The 18th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 17 and November 7, 1968, in Lugano, Switzerland.
The Soviet team with six GMs, led by world champion Petrosian, lived up to expectations and won their ninth consecutive gold medals, with Yugoslavia and Bulgaria taking the silver and bronze, respectively.
A total of 53 teams entered the competition and were divided into seven preliminary groups of seven or eight teams each. The top two from each group advanced to Final A, the teams placed third-fourth to Final B, no. 5-6 to Final C, and the rest to Final D. Preliminary head-to-head results were carried over to the finals, so no teams met more than once. All preliminary groups and finals were played as round-robin tournaments. The results were as follows:
Group 1: 1. Soviet Union, 2. Philippines, 3. England, 4. Israel, 5. Italy, 6. Portugal, 7. Mexico, 8. Cyprus.
Group 2: 1. Denmark, 2. United States, 3. Mongolia, 4. Austria, 5. Australia, 6. Venezuela, 7. France.
Group 3: 1. Yugoslavia, 2. Poland, 3. Spain, 4. Scotland, 5. South Africa, 6. Luxembourg, 7. Dominican Republic.
Group 4: 1. Hungary, 2. Canada, 3. Netherlands, 4. Belgium, 5. Monaco, 6. Ireland, 7. Paraguay, 8. Costa Rica.
Group 5: 1. West Germany, 2. Romania, 3. Switzerland, 4. Brazil, 5. Norway, 6. Puerto Rico, 7. Hong Kong, 8. Lebanon.
Group 6: 1. Argentina, 2. East Germany, 3. Finland, 4. Sweden, 5. Greece, 6. Morocco, 7. British Virgin Islands.
Group 7: 1. Bulgaria, 2. Czechoslovakia, 3. Iceland, 4. Cuba, 5. Tunisia, 6. Turkey, 7. Singapore, 8. Andorra.
Board 1: Tigran Petrosian 10½ / 12 = 87.5%
Board 2: Georgi Tringov 11 / 14 = 78.6%
Board 3: Viktor Korchnoi 11 / 13 = 84.6%
Board 4: Shimon Kagan 10½ / 13 = 80.8%
1st reserve: Glicerio Badilles 11½ / 14 = 82.1%
2nd reserve: Vassily Smyslov 11 / 12 = 91.7%
