The first world team competition took place in Paris in 1924 to coincide with the Olympic Games. There were 54 players from 18 countries. Czechoslovakia won the Gold Medal. The Silver went to Hungary and the Bronze went to Switzerland. The individual Gold went to Herman Mattison of Latvia.
Another world team competition took place in Budapest in 1926, but only 4 teams showed up. Hungary won that event.
The very first official chess olympiad began in London in 1927. Hungary won the gold medal. 16 teams participated. The women did not participate until 1957. The official title of Chess Olympiad did not happen until 1952.
In 1930, Alekhine was the first player to score 100% out of 9 games. In 2002, Robert Gwaze of Zimbabwe became the second person to score 100% out of 9 games.
In 1933 at Folkestone, Combe of Scotland lost to Hasenfuss of Latvia in 4 moves, the shortest chess olympiad game ever. The game went Combe - Hasenfuss, 1.d4 c5 2.e4 cxd4 3.Nf3 e5 4.Nxe5? Qa5+ and White resigns as he loses his knight.
A chess olympiad was held in Munich in 1936 to coincide with the Olympic Games. However, Germany was not a member of FIDE, so it was an unofficial olympiad.
In 1950, Chaude de Silans played on the French team, the first woman to do so.
At the 1960 chess olympiad in Leipzig, Max Euwe won 3 games, drew 7 games, and lost 6 games for the worst score by a Grandmaster in olympiad history.
After the 1962 Varna chess olympiad, Milton Ioannidis had the worst score of any player in the chess olympics, with 20 losses.
Just before the beginning of the 1966 Havana chess olympiad, Tal was hit in the head with a bottle in a bar and was beaten up because he was flirting with some husband's wife. Tal was taken to the hospital and missed the first 5 rounds.
In 1970, Andrew Sherman played for the Virgin Islands at the age of 11.
At the 1976 chess olympiad in Buenos Aires, a member of a Middle East team tried to buy one of the girls working at the site for $1 million. The offer was not taken up.
In 1976 an unofficial chess olympics was held in Tripoli, Libya in protest to the main chess olympiad in Haifa. Italy was the only country to send teams to both events.
In 1980, John Jarecki played for the Virgin Islands at the age of 11.
In 1982, the Ugandan team showed up in Lugano, site of the 1968 Olympiad team. They finally showed up at Lucerne after the first round.
At the 1984 chess olympiad in Thessaloniki, Greece, Ion Gudju of Romania served on the appeals committee. He was 87 years old and may be the oldest player to participate in the chess olympics. He played in the first unofficial chess olympiad in 1924 in Paris.
At the 1986 chess olympiad in Dubai, 10 year old Heidi Cueller represented Guatamala and may be the youngest player to participate in the chess olympics.
In 1988 at Thessaloniki, the Seirawan-Xu game lasted 190 moves and was a draw.
The 1990 chess olympiad was the appearance of the Soviet Union and East Germany.
The 1992 chess olympiad was the first to have multiple teams from the former Soviet Union. Instead of 1 USSR team, there were 12 teams from the former Soviet Union. They took the Gold, Silver, and Bronze and none of these ex Soviet Union countries had a minus score.
The 2002 Bled Olympiad was the first to test for drugs through a urine sample. All 802 players passed.
In 2004, Bill Hook played for the Virgin Islands at the age of 79.
In 2004, the USA team was made up of 6 ex-Soviet players: Onischuk, Shabalov, Goldin, Kaidanov, Novikov, and Gulko.
In 2004, a player from Papau New Guinea and a player from Bermuda refused to submit to a urine sample to test for drugs. Their teams were punished by points taken away. New Guinea went from 117th place to 126th place.
From 1956 to 2000, Lajos Portisch has played in 20 chess olympiads, more than anyone else.
Here is the list of chess olympiads:
# YEAR PLACE Teams WINNERS
1924 Paris 18 Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Switzerland
1926 Budapest 04 Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania
01 1927 London 16 Hungary, Denmark, England
02 1928 The Hague 17 Hungary, United States, Poland
03 1930 Hamburg 18 Poland, Hungary, Germany
04 1931 Prague 19 USA, Poland, Czechoslovakia
05 1933 Folkestone 15 USA, Czechoslovakia, Sweden
06 1935 Warsaw 20 USA, Sweden, Poland
1936 Munich 21 Hungary, Poland, Germany
07 1937 Stockholm 19 US, Hungary, Poland
08 1939 Buenos Aires 26 Czechoslovakia, Poland, England
09 1950 Dubrovnik 16 Yugoslavia, Argentina, West Germany
10 1952 Helsinki 25 USSR, Argentina, Yugoslavia
11 1954 Amsterdam 26 USSR, Argentina, Yugoslavia
12 1956 Moscow 34 USSR, Yugoslavia, Hungary
13 1958 Munich 36 USSR, Yugoslavia, Argentina
14 1960 Leipzig 40 USSR, USA, Yugoslavia
15 1962 Varna 37 USSR, Yugoslavia, Argentina
16 1964 Tel Aviv 50 USSR, Yugoslavia, West Germany
17 1966 Havana 52 USSR, USA, Hungary
18 1968 Lugano 53 USSR, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria
19 1970 Siegen 60 USSR, Hungary, Yugoslavia
20 1972 Skopje 62 USSR, Hungary, Yugoslavia
21 1974 Nice 73 USSR, Yugoslavia, USA
22 1976 Haifa 48 USA, Netherlands, England
1976 Tripoli 37 El Salvador
23 1978 Buenos Aires 66 Hungary, USSR, USA
24 1980 Malta 82 USSR, Hungary, Yugoslavia
25 1982 Lucerne 91 USSR, Czechoslovakia, USA
26 1984 Thessalonika 88 USSR, England, USA
27 1986 Dubai 108 USSR, England, USA
28 1988 Thessalonika 107 USSR, England, Netherlands
29 1990 Novi Sad 108 USSR, USA, England
30 1992 Manila 102 Russia, Uzbekistan, Armenia
31 1994 Moscow 124 Russia I, Bosnia, Russia II
32 1996 Yerevan 114 Russia, Ukraine, USA
33 1998 Elista 110 Russia, USA, Ukraine
34 2000 Istanbul 136 Russia, Germany, Ukraine
35 2002 Bled 135 Russia, Hungary, Armenia
36 2004 Calvia 129 Ukraine, Russia, Armenia
37 2006 Turin, Italy