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27th Chess Olympiad

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The official logo for the Olympiad.

The 27th Chess Olympiad (Arabic: أولمبياد الشطرنج ال27, uwlimbiad al-shatranj al-27), organized by FIDE and comprising an open[1] and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 14 and December 2, 1986, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Once again, the Olympiad was marred by politics. With the event being held in an Arab nation, Israel couldn't participate, being in an official state of war with several Arab countries. In protest, Western European nations like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands didn't come to Dubai. Strong individual players like Viktor Korchnoi, Robert Hübner, and Eric Lobron also stayed away.

With no championship match in progress at the time, the Soviet Union was again able to field the strongest possible team, led by reigning world champion Kasparov and ex-champion Karpov. Even so, they only finished half a point ahead of England, and they only managed to capture the top spot in the last round. The United States, who had led the table after the penultimate round, had to settle for the bronze medals.

Open event

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The English team: Speelman, Short, Nunn, Miles

For the first time, the number of participants reached triple digits. 108 teams from 107 different nations played a 14-round Swiss system tournament. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by using the Buchholz system, then by match points.

Open event
# Country Players Average
rating
Points
1  Soviet Union Kasparov, Karpov, Sokolov, Yusupov, Vaganian, Tseshkovsky 2681 40
2  England Miles, Nunn, Short, Chandler, Speelman, Flear 2585 39½
3  United States Seirawan, Christiansen, Kavalek, Fedorowicz, De Firmian, Dlugy 2555 38½

Individual medals

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Women's event

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A total of 49 nations took part. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by using the Buchholz system, then by match points.

Like the open event, the women's tournament was dominated by the Soviet Union, captained by world champion Chiburdanidze, who won the gold medals by a comfortable margin. Hungary and Romania took silver and bronze, respectively.

The real star of the women's event, though, was 45-year-old ex-world champion Gaprindashvili, who won all of her 10 games and finished with an uncanny performance rating of 2877 – more than 100 points better than the best male.

# Country Players Average
rating
Points Buchholz
1  Soviet Union Chiburdanidze, Akhmilovskaya, Gaprindashvili, Alexandria 2358 33½
2  Hungary Verőci-Petronić, Mádl, Ivánka, Grosch 2247 29
3  Romania Mureșan, Nuțu, Polihroniade, Stanciu-Olărașu 2178 28 343.5

Individual medals

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References

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  1. ^ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.