1st unofficial Chess Olympiad
International chess tournament
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The 1st Team Chess Tournament was held together with the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, 12–20 July 1924, at the Hotel Majestic. Fifty-four players representing 18 countries were split into nine preliminary groups of six. The winner of each round qualified for the Championship while the rest joined an eight-round Swiss consolation tournament.[1][2] The event was organized by the French Chess Federation (FFE) after they unsuccessfully campaigned to include chess as an Olympic sport in the 1924 Summer Olympics.[3]
Edith Holloway played on the British team,[1] making her the first woman to play in an unofficial chess Olympiad, 26 years before the first woman played in an official chess Olympiad.[4]
Results
The final results were as follows:
Amateur World Championship
# Player Points Buch 1 
Hermanis Matisons (LAT)5.5 2 Fricis Apšenieks (LAT)5.0 3 
Edgard Colle (BEL)4.5 4 
Árpád Vajda (HUN)4 16.75 5 
Machgielis Euwe (NED)4 15.75 6 
Anatol Tschepurnoff (FIN)4 14.75 7 
Luis Argentino Palau (ARG)3.5 8 
Manuel Golmayo de la Torriente (ESP)3 9 Kornél Havasi (HUN)2.5
Consolation Cup
# Player Σ Points Qual. Final 1 
Karel Hromádka (TCH)9.5 3 6.5 2 Jan Schulz (TCH)9 4 5 3 
Erwin Voellmy (SUI)8.5 3.5 5 4 Kārlis Bētiņš (LAT)8 2 6 
Georges Renaud (FRA)8 3 5 Roberto Grau (ARG)8 3.5 4.5 George Koltanowski (BEL)8 3.5 4.5 8 
Giovanni Cenni (ITA)7.5 1.5 6 Endre Steiner (HUN)7.5 2 5.5 Otto Zimmermann (SUI)7.5 2.5 5 
Dawid Daniuszewski (POL)7.5 2.5 5 Károly Sterk (HUN)7.5 3 4.5 Damián Reca (ARG)7.5 3.5 4 14–45 etc.
Individual medals
# Player Achievement 1 Hermanis Matisons (LAT)Championship Final Winner 2 Fricis Apšenieks (LAT)Championship Final 2nd place Edgard Colle (BEL)Championship Final 3rd place 3 Árpád Vajda (HUN)Championship Final Participant Machgielis Euwe (NED)Championship Final Participant Anatol Tschepurnoff (FIN)Championship Final Participant 
Luis Argentino Palau (ARG)Championship Final Participant Manuel Golmayo de la Torriente (ESP)Championship Final Participant Kornél Havasi (HUN)Championship Final Participant Karel Hromádka (TCH)Consolation Cup Winner
Team classification
# Team Points Players 1 Czechoslovakia31 Hromádka 9½, Schulz 9, Vaněk 6½, Skalička 6 2 Hungary30 Vajda 8, Sterk 7½, Steiner E. 7½, Havasi 7 3 Switzerland29 Voellmy 8½, Zimmermann 7½, Johner H. 6½, Naegeli 6½ 4 Latvia27.5 Apšenieks 10, Matisons 9½, Bētiņš 8 Argentina27.5 Grau 8, Reca 7½, Palau 7, Fernández Coria 5 6 Italy26.5 Cenni 7½, Rosselli del Turco 7, Romih 6½, Miliani 5½ 7 France25.5 Renaud 8, Lazard F. 6½, Duchamp 6, Gibaud 5 Poland25.5 Daniuszewski 7½, Piltz 6, Kohn 6, Kleczyński 6 9 Belgium24 Colle 8½, Koltanowski 8, Lancel 5, Jonet 2½ 10 Spain19 Golmayo Torriente 7, Marin y Llovet 6, Rey Ardid 6 11 Netherlands18.5 Euwe 8, Oskam 6, Rueb 4½ 12 
Romania18 Davidescu 7, Gudju 6, Loewenton 5 13 Finland15 Tschepurnoff 9, Malmberg 6 14 
Great Britain12.5 Handasyde 6, Wreford-Brown 3½ Holloway 3 15 
Irish Free State5.5 O'Hanlon 5½ 16 
Canada5 Smith 5 17 
Russia[a]4.5 Potemkine 3, Kahn 1½ 18 
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes2.5 Rozić 2½
FIDE
On 20 July, the last day of the games, 15 delegates from all over the World signed the proclamation act of the International Chess Federation (originally known as Fédération Internationale des Échecs in French) and elected Alexander Rueb of the Netherlands the first FIDE president.
Latin motto Gens una sumus ("we are one family") became official and well-recognized watchword of the chess unity. Below is the historic list of 15 founders of FIDE: Abonyi (Hungary), Grau (Argentina), Gudju (Romania), Marusi (Italy), Nicolet (Switzerland), Ovadija (Yugoslavia), Penalver y Zamora (Spain), Rawlins (Great Britain), Rueb (Netherlands), Skalička (Czechoslovakia), Smith (Canada), Towbin (Poland), Tschepurnoff (Finland), Vincent (France), Weltjens (Belgium).
Notes
- Potemkine and Kahn were White émigrés living in Paris and represented "Russia", not the Soviet Union.