Satranç Olimpiyatı), organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open[1] and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess event that took place in Istanbul, Turkey,[2] from 27 August to 10 September 2012.

[8][9] Armenia, led by world number 2 Levon Aronian, won their third title after previously winning the event in 2006 and 2008.

The Armenians and Russians won their final matches but Ukraine edged the leading Chinese team 3–1 preventing them from winning a medal.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on the third board had the best performance of all players in the tournament: The women's event was contested by 127 teams representing 122 nations.

Both teams were tied again in the final standings, but this time it was Russia winning the tie-breaker to secure their second consecutive title.

Nadezhda Kosintseva on third board had the best performance of all players in the tournament: The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is awarded to the nation that has the highest total number of match points in the open and women's divisions combined.

On 24 November 2010, The New York Times published an article concerning the possibilities that the Turkish Chess Federation has paid the voters amount of $120,000 in order to win the bids to organize the Olympiad.

In the financial report published on the official website of the Turkish Chess Federation there was a footnote, which translated into English points on the allocation of these costs for stand, souvenirs, lobbying activities, as well as accommodation, transportation and food for some of the FIDE delegates to vote for the city.

[10] The official answer of the Turkish Chess Federation denied the claim and mentioned that the sum spent is not very big when bidding to host an Olympiad.

[10] In June 2012, Ali Nihat Yazıcı, President of the Turkish Chess Federation, announced that no arbiters from Germany, England, France, Georgia, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States would be accepted for the event because of the involvement of those countries in launching or supporting court cases against FIDE, causing financial problems and a loss of distributable income for worldwide chess development.

[6] Russian journalist Evgeny Surov was denied accreditation and was not even allowed to enter the venue as a spectator.