Most Defended Square / Most Decisive Move
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete. FIDE organizes the tournament and selects the host nation.
Each chess association recognized by FIDE can enter a team into the Olympiad. Each team is made of up to five players, four regular players and one reserve (prior to the tournament in Dresden 2008 there were two reserves). Initially each team played all other teams but as the event grew over the years this became impossible, and in 1976 a Swiss tournament system was adopted.
The trophy for the winning team in the open section is the Hamilton-Russell Cup, which was offered by the English magnate Frederick Hamilton-Russell as a prize for the 1st Olympiad (London 1927). The cup is kept by the winning team until the next event, when it is consigned to the next winner. The trophy for the winning women's team is known as the Vera Menchik Cup in honor of the first Women's World Chess Champion.
The 35th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, took place between October 25 and November 11, 2002, in Bled, Slovenia. (Slovenia is a small republic that was part of Yugoslavia until 1991 and Bled is a little town a 20-minute drive from Italy and Austria, that has a beautiful lake with the small island occupied by an old church building with the icy Alps in the background). There were 135 teams in the open event and 90 in the women's event.
A 2002 Romanian stamp sheet featuring the logo of the 35th Chess Olympiad
Both tournament sections were officiated by International Arbiter Geurt Gijssen (Netherlands). Teams were paired across the 14 rounds of competition
according to the Swiss system. The open division was played over four boards per round, while the women's was played over three. In the event of a draw, the tie-break was decided by 1. The Buchholz system; and 2. Match points.
The time control for each game permitted each player 90 minutes for all their moves, with an additional 30 seconds increment for each player after each move, beginning with the first.
In addition to the overall medal winners, the teams were divided into seeding groups, with the top finishers in each group receiving special prizes.
The open division was contested by 135 teams representing 130 nations. Slovenia, as hosts, fielded three teams, while the International Braile Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provided one squad. Sudan were signed up but never arrived.
Open Event Top Ten
| # | Country | Players | Rating | Points |
| 1 | Russia | Kasparov, Grischuk, Khalifman, Morozevich, Svidler, Rublevsky | 2734 | 38.5 |
| 2 | Hungary | Leko, Polgar, Almasi, Gyimesi, Ruck, Acs | 2674 | 37.5 |
| 3 | Armenia | Akopian, Lputian, Asrian, Sargissian, Minasian, Anastasian | 2620 | 35 |
| 4 | Georgia | Azmaiparashvili, Sturua, Mchedlishvili, Jobava, Izoria, Gagunashvili | 2590 | 34 |
| 5 | China | Ye Jiangchuan, Xu Jun, Zhang Zhong, Bu Xiangzhi, Ni Hua, Zhang Pengxiang | 2633 | 33.5 |
| 6 | Netherlands | Van Wely, Sokolov, Tiviakov, Van den Doel, Nijboer, Ernst | 2648 | 33.5 |
| 7 | England | Adams, Short, Speelman, McShane, Conquest, Emms | 2640 | 33.5 |
| 8 | Slovakia | Movsesian, Ftacnik, Timoscenko, Markos, Manik, Plachetka | 2561 | 33 |
| 9 | Israel | Gelfand, Smirin, Sutovsky, Psakhis, Avrukh, Huzman | 2660 | 33 |
| 10 | Yugoslavia | Ljubojevic, Damljanovic, Ivanisevic, Kovacevic, Ilincic, Pikula | 2548 | 33 |
Both reigning world champions, Vladimir Kramnik (classical) and Viswanathan Anand (FIDE), were absent from the tournament. Meanwhile, the Russian team with two former world champions, Kasparov and Khalifman, won their sixth consecutive title. Hungary and Armenia took silver and bronze, respectively.
Women's Division Top Ten
| # | Country | Players | Rating | Points |
| 1 | China | Zhu Chen, Xu Yuhua, Wang Pin Zhao Xue | 2485 | 29.5 |
| 2 | Russia | Kovalevskaya, Matveeva, Kosteniuk, T. Kosintseva | 2462 | 29 |
| 3 | Poland | Radziewicz, Dworakowska, Socko, Kadziolka | 2388 | 28 |
| 4 | Georgia | Chiburdanidze, Ioseliani, Khurtsidze, Arakhamia-Grant | 2481 | 27.5 |
| 5 | Hungary | Vajda, Dembo, Lakos, Gara | 2363 | 25.5 |
| 6 | Ukraine | Zhukova, Vasilevich, Zatonskih, Gaponenko | 2424 | 25.5 |
| 7 | Yugoslavia | Bojkovic, Prudnikova, Chelushkina, Bendarac | 2403 | 25.5 |
| 8 | Azerbaijan | Velikhanli, Shukurova, Z. Mamedyarova, T. Mamedyarova | 2269 | 25.5 |
| 9 | United States | Krush, Baginskaite, Shahade, Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya | 2381 | 25 |
| 10 | Czech Republic | Jackova, Krupkova, Sikorova, Ptacnikova | 2316 | 25 |
The women's division was contested by 90 teams representing 85 nations. China were only narrow favorites on rating this time but still won their third consecutive title, led by reigning world champion Zhu Chen. Russia and Poland took the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is awarded to the nation that has the best average rank in the combined open and women's divisions. Where two or more teams are tied, they are ordered by best single finish in either division and then by total number of points scored.
The trophy was created by FIDE in 1997 and is named after the first female grandmaster Nona Gaprindashvili. Nona was the women's world champion from 1961 to 1978.
The game featured below was played during the 14th Round between Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant and Ana Benderac.
At the time Ana was a WIM rated 2300; and Ketevan was an IM rated 2413. Ana would later become a WGM in 2004 and achieved her peak rating of 2334 in April 2008. Ketevan went on to become a GM in 2009 and achieved her peak rating of 2506 at that same time (July 2009).
Ana Benderac and Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant
This amazing game features a missed opportunity on Ketevan's part to win. The most amazing element is that to find the winning move White have to have found a move that would land her Bishop on a square that was QUINTUPLE attacked by Black.
