25th Chess Olympiad — Luzern 1982

◇A record field on a Swiss lake

Ninety-two teams gathered at Lucerne for a fourteen-round Swiss on four boards — one of the largest Olympiads yet held. To leave an even number of pairings the hosts entered a second Swiss side, Switzerland "B", which played hors concours, outside the competition and unranked. It was also the first Olympiad to include the British Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey.

The event ran under a new administration: at the accompanying FIDE Congress, Florencio Campomanes of the Philippines was elected president, succeeding Iceland's Friðrik Ólafsson.

◇The Soviets untouchable

The Soviet Union's answer to the crowded field was overwhelming depth. Fielding Karpov, Kasparov and Tal at the top, they drew only their match with the Netherlands and won everything else, finishing on 42½ points. Czechoslovakia took silver on 36 and the United States bronze on 35½, with Yugoslavia (35), Hungary and Bulgaria (both 33½) filling out the leading places. The gap between gold and silver told the story of the fortnight.

Points shown in the archive are game points across the four boards, the currency by which the Swiss was decided.

◇Medals down the boards

The individual board prizes went well beyond the big chess nations. Paraguay's Zenón Franco Ocampos won the top-board gold with 11/13, and on board four the fifteen-year-old Simen Agdestein of Norway scored 9/12, an early sign of the talent that made him both a chess grandmaster and a Norwegian international footballer.