On the verge of HUGE HISTORY in Baku!

The US is on the verge of wining Olympiad Gold! They are controlling their own destiny. But let’s take a look at the history of the Chess Olympiad.

The last time the US won Gold was in 1976. But that was the year the Soviet Union boycotted. So the victory has an *. If you do not count 1976, you have to go back to 1937.  That was an era when the US dominated by winning 4 in a row: Prague, Czechoslovakia 1931 (Kashdan, Marshall, Dake, Horowitz, Steiner H.), Folkestone, United Kingdom 1933 (Kashdan, Marshall, Fine, Dake, Simonson), Warsaw, Poland 1935 (Fine, Marshall, Kupchik, Dake, Horowitz) and Stockholm, Sweden 1937 (Reshevsky, Fine, Kashdan, Marshall, Horowitz)!

Therefore, it would be so big if the US could win Gold in 2016 with Fabiano Caruana (started his chess career in my Chess Club in New York in May 1998), Hakaru Nakamura (participated in my Mayor’s Cup Invitational in June 2001), Wesley So (trained at Webster University – SPICE for more than 2 years – Went from #99 in the world 2652 to #10 2762 in a little more than 2 years), Sam Shankland, and Ray Robson (still at Webster University = SPICE – Went from 2599 to 2680).

This is an exciting time for US Chess with the performance of US team in Baku, and the upcoming World Championship in New York City between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin.

Olympiad History

Year	Event	Host	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1924	1st unofficial Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad(individual)	Paris, France	Czechoslovakia 31	Hungary 30	Switzerland 29
1926	2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad The Team Tournament (part of FIDE summit)	Budapest, Hungary	Hungary 9	Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes 8	Romania 5
1927	1st Chess Olympiad	London, United Kingdom	Hungary 40	Denmark 38½	England 36½
1928	2nd Chess Olympiad	The Hague, Netherlands	Hungary 44	United States 39½	Poland 37
1930	3rd Chess Olympiad	Hamburg, Germany	Poland 48½	Hungary 47	Germany 44½
1931	4th Chess Olympiad	Prague, Czechoslovakia	United States 48	Poland 47	Czechoslovakia 46½
1933	5th Chess Olympiad	Folkestone, United Kingdom	United States 39	Czechoslovakia 37½	Sweden 34
1935	6th Chess Olympiad	Warsaw, Poland	United States 54	Sweden 52½	Poland 52
1936	3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad non-FIDE unofficial Chess Olympiad	Munich, Germany	Hungary 110½	Poland 108	Germany 106½
1937	7th Chess Olympiad	Stockholm, Sweden	United States 54½	Hungary 48½	Poland 47
1939	8th Chess Olympiad	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Germany 36	Poland 35½	Estonia 33½
1950	9th Chess Olympiad	Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia	Yugoslavia 45½	Argentina 43½	West Germany 40½
1952	10th Chess Olympiad	Helsinki, Finland	Soviet Union 21	Argentina 19½	Yugoslavia 19
1954	11th Chess Olympiad	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Soviet Union 34	Argentina 27	Yugoslavia 26½
1956	12th Chess Olympiad	Moscow, Soviet Union	Soviet Union 31	Yugoslavia 26½	Hungary 26½
1958	13th Chess Olympiad	Munich, West Germany	Soviet Union 34½	Yugoslavia 29	Argentina 25½
1960	14th Chess Olympiad	Leipzig, East Germany	Soviet Union 34	United States 29	Yugoslavia 27
1962	15th Chess Olympiad	Varna, Bulgaria	Soviet Union 31½	Yugoslavia 28	Argentina 26
1964	16th Chess Olympiad	Tel Aviv, Israel	Soviet Union 36½	Yugoslavia 32	West Germany 30½
1966	17th Chess Olympiad	Havana, Cuba	Soviet Union 39½	United States 34½	Hungary 33½
1968	18th Chess Olympiad	Lugano, Switzerland	Soviet Union 39½	Yugoslavia 31	Bulgaria 30
1970	19th Chess Olympiad	Siegen, West Germany	Soviet Union 27½	Hungary 26½	Yugoslavia 26
1972	20th Chess Olympiad	Skopje, Yugoslavia	Soviet Union 42	Hungary 40½	Yugoslavia 38
1974	21st Chess Olympiad	Nice, France	Soviet Union 46	Yugoslavia 37½	United States 36½
1976	22nd Chess Olympiad *	Haifa, Israel	United States 37	Netherlands 36½	England 35½
1976	Against Chess Olympiad	Tripoli, Libya	El Salvador 38½	Tunisia 36	Pakistan 34½
1978	23rd Chess Olympiad	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Hungary 37	Soviet Union 36	United States 35
1980	24th Chess Olympiad	Valletta, Malta	Soviet Union 39	Hungary 39	United States 35
1982	25th Chess Olympiad	Lucerne, Switzerland	Soviet Union 42½	Czechoslovakia 36	United States 35
1984	26th Chess Olympiad	Thessaloniki, Greece	Soviet Union 41	England 37	United States 35
1986	27th Chess Olympiad	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Soviet Union 40	England 39	United States 38
1988	28th Chess Olympiad	Thessaloniki, Greece	Soviet Union 40½	England 34½	Netherlands 34½
1990	29th Chess Olympiad	Novi Sad, Yugoslavia	Soviet Union 39	United States 35½	England 35½
1992	30th Chess Olympiad	Manila, Philippines	Russia 39	Uzbekistan 35	Armenia 34½
1994	31st Chess Olympiad	Moscow, Russia	Russia 37½	Bosnia and Herzegovina35	Russia “B” 34½
1996	32nd Chess Olympiad	Yerevan, Armenia	Russia 38½	Ukraine 35	United States 34
1998	33rd Chess Olympiad	Elista, Russia	Russia 35½	United States 34½	Ukraine 32½
2000	34th Chess Olympiad	Istanbul, Turkey	Russia 38	Germany 37	Ukraine 35½
2002	35th Chess Olympiad	Bled, Slovenia	Russia 38½	Hungary 37½	Armenia 35
2004	36th Chess Olympiad	Calvià, Spain	Ukraine 39½	Russia 36½	Armenia 36½
2006	37th Chess Olympiad	Turin, Italy	Armenia 36	China 34	United States 33
2008	38th Chess Olympiad	Dresden, Germany	Armenia 19	Israel 18	United States 17
2010	39th Chess Olympiad	Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia	Ukraine 19	Russia 18	Israel 17
2012	40th Chess Olympiad	Istanbul, Turkey	Armenia 19	Russia 19	Ukraine 18
2014	41st Chess Olympiad	Tromsø, Norway	China 19	Hungary 17	India 17

Photos round 1-11 and Closing Ceremony: