# 29th Chess Olympiad

The 29th Chess Olympiad (Serbian: 29. Шаховска олимпијада, 29. Šahovska olimpijada), 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 November 16 and December 4, 1990, in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia).
This time around, the political controversy surrounded the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – who had all recently declared their independence from the Soviet Union and wanted to send their own teams to the Olympiad. The Yugoslavian hosts, however, followed the decree from Moscow and refused to accept their entries. Despite a petition from several top players they weren't allowed to play. This meant that big names like Jaan Ehlvest, Lembit Oll, Alexei Shirov, and former world champion Mikhail Tal could not appear at the Olympiad.
Incidentally, this would also turn out to be the last Olympic appearances of the "old" Eastern Bloc countries: East Germany, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. The latter finished in style by winning their sixth consecutive gold medals and 18th overall, even without Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov who were in the midst of their fifth and final world championship match. Instead, the last Soviet team was led by Ivanchuk and Gelfand – two of the co-signers of the pro-Baltic petition. They still won in style, well ahead of the United States and England.

## Open event

A total of 108 teams from 106 different nations played a 14-round Swiss system tournament. For the first time, the host nation got the right to field two additional teams. All three Yugoslavian sides finished in the top 30.
In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by using the Buchholz system, then by match points.
    Open event #CountryPlayersAverage ratingPointsBuchholz 1 Soviet UnionIvanchuk, Gelfand, Beliavsky, Yusupov, Yudasin, Bareev264539 2 United StatesSeirawan, Gulko, Christiansen, Benjamin, Fedorowicz, De Firmian259935½452.5 3 EnglandShort, Speelman, Nunn, Adams, Chandler, Hodgson260435½450.5
    #CountryAverage ratingPointsBuchholzMP 4 Czechoslovakia253034½ 5 Yugoslavia257633460.0 6 China252133444.0 7 Cuba252633440.5 8 Iceland245132½452.0 9 West Germany254932½451.0 10 India248832½449.0 11 Sweden243932½441.5 12 Netherlands256132½435.0 13 Yugoslavia "B"253432½433.0 14 Bulgaria251432451.5 15 France249332433.0 16 Israel253332431.0 17 Hungary255332427.5 18 Poland247632421.5 19 Mexico246332414.5 20 Colombia242431½429.5 21 Philippines244331½427.0 22 Peru238131½421.0 23 Scotland238131½418.5 24 Finland244931½416.5 25 East Germany250931446.0 26 Yugoslavia "C"250631441.0 27 Chile245631436.5 28 Indonesia241631425.0 29 Argentina243931423.5 30 Canada245131418.5 31 Spain249531417.0 32 Romania248331412.5 33 Brazil247130½420.5 34 Australia245430½415.0 35 Italy240930½412.0 36 Switzerland250130427.5 37 Norway247330425.0 38 Denmark249830424.0 39 Austria246530417.5 40 Albania238630417.0 41 Egypt237630416.5 42 Wales230130391.5 43 New Zealand229529½ 44 Vietnam220129405.517 45 Mongolia234929405.514 46 Singapore237029396.0 47 Turkey234629394.5 48 Ecuador224029376.0 49 Greece245028½427.5 50 Paraguay234328½405.0 51 Bangladesh236328½403.5 52 Tunisia232928½403.0 53 Belgium236928½396.5 54 Costa Rica227628½392.0 55 Portugal241128439.0 56 Pakistan229528397.5 57 Uruguay229528395.5 58 Iran225628392.0 59 Ireland230628391.0 60 Luxembourg224928387.5 61 Thailand223028377.5 62 Angola232428377.0 63 Syria229127½395.0 64 Bolivia223027½378.5 65 Barbados223527½372.0 66 Japan222627½369.0 67 United Arab Emirates221627383.0 68 Yemen220027369.5 69 Morocco225926390.0 70 Algeria221826384.5 71 Puerto Rico224426380.5 72 Lebanon224126366.5 73 Malaysia222826362.5 74 Trinidad and Tobago220026361.5 75 Guatemala223026337.0 76 Venezuela228525½386.0 77 Dominican Republic223525½378.5 78 Uganda229625½361.5 79 Faroe Islands224025381.0 80 El Salvador226825374.5 81 Nigeria220325366.5 82 Cyprus220625346.5 83 Hong Kong224024½364.0 84 Jamaica221824½351.5 85 Andorra221324½350.0 86 Libya220124½345.5 87 Guernsey and Jersey221824362.511 88 Zimbabwe220924362.56 89 Qatar222924362.0 90 Zambia220924349.0 91 Netherlands Antilles224624345.0 92 Mali220324341.0 93 Sudan220123½358.5 94 Bahrain220023½347.5 95 Malta221023½343.0 96 Haiti220423357.5 97 Fiji220023326.0 98 San Marino220022326.5 99 British Virgin Islands220022326.0 100 Panama220022323.5 101 United States Virgin Islands222622317.0 102 Liechtenstein220022315.5 103 Honduras220022282.0 104 Botswana220021½323.5 105 Bahamas220121½314.0 106 Bermuda220021 107 Mauritius220020 108 Kenya220118

### Individual medals

* Performance rating: Robert Hübner 2734
* Board 1: Zenón Franco Ocampos (9/12) and Raül García Paolicchi (10½/14) = 75.0%
* Board 2: Dibyendu Barua 8½ / 11 = 77.3%
* Board 3: Egon Brestian 9½ / 12 = 79.2%
* Board 4: Roberto Martín del Campo 7½ / 10 = 75.0%
* 1st reserve: Satea Husari 6 / 7 = 85.7%
* 2nd reserve: Iolo Jones 6 / 7 = 85.7%

## Women's event

65 teams from 63 different nations took part. Like the open event, the women's competition featured three Yugoslavian teams, all of which finished in the top 20. Lebanon were signed up, but didn't show up. Their first three matches were listed as forfeit, after which they were officially withdrawn.
In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by using the Buchholz system, then by match points.
For the second Olympiad in a row, the Hungarian team beat the Soviet Union, although only on tie break this time. Once again, all three Polgár sisters (Zsuzsa, Zsófia, and Judit) were in the team - and they all won their respective boards. The best individual performance, however, came from Soviet reserve Arakhamia who registered a perfect 12/12 score and an unbelievable 2935 performance rating.
    #CountryPlayersAverage ratingPointsBuchholz 1 HungaryZsuzsa Polgár, J. Polgár, Zsófia Polgár, Mádl249235344.5 2 Soviet UnionChiburdanidze, Gaprindashvili, Galliamova, Arakhamia243835340.5 3 ChinaXie Jun, Peng Zhaoqin, Qin Kanying, Wang Lei230229
    #CountryAverage ratingPointsBuchholzMP 4 Bulgaria225826 5 Yugoslavia231225 6 United States235724½ 7 England223524351.5 8 Greece224224337.0 9 Romania227524334.0 10 Yugoslavia "B"226023½342.5 11 East Germany224823½328.0 12 Netherlands215723½303.5 13 Mongolia211223½293.5 14 Poland225723347.0 15 Argentina218723332.0 16 Cuba217323329.5 17 West Germany222523319.5 18 Israel213223308.5 19 Czechoslovakia225022½345.5 20 Yugoslavia "C"217322½329.5 21 Vietnam200022½322.0 22 Denmark212022310.0 23 Norway203222302.0 24 France209022296.0 25 Scotland201222295.0 26 Brazil210222292.0 27 Spain219821½319.5 28 Switzerland213321½310.5 29 Austria207321½299.5 30 Sweden202221½298.0 31 Australia207321½295.5 32 India215021312.0 33 Finland204021305.0 34 Bangladesh206321252.0 35 Albania200020½312.0 36 Italy205520½289.0 37 Indonesia204220½286.0 38 Ireland204720½275.5 39 Wales200520297.0 =40 Mexico200020278.513 =40 New Zealand200020278.513 42 Belgium203220276.5 43 Ecuador200020269.5 44 Syria200020264.0 45 Egypt200720262.0 46 Turkey205019½288.0 47 Dominican Republic204819½275.0 48 Portugal200319½274.5 49 Malaysia200219½262.5 50 Zambia200019½221.5 51 Bolivia200019282.5 52 Uruguay200319270.5 53 Puerto Rico200019227.0 54 Canada206318½286.0 55 Venezuela200018½277.0 56 United Arab Emirates200318 57 Algeria200017½261.5 58 Jamaica200517½236.5 59 Zimbabwe200017½223.0 60 Angola200015½219.0 61 Netherlands Antilles200015½201.0 62 Nigeria200015 63 Malta200014½ 64 Botswana200011½ 65 United States Virgin Islands200010

### Individual medals

* Performance rating: Ketevan Arakhamia 2935
* Board 1: Zsuzsa Polgár 11½ / 14 = 82.1%
* Board 2: Judit Polgár 10 / 13 = 76.9%
* Board 3: Zsófia Polgár 11½ / 13 = 88.5%
* Reserve: Ketevan Arakhamia 12 / 12 = 100.0%