Triennial Cup 1954-1956

Poland, Czechoslovakia, HungaryThe Triennial Cup was founded by Hungarian Sports Ministry in 1954. Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland, three member countries of the communist bloc were invited to participate. There were three consecutive events held year by year in January as each tournament took place in a capital city of one of participating states. Home nation had right to field a reserve team (playing outside the competition though) and the reserve teams competed in parallel for separate cup awarded to the team scoring most points in its appearance.

The competition was tough and strong. All of teams made efforts to send best players to fight for the cup. All of the three editions looked similar regardding the outcome: Hungary won with a narrow margin over Czechoslovakia while Poland came far behind the leaders. In 1954 Hungarian reserves won second position actually, but their score did not count. Both Hungarian teams won the Cups in respective competitions (see final standings below).


Triennial Cup final results

no. team code 1954 1955 1956 ∑
1. Hungary HUN 11
(1.)		 19
(1.)		 21
(1.)		 51
2. Czechoslovakia CSR 7½
(2.)		 18
(2.)		 17
(2.)		 42½
3. Poland POL 5½
(3.)		 11
(3.)		 10
(3.)		 26½

Reserve teams' standings
no. team code pts
(year)
1. Hungary "B" HUN2 27*
(1954)
2. Czechoslovakia "B" CSR2 15
(1955)
3. Poland "B" POL2 14
(1956)
* team's true score (13½) was doubled because 1954 was a single round robin and not double round robin as 1955 and 1956.