19th Chess Olympiad

Schacholympiade), comprising an open team tournament as well as the annual FIDE congress, took place between September 5–27, 1970, in Siegen, West Germany.

[1] The Soviet team with six Grandmasters, led by world champion Boris Spassky, lived up to expectations and won their tenth consecutive gold medal, although only by a single point, with Hungary and Yugoslavia taking the silver and bronze, respectively.

All this proved too much for England's top player, Jonathan Penrose, who in his crucial last-round preliminary match, blundered a piece and fainted from the shock.

A nervous player at the best of times, he was retired from the rest of the contest on medical grounds and England ended up in Group C, below their seeding, which they then went on to win by a hefty margin.

Capturing the queen with the king was forced and so the player made the move for his opponent, declaring stalemate and shaking hands all in one movement.

Such actions could influence the qualification process below them and, as a deliberate ploy, could have assisted in assigning a strong rival to a lower final group.

As was customary, the FIDE congress was also held during the Olympiad and the major news concerned the retirement of President Folke Rogard after 21 years of service.

Another important issue was the presentation of a proposed new system for the awarding GM and IM titles; the congress adopted in full the report submitted by a committee comprising top player Svetozar Gligorić, Professor Arpad Elo and FIDE Vice President Mr. Dorazil.

There was no satisfactory explanation as to why (non-playing) team captain Paul Keres or one of Korchnoi's teammates could not have telephoned his room when noticing he was a few minutes late.