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35th Chess Olympiad

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A 2002 Romanian stamp sheet featuring the logo of the 35th Chess Olympiad (center-top)

The 35th Chess Olympiad (Slovene: 35. Šahovska olimpijada), organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open[1] and women's tournament, took place between October 25 and November 11, 2002, in Bled, Slovenia. There were 135 teams in the open event and 90 in the women's event.

Both tournament sections were officiated by international arbiter Geurt Gijssen (Netherlands). Teams were paired across the 14 rounds of competition according to the Swiss system. The open division was played over four boards per round, whilst the women's was played over three. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided by 1. The Buchholz system; and 2. Match points.

The time control for each game permitted each player 90 minutes for all their moves, with an additional 30 seconds increment for each player after each move, beginning with the first.

In addition to the overall medal winners, the teams were divided into seeding groups, with the top finishers in each group receiving special prizes.

Open event

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The playing hall in Bled

The open division was contested by 135 teams representing 130 nations. Slovenia, as hosts, fielded three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provided one squad. Sudan were signed up but never arrived.

Both reigning world champions, Vladimir Kramnik (classical) and Viswanathan Anand (FIDE), were absent from the tournament. Meanwhile, the Russian team with two ex-champions, Kasparov and Khalifman, won their sixth consecutive title. Hungary and Armenia took silver and bronze, respectively.

Open event
# Country Players Average
rating		 Points Buchholz
1  Russia Kasparov, Grischuk, Khalifman, Morozevich, Svidler, Rublevsky 2734 38½
2  Hungary Lékó, Polgár, Almási, Gyimesi, Ruck, Ács 2674 37½
3  Armenia Akopian, Lputian, Asrian, Sargissian, Minasian, Anastasian 2620 35
4  Georgia Azmaiparashvili, Sturua, Mchedlishvili, Jobava, Izoria, Gagunashvili 2590 34
5  China Ye Jiangchuan, Xu Jun, Zhang Zhong, Bu Xiangzhi, Ni Hua, Zhang Pengxiang 2633 33½ 456.5
6  Netherlands Van Wely, Sokolov, Tiviakov, Van den Doel, Nijboer, Ernst 2648 33½ 454.5
7  England Adams, Short, Speelman, McShane, Conquest, Emms 2640 33½ 450.5
8  Slovakia Movsesian, Ftáčnik, Timoščenko, Markoš, Maník, Plachetka 2561 33 445.0
9  Israel Gelfand, Smirin, Sutovsky, Psakhis, Avrukh, Huzman 2660 33 439.5
10  Yugoslavia Ljubojević, Damljanović, Ivanišević, Kovačević, Ilinčić, Pikula 2548 33 436.0

Individual medals

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Gwaze is one of two players to have recorded the "highest" perfect score at an Olympiad with 9 points in 9 games (the other was Alexander Alekhine in 1930).

Women's event

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Women's match: China v Russia

The women's division was contested by 90 teams representing 85 nations. Slovenia, as hosts, fielded three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provided one squad. Afghanistan and Tunisia were signed up but never arrived.

China were only narrow favourites on rating this time but still won their third consecutive title, led by reigning world champion Zhu Chen and future champion Xu Yuhua. Russia and Poland took the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

# Country Players Average
rating		 Points Buchholz
1  China Zhu Chen, Xu Yuhua, Wang Pin, Zhao Xue 2485 29½
2  Russia Kovalevskaya, Matveeva, Kosteniuk, T. Kosintseva 2462 29
3  Poland Radziewicz, Dworakowska, Soćko, Kądziołka 2388 28
4  Georgia Chiburdanidze, Ioseliani, Khurtsidze, Arakhamia-Grant 2481 27½
5  Hungary Vajda, Dembo, Lakos, Gara 2363 25½ 343.0
6  Ukraine Zhukova, Vasilevich, Zatonskih, Gaponenko 2424 25½ 334.5
7  Yugoslavia Bojković, Prudnikova, Chelushkina, Benderać 2403 25½ 334.0
8  Azerbaijan Velikhanli, Shukurova, Z. Mamedyarova, T. Mamedyarova 2269 25½ 317.0
9  United States Krush, Baginskaite, Shahade, Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya 2381 25 349.0
10  Czech Republic Jacková, Krupková, Sikorová, Ptáčníková 2316 25 341.0

Individual medals

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Overall title

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The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is awarded to the nation that has the best average rank in the open and women's divisions. Where two or more teams are tied, they are ordered by best single finish in either division and then by total number of points scored.

The trophy, named after the former women's world champion (1961–78), was created by FIDE in 1997.

# Team Open
division 		Women's
division 		Average
1  Russia 1 2 1½
2  China 5 1 3
3  Hungary 2 5 3½

Further reading

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  • Wilkinson, Ian (2004). Magnificence In Bled - The 35th. Chess Olympiad. Lmh Publishers. ISBN 976-8184-92-2.

Notes

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