Unofficial Chess Olympiad 1976

In 1974, after refusing for various reasons, Argentina, Sweden and Iran, Israel became the only candidate for the 1976 Chess Olympiad . Given the tense situation in the Middle East as a result of the Arab-Israeli wars, the chess federations of the USSR (the most influential federation in the world) and the countries of the socialist camp and Arab countries that did not have diplomatic relations with Israel, proposed not to hold the XXII Olympiad in this country. Then FIDE President Max Euwe turned to all FIDE chess federations with a proposal to answer the question: to hold the 1976 Olympics in Israel or not to hold it in 1976 at all. In August 1975, the FIDE Bureau announced that out of 94 FIDE member countries, 52 countries had sent replies, of which 34 spoke in favor of the Chess Olympiad, only 16 were against, two were abstained. Based on this, the FIDE Congress in 1975 decided to hold the XXII Chess Olympiad in Israel. Such a decision of the Congress led to the fact that many countries officially refused to participate in the Olympiad.

The main organizer: Muammar Gaddafi .

The tournament was held at the Beach Hotel, spent 13 rounds according to the Swiss system . The competition was organized almost simultaneously with the Haifa Olympiad: the unofficial Olympiad was held from October 24 to November 15, and the official - from October 26 to November 10, 1976.

The level of the game was low - among the participants (the full list of players is unknown, only some participants are known) of the tournament there were only 4 international masters (2 in the Tunisian team and 1 each in Pakistan and Turkey) and not a single grandmaster . Of the strongest chess states, only the Italian team arrived, but in fact it was the team of the chess club of the city of Palermo .

Three countries sent their teams to both Olympiads - Italy , the Philippines and Uruguay (dissident chess players who left the country for dictatorship for political reasons spoke for the Uruguayan team at the unofficial Olympiad).

• Against Chess Olympiad: Tripoli 1976