12th Chess Olympiad — Moscow 1956

Incomplete record. This archive holds 1218 of the 1220 games played; 2 are missing.

The 12th Chess Olympiad brought the world's teams to Moscow, where the double defending champions of the Soviet Union — Botvinnik, Smyslov, Keres, Bronstein, Taimanov, and Geller — duly took gold again with 31 board points. Behind them the silver and bronze were settled only on tiebreak, while on top board a 21-year-old Bent Larsen played himself to a grandmaster title.

◇A record entry

A then-record thirty-four nations took part. They were divided into four preliminary groups, the top three of each advancing to the twelve-team Championship Final (Final A, places 1–12), the next tier to Final B (13–24) and the rest to Final C (25–34). Points are scored within each section, so a lower-section total can outrun a higher one.

Playing on home soil, the Soviet Union led throughout and finished the Championship Final on 31 points, comfortably clear of the field even if the margin was narrower than their Amsterdam rout two years earlier.

◇Silver on tiebreak, and Larsen's breakthrough

Yugoslavia and Hungary tied for second on 26½ board points apiece; Yugoslavia took the silver on match points ahead of Hungary's bronze. Argentina, West Germany, and Bulgaria followed. It was a familiar order for the era, with the Soviets untouchable and the strongest European and South American teams contesting the minor medals.

The individual story of the Olympiad was Bent Larsen of Denmark. His 14/18 (77.8%) won the board-one gold and, under a special Olympiad rule since abolished, earned him the grandmaster title outright. Soviet players took further board golds — Keres on board three, Bronstein on board four.