36th Chess Olympiad - Open Event

Open Event

The open division was contested by 129 teams representing 125 nations. Spain, as hosts, fielded three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) and the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA) each provided one squad.

Led by first board Vasyl Ivanchuk, the seventh highest-rated player at the tournament, who recorded 9½ points over 13 rounds, and second reserve Sergey Karjakin who, aged just 14 years, won 6 of his 7 games (surrendering a draw only to American Gregory Kaidanov), Ukraine scored all four possible points in each of their first three matches before "only" defeating Russia 2½-1½ in the fourth round, eventually accumulating a nearly insurmountable three-point lead after the penultimate round. The Ukrainian team nevertheless scored three points against France and claimed their first title, three points ahead of Russia, who had entered the tournament as the top seed, having brought four of the tournament's nine highest-rated players, and as defending six-time champions.

Armenia, one of just four teams to draw a match with Ukraine, paced by second board Levon Aronian, who did not lose in 12 games, and third board Rafael Vaganian, who scored 8½ points in 11 games, lost 1½-2½ to Russia in the eighth round. Ultimately, on the strength of a 3½-½ final round defeat of Georgia, they tied Russia's 36½ points. Armenia were placed after Russia, though, on the Buchholz tie-breaker system employed by the Olympiad, and finished, as in the previous Olympiad, with the bronze medals. Hosts Spain, led by Alexei Shirov, just managed to squeeze into the top ten.

Notable absentees from the tournament were the no. 1 player in the world, Garry Kasparov, as well as classical World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and his challenger Peter Leko, who were just finishing their championship match (Kramnik retained his title with a 7-7 tie). FIDE Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov was present, however, and led Uzbekistan to 14th place by going undefeated in his 8 games (+4-0=4).

Open event

#	Country	Players	Average rating	Points	Buchholz
1	Ukraine	Ivanchuk, Ponomariov, Volokitin, Moiseenko, Eljanov, Karjakin	2680	39½
2	Russia	Morozevich, Svidler, Grischuk, Dreev, Khalifman, Zvjaginsev	2718	36½	460.0
3	Armenia	Akopian, Aronian, Vaganian, Lputian, Sargissian, Minasian	2660	36½	459.0
4	United States	Onischuk, Shabalov, Goldin, Kaidanov, Novikov, Gulko	2623	35
5	Israel	Gelfand, Sutovsky, Smirin, Avrukh, Huzman, Roiz	2670	34½
6	India	Viswanathan Anand, Krishnan Sasikiran, Pendyala Harikrishna, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Abhijit Kunte, Chanda Sandipan	2655	34
7	Cuba	Domínguez, Bruzon, Delgado, Nogueiras, Arencibia, Quezada	2596	33½
8	Netherlands	Van Wely, Sokolov, Tiviakov, Timman, Van den Doel, Nijboer	2641	33
9	Bulgaria	Georgiev, Delchev, Cheparinov, Spasov, Chatalbashev, Radulski	2584	32½	453.0
10	Spain	Shirov, Vallejo Pons, Illescas Córdoba, Cifuentes Parada, Romero Holmes, Arizmendi Martinez	2643	32½	439.5

#	Country	Average rating	Points	Buchholz	MP
11	Greece	2569	32½	427.5
12	Poland	2624	32	445.5
13	Switzerland	2559	32	442.5
14	Uzbekistan	2550	32	440.5
15	Yugoslavia	2568	32	435.0
16	Germany	2617	32	430.0
17	Slovenia	2575	32	427.5
18	Belarus	2609	32	424.0
19	Philippines	2502	32	422.5
20	Romania	2590	32	417.5
21	Georgia	2621	31½	462.0
22	Azerbaijan	2615	31½	450.5
23	France	2621	31½	449.0
24	China	2612	31½	438.5
25	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2532	31½	428.0
26	Kazakhstan	2483	31½	425.0
27	Lithuania	2542	31½	420.0
28	Denmark	2563	31½	419.5
29	Czech Republic	2589	31	445.0
30	England	2653	31	427.0
31	Hungary	2614	31	425.5
32	Estonia	2544	31	423.5	17
33	Latvia	2539	31	423.5	15
34	Argentina	2544	31	419.5
35	Australia	2488	31	418.5
36	Moldova	2589	30½	432.5
37	Slovakia	2545	30½	431.0
38	Canada	2494	30½	426.0
39	Norway	2549	30½	419.5
40	Chile	2486	30½	407.5
41	Bangladesh	2485	30½	396.5
42	Macedonia	2521	30	419.0
43	Ireland	2454	30	403.0
44	Spain "B"	2494	29½	424.0
45	Sweden	2569	29½	422.0
46	Croatia	2562	29½	415.5
47	Iceland	2496	29½	413.5
48	Indonesia	2397	29½	408.0
49	Finland	2456	29½	406.5
50	Turkey	2365	29½	404.0
51	Vietnam	2515	29	416.5
52	Scotland	2497	29	411.5
53	Iran	2460	29	405.0
54	Mexico	2473	29	403.0
55	South Africa	2387	29	395.0	16
56	Colombia	2427	29	395.0	13
57	IPCA	2348	29	394.5
58	Belgium	2444	28½	406.5
59	Brazil	2481	28½	406.0
60	Italy	2476	28½	400.5	14
61	Tajikistan	2303	28½	400.5	12
62	Austria	2444	28½	396.5
63	Dominican Republic	2354	28½	387.0	14
64	Ecuador	2431	28½	387.0	13
65	Bolivia	2332	28½	383.5
66	Peru	2410	28½	355.0
67	Singapore	2437	28	403.5
68	Andorra	2400	28	393.0
69	Pakistan	2298	28	381.5
70	Malaysia	2241	28	370.0
71	Mongolia	2381	27½	402.0
72	Portugal	2424	27½	401.0
73	Kyrgyzstan	2341	27½	397.0
74	Albania	2410	27½	385.5
75	Faroe Islands	2281	27½	377.0
76	Morocco	2342	27½	356.0
77	Venezuela	2354	27	398.0
78	Paraguay	2305	27	390.0
79	Costa Rica	2399	27	386.0
80	Tunisia	2363	27	384.5
81	Spain "C"	2334	27	383.5
82	Luxembourg	2325	27	381.5
83	Iraq	2276	27	369.5
84	Uruguay	2370	26½	397.5
85	New Zealand	2316	26½	383.0
86	Nicaragua	2281	26½	375.5
87	Guatemala	2252	26½	372.0
88	Japan	2136	26½	351.0
89	Wales	2289	26	382.5
90	Lebanon	2337	26	379.0
91	Sri Lanka	2188	26	368.5
92	Thailand	2264	26	367.5
93	Honduras	2226	26	365.0
94	Puerto Rico	2212	26	358.0
95	Botswana	2174	25½	358.5
96	Kenya	1986	25½	340.5
97	IBCA	2358	25	370.5
98	Barbados	2279	25	368.5
99	Libya	2260	25	358.5
100	Angola	2245	24½	376.5
101	Hong Kong	2141	24½	363.0
102	Palestine	2070	24½	362.5
103	Jamaica	2184	24½	355.5
104	Uganda	2187	24½	350.0
105	Monaco	2137	24½	347.0
106	Nepal	2179	24½	301.0
107	Panama	1906	24	352.5
108	Namibia	2186	24	336.0
109	Cyprus	2202	23½	360.5
110	Liechtenstein	2119	23½	348.5
111	Mauritania	2207	23½	341.0
112	San Marino	2122	23½	301.0
113	Malta	2157	23½	300.5
114	Macau	2127	23½	299.0
115	Afghanistan	1866	23½	248.0
116	Trinidad and Tobago	2137	23	357.5
117	Suriname	2201	23	344.5
118	British Virgin Islands	1904	23	314.5
119	Netherlands Antilles	2098	22	293.5
120	Nigeria	2152	22	276.5
121	Jersey	2170	21½	313.5
122	Fiji	2003	21½	282.5
123	Guernsey	1812	21
124	Aruba	1832	20½
125	Bermuda	1824	18½ 1
126	Rwanda	1750	17
127	Papua New Guinea	1866	15½ 1
128	United States Virgin Islands	1600	13½
129	Seychelles	1766	11½

1 Bermuda actually scored 22 and Papua New Guinea 23 points, but because some of their players refused to submit to doping tests, the points scored by those players were deducted from the final scores: 3½ points from Bermuda and 7½ from Papua New Guinea.