11th Chess Olympiad

The official logo of the Olympiad.

The 11th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between September 4 and September 25, 1954, in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

30 teams had applied, but only 26 eventually took part. The most notable absentees were the United States, who couldn't afford the travelling expenses due to financial difficulties in the USCF.

The Soviet team once again won the event, followed by Argentina and Yugoslavia. Unlike the previous Olympiad, however, they dominated this one completely and crushed all opposition, winning the final by an astounding 7 points. Keres' amazing score of 96.4% was an all-time record; he drew his first game (against Nilsson of Sweden) and won the rest.

Results

Preliminaries

A total of 26 teams entered the competition and were divided into four preliminary groups of six or seven7 teams. The top three from each group advanced to Final A, and the rest to Final B. All groups and finals were played as round-robin tournaments.

Group 1 was won by the Soviet Union, well ahead of the Dutch hosts and Iceland. Austria, Finland, and Greece finished in the bottom half.

Argentina took first place in group 2, ahead of Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. Canada, Italy, and Ireland made up the rest of the group.

Group 3 was won by Israel, ahead of Yugoslavia and Sweden. Denmark, Norway, France, and Saar had to settle for a place in the consolation final.

Hungary cliched group 4, ahead of West Germany and England. Switzerland, Colombia, Belgium, and Luxembourg rounded up the group.

Final

Final A

#	Country	Players	Points	MP
1	Soviet Union	Botvinnik, Smyslov, Bronstein, Keres, Geller, Kotov	34
2	Argentina	Najdorf, J. Bolbochán, Panno, Guimard, Rossetto, Pilnik	27
3	Yugoslavia	Pirc, Gligorić, Trifunović, Rabar, Fuderer, Matanović	26½
4	Czechoslovakia	Pachman, Filip, Zíta, Šajtar, Fichtl, Ujtelky	24½
5	West Germany	Unzicker, Schmid, Pfeiffer, Rellstab, Darga, Joppen	23½
6	Hungary	Szabó, Kluger, Barcza, Sándor, Gereben	23
7	Israel	Porath, Czerniak, Oren, Aloni, I. Kniazer	22
8	Netherlands	Euwe, Donner, Cortlever, Prins, Kramer, Van Scheltinga	21
9	England	Alexander, Penrose, Golombek, Wade, Barden, Clarke	17	7
10	Bulgaria	Minev, Neikirch, Milev, Tsvetkov, Bobotsov, Bobekov	17	6
11	Sweden	Ståhlberg, Lundin, Stoltz, Hörberg, Nilsson, Goode	15
12	Iceland	Friðrik Ólafsson, Guðmundur Guðmundsson, Guðmundur Pálmason, Guðmundur Ágústsson, Ingi Randver Jóhannsson, Guðmundur Arnlaugsson	13½

Final B

#	Country	Points	MP	Head-to-head
13	Switzerland	37
14	Canada	36	21	3
15	Austria	36	21	1
16	Denmark	34½
17	Italy	28½
18	Colombia	27½
19	Belgium	27
20	Finland	26½
21	France	26
22	Saar	24
23	Norway	22
24	Greece	21
25	Ireland	11
26	Luxembourg	7

Individual medals

• Board 1: Mikhail Botvinnik 8½ / 11 = 77.3%
• Board 2: Frank Anderson 14 / 17 = 82.4%
• Board 3: Gedeon Barcza 12½ / 16 = 78.1%
• Board 4: Paul Keres 13½ / 14 = 96.4%
• 1st reserve: Efim Geller 5 / 7 = 71.4%
• 2nd reserve: Sylvain Burstein 8½ / 11 = 77.3%

References

• 11th Chess Olympiad: Amsterdam 1954 OlimpBase