The 28th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open^[1] and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 12 and November 30, 1988, in Thessaloniki, Greece.

After the successful 26th Olympiad in Thessaloniki in 1984, FIDE had agreed to hold every other Olympiad (the ones in Olympic years) in the home country of the Olympic movement - provided the Greek Chess Federation and government could provide the necessary funding. This was only the case once, in 1986; after that the Olympiad went back to a new host city every two years.

Israel was back, having been effectively banned from the previous Olympiad in Dubai, as was the countries that had stayed away in sympathy: The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Also reappearing in the Olympic arena - after a 16-year absence - was East Germany, who celebrated their return by beating their West German rivals 3-1.

The Soviet Union dominated as usual. With world champions Kasparov (reigning) and Karpov (former) on the top boards, they won by no less than six points. A strong English team took their third consecutive silver medals, while the returning Dutch team took the bronze.

Open event

107 teams from 106 different nations played a 14-round Swiss system tournament. Chile had also been signed up, but never arrived.

In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by using the Buchholz system, then by match points.

|+ Open event ! # !! Country !! Players !! Average
rating !! Points !! Buchholz |- | bgcolor="gold"|1 || || Kasparov, Karpov, Yusupov, Beliavsky, Ehlvest, Ivanchuk || 2694 || 40 || |- | bgcolor="silver"|2 || || Short, Speelman, Nunn, Chandler, Mestel, Watson || 2635 || 34 || 457.0 |- | bgcolor="cc9966"|3 || || Van der Wiel, Sosonko, Van der Sterren, Piket, Kuijf, Douven || 2513 || 34 || 455.0 |}

! # !! Country !! Average
rating !! Points !! Buchholz !! MP |- | 4 || || 2580 || 34 || 459.0 || |- | 5 || || 2604 || 34 || 456.5 || |- | 6 || || 2574 || 33 || || |- | 7 || || 2435 || 33 || 449.5 || |- | 8 || || 2441 || 33 || 447.0 || |- | 9 || || 2520 || 33 || 439.5 || |- | 10 || || 2486 || 33 || 434.5 || |- | 11 || || 2481 || 33 || 432.5 || |- | 12 || || 2538 || 32 || 458.0 || |- | 13 || || 2518 || 32 || 446.0 || |- | 14 || || 2420 || 32 || 423.0 || |- | 15 || || 2550 || 32 || 449.5 || |- | 16 || || 2475 || 32 || 449.0 || |- | 17 || || 2508 || 32 || 444.5 || |- | 18 || || 2540 || 32 || 435.5 || |- | 19 || || 2466 || 32 || 393.5 || |- | 20 || || 2480 || 31 || 423.0 || |- | 21 || || 2460 || 31 || 419.0 || 17 |- | 22 || || 2479 || 31 || 419.0 || 13 |- | 23 || || 2406 || 31 || 416.0 || |- | 24 || || 2520 || 31 || 449.0 || |- | 25 || || 2476 || 31 || 441.0 || |- | 26 || || 2453 || 31 || 431.5 || |- | 27 || || 2449 || 31 || 419.0 || |- | 28 || || 2415 || 31 || 411.0 || |- | 29 || || 2251 || 31 || 325.0 || |- | 30 || || 2383 || 30 || 431.0 || |- | 31 || || 2473 || 30 || 429.5 || |- | 32 || || 2420 || 30 || 421.0 || |- | 33 || || 2364 || 30 || 415.0 || |- | 34 || || 2388 || 30 || 412.0 || |- | 35 || || 2406 || 30 || 431.5 || |- | 36 || || 2460 || 30 || 428.0 || |- | 37 || || 2439 || 30 || 411.0 || |- | 38 || || 2321 || 30 || 405.0 || |- | 39 || || 2354 || 30 || 365.5 || |- | 40 || || 2414 || 29 || 412.0 || |- | 41 || || 2261 || 29 || 376.0 || |- | 42 || || 2280 || 29 || 368.5 || |- | 43 || || 2450 || 29 || 418.5 || |- | 44 || || 2398 || 29 || 413.0 || |- | 45 || || 2348 || 29 || 412.0 || |- | 46 || || 2290 || 29 || 411.0 || |- | 47 || || 2280 || 29 || 410.5 || |- | 48 || || 2250 || 29 || 401.5 || |- | 49 || || 2284 || 29 || 394.5 || |- | 50 || || 2260 || 28 || 403.0 || |- | 51 || || 2278 || 28 || 391.5 || |- | 52 || || 2305 || 28 || 403.0 || |- | 53 || || 2221 || 28 || 373.0 || |- | 54 || || 2381 || 27 || 410.0 || |- | 55 || "B" || 2288 || 27 || 407.0 || |- | 56 || || 2345 || 27 || 403.5 || |- | 57 || || 2270 || 27 || 395.0 || |- | 58 || || 2211 || 27 || 393.0 || |- | 59 || || 2239 || 27 || 391.0 || |- | 60 || || 2201 || 27 || 390.0 || |- | 61 || || 2200 || 27 || 381.0 || |- | 62 || || 2240 || 27 || 380.5 || |- | 63 || || 2293 || 27 || 377.5 || |- | 64 || || 2230 || 27 || 371.0 || |- | 65 || || 2231 || 27 || 375.5 || |- | 66 || || 2200 || 27 || 372.5 || |- | 67 || || 2203 || 26 || 390.0 || |- | 68 || || 2209 || 26 || 383.0 || |- | 69 || || 2206 || 26 || 377.5 || |- | 70 || || 2201 || 26 || 368.5 || |- | 71 || Libya || 2201 || 26 || 361.0 || |- | 72 || || 2204 || 26 || 344.0 || |- | 73 || || 2228 || 26 || 383.5 || |- | 74 || || 2203 || 26 || 371.0 || |- | 75 || || 2233 || 26 || 354.5 || |- | 76 || || 2200 || 26 || 347.5 || |- | 77 || || 2210 || 25 || 376.0 || |- | 78 || || 2234 || 25 || 369.5 || |- | 79 || || 2200 || 25 || 364.0 || |- | 80 || || 2200 || 25 || 279.5 || |- | 81 || || 2201 || 25 || 356.0 || |- | 82 || || 2201 || 25 || 334.0 || |- | 83 || || 2200 || 25 || 322.0 || |- | 84 || || 2226 || 24 || 382.0 || |- | 85 || || 2201 || 24 || 372.0 || |- | 86 || || 2210 || 24 || 371.5 || |- | 87 || North Yemen || 2201 || 24 || 360.0 || |- | 88 || Palestine || 2206 || 24 || 359.5 || |- | 89 || || 2201 || 24 || 350.0 || |- | 90 || || 2203 || 24 || 305.5 || |- | 91 || || 2204 || 24 || 350.0 || |- | 92 || || 2200 || 24 || 317.0 || |- | 93 || || 2200 || 24 || 295.0 || |- | 94 || || 2200 || 24 || 293.5 || |- | 95 || || 2203 || 23 || 372.5 || |- | 96 || || 2201 || 23 || 365.0 || |- | 97 || || 2203 || 23 || 288.5 || |- | 98 || and || 2220 || 23 || 327.5 || |- | 99 || || 2203 || 23 || 315.5 || |- | 100 || || 2200 || 23 || 295.5 || |- | 101 || || 2203 || 22 || 346.0 || |- | 102 || || 2200 || 22 || 293.0 || |- | 103 || || 2201 || 21 || || |- | 104 || || 2201 || 18 || || |- | 105 || || 2201 || 16 || || |- | 106 || || 2201 || 14 || || |- | 107 || || 2200 || 10 || || |}

Individual medals

• Performance rating: Garry Kasparov 2877

• Board 1: Garry Kasparov 8 / 10 = 85.0 %
• Board 2: Anatoly Karpov 8 / 10 = 80.0 %
• Board 3: Carlos Antonio Reyes N jera 7 / 10 = 75.0 %
• Board 4: Suchart Chaivichit 8 / 9 = 88.9 %
• 1st reserve: Ennio Arlandi and Eduardo V squez 5 / 7 = 78.6 %
• 2nd reserve: Tahmidur Rahman and Jorge Gom z Baillo 6 / 7 = 85.7 %

Best combination

The 'Best combination' prize went to Carsten H i (Denmark) - Boris Gulko (USA) from round 4.

Women's results

56 teams from 55 different nations took part. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided first by using the Buchholz system, then by match points.

The Soviet Union had won 10 of the previous 11 Olympiads, but this time they were bested by a Hungarian teenage team featuring 19-year-old M dl as well as all three Polg r sisters: Zsuzsa (also 19), Zs fia (14), and Judit (12). The biggest star of the women's event was 12-year-old prodigy Judit, who scored 12 points in 13 games and won her board as well as the overall performance rating.

! # !! Country !! Players !! Average
rating !! Points |- | bgcolor="gold"|1 || || Zsuzsa Polg r, J. Polg r, M dl, Zs fia Polg r || 2400 || 33 |- | bgcolor="silver"|2 || || Chiburdanidze, Akhmilovskaya, Levitina, Litinskaya || 2455 || 32 |- | bgcolor="cc9966"|3 || || Mari , Markovi , Maksimovi , Ba agi || 2300 || 28 |}

! # !! Country !! Average
rating !! Points !! Buchholz |- | 4 || || 2095 || 27 || |- | 5 || || 2275 || 24 || 344.5 |- | 6 || || 2267 || 24 || 344.0 |- | 7 || || 2207 || 24 || 343.0 |- | 8 || || 2170 || 24 || 336.5 |- | 9 || || 2278 || 23 || 342.5 |- | 10 || || 2203 || 23 || 319.5 |- | 11 || || 2282 || 23 || 349.5 |- | 12 || || 2300 || 23 || 322.5 |- | 13 || || 2160 || 23 || 317.0 |- | 14 || || 2128 || 23 || 316.0 |- | 15 || || 2277 || 22 || 333.5 |- | 16 || || 2130 || 22 || 315.5 |- | 17 || || 2200 || 22 || 312.5 |- | 18 || || 2228 || 22 || 311.5 |- | 19 || || 2123 || 22 || 303.5 |- | 20 || || 2073 || 22 || 302.5 |- | 21 || || 2115 || 22 || 309.0 |- | 22 || || 2205 || 22 || 259.5 |- | 23 || || 2242 || 21 || 343.0 |- | 24 || || 2240 || 21 || 329.5 |- | 25 || "B" || 2013 || 21 || 297.0 |- | 26 || || 2125 || 21 || 296.0 |- | 27 || || 2088 || 21 || 295.0 |- | 28 || || 2002 || 21 || 294.5 |- | 29 || || 2012 || 21 || 291.0 |- | 30 || || 2000 || 21 || 286.0 |- | 31 || || 2003 || 21 || 283.0 |- | 32 || || 2005 || 21 || 271.0 |- | 33 || || 2088 || 21 || 313.5 |- | 34 || || 2023 || 21 || 309.0 |- | 35 || || 2008 || 21 || 296.5 |- | 36 || || 2035 || 21 || 285.0 |- | 37 || || 2010 || 21 || 276.0 |- | 38 || || 2003 || 21 || 253.0 |- | 39 || || 2013 || 20 || 302.0 |- | 40 || || 2025 || 20 || 286.0 |- | 41 || || 2075 || 20 || 277.5 |- | 42 || || 2000 || 20 || 267.5 |- | 43 || || 2000 || 20 || 275.5 |- | 44 || || 2000 || 20 || 262.0 |- | 45 || || 2012 || 19 || |- | 46 || || 2018 || 19 || 280.5 |- | 47 || || 2002 || 19 || 238.0 |- | 48 || || 2003 || 19 || 236.0 |- | 49 || || 2002 || 17 || 234.0 |- | 50 || || 2000 || 17 || 229.5 |- | 51 || || 2000 || 16 || |- | 52 || || 2000 || 14 || |- | 53 || || 2000 || 14 || |- | 54 || || 2000 || 12 || |- | 55 || || 2000 || 8 || |- | 56 || || 2000 || 2 || |}

Individual medals

• Performance rating: Judit Polg r 2694

• Board 1: Pia Cramling 12 / 14 = 89.3 %
• Board 2: Judit Polg r 12 / 13 = 96.2 %
• Board 3: Peng Zhaoqin (10 /14) and Maria Horvath (9/12) = 75.0 %
• Reserve: Y. Begum 6 / 8 = 81.3 %

References

• 28th Chess Olympiad: Thessaloniki 1988 OlimpBase

ca:Olimp ada d'escacs de 1988 de:Schacholympiade 1988 fr:Olympiade d' checs de 1988 it:Olimpiadi degli scacchi del 1988 he: 1988 ka: XXVIII mk: 1988 pl:Olimpiada szachowa 1988 pt:Olimp ada de xadrez de 1988 sl:28. ahovska olimpijada fi:Shakkiolympialaiset 1988 uk: 1988