Against Israel Olympiad ) was a country tournament in chess that took place from October 24 to November 15, 1976 in the Libyan capital Tripoli . The Counter-Olympiad, which the World Chess Federation FIDE disapproved of, was politically directed against Israel , where the official 22nd Chess Olympiad was being held in Haifa at the same time .

Political background

Israel was scheduled to host the Chess Olympiad for the second time in 1976 . While this was still unproblematic in terms of sport politics at the 1964 Chess Olympiad in Tel Aviv , this time many member associations of FIDE turned against the award decision of the World Chess Federation. The reason for this was the changed situation in the Middle East conflict that had arisen as a result of the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Israel's military successes had provoked anger in the Islamic Arab world, to which was added the solidarity of the socialist countries.

Among the nations that boycotted the tournament in Haifa were the Soviet Union as record winners at the Chess Olympiads, the other socialist states and numerous states of the Arab-Islamic world. Ultimately, only 48 men's and 23 women's teams took part in the Haifa Olympics, which took place from October 26 to November 10, 1976.

Libya had taken the initiative to a simultaneous competition event, which in the program as Chess Olympiad counter was described ( "Against Chess Olympiad"). The driving force was revolutionary leader Muammar al-Gaddafi , who ensured the organization with state funds from the oil-rich country. His hope that the Eastern Bloc countries would play in Tripoli instead of Haifa, however, was not fulfilled; rather, they preferred to stay away from the “Anti-Israel Olympiad”.

Participating countries

From the hosts' point of view, political success was limited. Only a few of the classic chess nations took part. The core of the 38 participating teams - including four with observer status - were made up of the Arab-Islamic states, which, however, were mostly considered to be chess "developing countries". More than half of the countries participating in the tournament (18 out of 34) had never participated in the regular Chess Olympiads before.

From the west, Portugal , Italy , which was de facto represented by a club from Palermo , Malta and Turkey were represented. The Philippines sent along with Italy the only country two teams to the parallel competitions in Haifa and Tripoli. This also affected Uruguay , although there was a special case. The team was made up of political dissidents who had escaped the military dictatorship in their homeland.

organization

The venue was the “Beach Hotel” in Tripoli. In order to get as many chess associations as possible from the poorer countries to travel, the organizer offered generous financial conditions. The teams did not incur any costs for travel or accommodation; the guests were even awarded a small daily flat rate . Each team was also given a car with a driver.

In contrast to the Olympics in Haifa, there was no women's competition. The tournament rules largely coincided with the regulations for the official Olympiad. The teams played on four boards. The team with the most points on the board should be the winner. The game was played in 13 rounds according to the Swiss system - just like in Haifa, where this tournament mode was first used at a chess Olympiad.

Athletic course

From a sporting point of view, the national tournament had little value compared to the regular Chess Olympiads. Not a single grandmaster and very few international masters were among the participants.

The winner was the El Salvador team , which was not one of the favorites. The players around the then 17-year-old later FIDE champion Boris Pineda on the top board took over the lead in the table early on and did not give it up until the end of the tournament. Tunisia took second place with international champion Slim Bouaziz on the top board, Pakistan came third. Host Libya only came in 24th. The aforementioned team from Uruguay, which ended up in 17th place, lost three fights - twelve games - because the players appeared too late.

Team lineups

The line-ups of the teams are only rudimentarily known. The following table names the players named in the source given below.

	team	Points	player
1	El Salvador	38½	A. Grimaldi, Rene Grimaldi, Infante, Camacho, Boris Pineda, Velásquez
2	Tunisia	36	Slim Bouaziz , Ridha Belkadi , Ahmed Drira, Sbia
3	Pakistan	34½	Zahiruddin Farooqui , Rahat Ali, Nazir Ahmad, Gholam Mohiuddin, Shaikh Mazhar Hussain
4th	Iraq	33½
5/6	Italy	32½	Magrini, Trabattoni, Corgnati, Giordano, Mazzamuto
5/6	Turkey	32½	İlhan Onat , Ergun Gümrükçüoğlu , Ali İpek , Feridun Öney
7th	Afghanistan	29½
8/9	Nicaragua	27½
8/9	Panama	27½	Haskins
10-12	Bangladesh	27	Kampoarai, Shuda Ahmed, Mirza Akmal
10-12	Sri Lanka	27	Arjuna Parakrama
10-12	Portugal	27	Santos, Bastos
13-15	Algeria	26½	Aboubekr Baghli
13-15	Morocco	26½	Mustafa Ahmed Bakali, Mokhtar Kaderi, Abderrahman Nejjar
13-15	Philippines	26½
16-18	Kenya	26th	Saif Kanani, Ramesh Sharma, Willie Sekano, Nazir Lone, Aslam Adam, Abdul Tejpar
16-18	Uruguay	26th	Maiztegui, Toson, Gilardoni, Pérez
16-18	South Yemen	26th
19-22	Trinidad and Tobago	25½	Cecil Lee, Frank Sears, Kwane Payne, Morris
19-22	Malta	25½	Henry Camilleri
19-22	North Yemen	25½
19-22	Madagascar	25½
23	Lebanon	25th	Bachar Kouatly
24-27	Libya	24½
24-27	Jordan	24½
24-27	Uganda	24½
24-27	Kuwait	24½
28	United Arab Emirates	20½
29	Mauritius	20th
30th	Palestinian selection	18½
31/32	Gambia	18th	Newman
31/32	Oman	18th
33	Mauritania	17½	Honghin
34	Somalia	07th

Aftermath

The snubbed World Chess Federation appointed a commission to examine the political aspects and the future membership status of the “renegade” associations. Ultimately, a permanent split in FIDE was averted and the event remained a sport-political episode.

Web links

• olimpbase.org : "Against Chess Olympiad": Tripoli 1976 (English)