The 21st Chess Olympiad (French: La 21e Olympiade d'échecs), organized by FIDE and comprising an open[1] team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between June 6 and June 30, 1974, in Nice, France.
Bobby Fischer was still the reigning World Champion, but had not played a single game of tournament chess since he won the title in 1972 and was not present in Nice either. However, the American team still managed to secure third place in his absence.
For the same reason, for the second time in a row, the Soviet team was not led by the current world champion. It did, however, feature three previous (Tal, Petrosian, and Spassky) as well as one future champion (Karpov). The team won by 8½ points, the biggest victory margin yet, and took home their twelfth consecutive gold medals, with Yugoslavia and the United States taking the silver and bronze, respectively.
With a complete lack of tension in the championship race, the tournament had more than its share of political tension. In Final B, the Tunisian team refused to play Israel, so the score was computed according to Elo ratings, and awarded as a 3–1 win for the Israeli team.
Due to their apartheid policies, both South Africa and Rhodesia were expelled from FIDE with three rounds to go. The South African team withdrew from the tournament, and their Final C results were deleted from the overall standings. After FIDE president Max Euwe failed to have Rhodesia ejected from the Olympiad, they were allowed to finish the tournament and won Final E, with help from default victories against Iraq and Algeria who refused to play them in protest.
- ^ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to both male and female players.