Chess Legends Unite: 1978 Olympiad in Buenos Aires (Rare Video) скачать в хорошем качестве

Chess Legends Unite: 1978 Olympiad in Buenos Aires (Rare Video)

   • Unseen 1980 Chess Olympiad in Malta – When...   If you like my chess clips feel free to check my patreon:   / collections   The 23rd Chess Olympiad organized by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 25 and November 12, 1978, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The 23th Chess Olympiad came back to South America after 39 years. Unfortunately no participant from 1939 appeared in the line-ups although bigger gaps have been seen in the history of the Olympiads. We have seen 66 nations, among them team USA, the titleholders, together with group of hawkish youngsters from Western European teams and full set of Communist nations, including USSR of course. The Soviets were lacking Karpov and Tal this time having put three newcomers into the squad. It was the second time when the Olympiad was running according to the rules of Swiss system, but the first time when both West and East countries joined. The 4-year break made it hard to predict who is going to reach the medal zone, apart from the Soviets who, as usual, were big favourites for Gold. Hungary lead by Portisch, Ribli and Sax looked very solid as well as Yugoslavia with Gligorić and Ljubojević, The American squad was based on their Haifa golden team. Argentina, the host nation, once again were deprived of their best players (Najdorf, Panno, Quinteros and more) who missed the Argentinian Championship, the major and only Olympic team qualifier. Round 9 brought major upset as USSR lost to West Germany (Pfleger beat Polugaevsky) to only make themselves nervous and lacking confidence followed by their opposition's boost in morale. Hungary modestly beat Bulgaria and USA crushed sensational Denmark by 4-0, flushing the latter down to 18th position in the table. The Soviets were still in the lead though, a fraction ahead of Germany and USA, and bearing a one point advantage over Hungary. The rest were far behind. The next round brought another major disappointment for the Soviet team who were lucky to avoid loss vs Israel. West Germany and Hungary did not even try to take a risk and halved quickly. USA beat Cuba but it was still not enough given Lombady lost to García Martínez wasting huge chance to overtake the leaders to whom the Americans only levelled on that day. The rest day did not help the Soviets who got on with their pathetic run dropping 2 points vs Sweden. A stiff USA-West Germany match gave the Americans the minimal win and Hungary took all their chances defeating 3-1 team Iceland. Israel recovered from scratch and climbed up to 4th place thanks to 3½-½ victory over Cuba. However they came back when they were earlier just 24 hours later after having been defeated by mighty Americans. The Soviets finally managed a win but a 2½-1½ over Poland barely revived their hopes. Hungary destroyed Sweden to become yet one more nation to find themselves at the top of the table. Canada demolished France 4-0 and were back in top 10. With two rounds to go the medal winners were already decided, since USA, Hungary and USSR earned comfortable advantage over the rest. But not over each other... In penultimate round the Hungarians dispelled Israeli hopes for medals but conceded three draws while the Soviets beat Canada 3-1. The United States were very lucky to avoid loss vs stunning Poles. The rest of the top matches were all draws. Before the last round started Hungary were in the lead ahead of Soviet Union and USA. Everyone was hoping for very close finish but it was not the case. The Soviets managed only one win in a pallid last round clash vs The Netherlands and the Hungarians did not miss the chance of their life crushing Yugoslavia 3-1 to enjoy the most surprising Olympic title in the history. USA easily retained their bronze medal positions halving vs Switzerland (Kavalek lost to Kortschnoj) but they never looked like making it better than that. Germany came 4th ahead of Israel and Romania. Denmark and Poland were very happy to see their teams in top 10, something they definitely deserved. England, the early leaders were down in 12th, still better than Yugoslavia (15th) and Argentina, the host nation. The fully deserved success of Hungarian team was achieved thanks to their top 3, namely Portisch, Ribli and Sax. Portisch contributed most and scored 70% despite of two losses. The reconstructed Soviet team missed a clear leader, Polugaevsky achieved most valuable result perhaps. The bronze for USA, exactly what they were supposed to get, is primarily owed to Tarjan who won gold individual medal for his excellent 9½/11. Superb youngster Kuligowski boosted performance of Polish team and Kortschnoj produced stunning performance for his new homeland Switzerland. B