We are one day away from the 2015 Reykjavik Open! The 3oth edition of the tournament will take place between March 10th and 18th. This years tournament is to honor the recent 80th birthday of local chess hero and Iceland’s first Grandmaster, Fridrik Olafsson. It looks like we will break another record this year as…
World Champion Magnus Carlsen will be guest of honor at this year Reykjavik Open. Magnus will be visiting Iceland between the 13th and 16th of March. What Magnus will be up to during his stay can’t be disclosed for now but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him visit Bobby Fischer’s grave or visit during…
Following the 50 year anniversary of the Reykjavik Open last year GM Helgi Olafsson took on the massive assignment of documenting the history of this prestigious tournament. Before the start of this years open the first volume of two will be published in Iceland. Although the book is in Icelandic, we know that many book…
If you need another reason to visit Iceland and the Reykjavik Open, look no forther than the solar eclipse which is scheduled to happen on the 20th of March, just after the tournament. This solar eclipse is supposed to be the greatest one in 60 years. The moon is set to cover about 99% of…
Today a new sponsorship contract was signed with the investment firm GAMMA which will be the main sponsor of the Reykjavik Open for the next four years. The signature on the contract was very fittingly done on the national chess day in Iceland and of course it’s no coincidence that today is also the 80th…
The dates are set for the 2015 Reykjavik Open, mark March 10th-18th on your calendar! The venue is the same as the last few years, the Harpan Conference Hall. The 2015 tournament falls on the same year as the 80th birthday of arguably the most legendary chessplayer in Icelandic Chess history, GM Fridrik Olafsson. The…
The special events have become more and more important with each year as we keep trying to improve the Reykjavik Open and the overall experience for our guests. The Golden Circle has been a mainstay now for many years and this year we had several events that we have had before like the blitz tournament,…
The Chinese Grandmaster Li Chao (2700) was the sole winner of the N1 Reykjavik Open which finished yesterday in Harpa Music&Conference hall. Li Chao finishd with 8,5 points over 10 rounds of play. Helgi Ólafsson (2546) was the leading Icelandic player in joint 2nd-5th with 8 points and joined by Robin Van Kampen, Eric Hansen and…
Li Chao takes it all here in Reykjavik with a very impressive score of 8.5/10. Congratulations!! Behind him 4 players are tied for 2nd place with 8/10: Robin van Kampen, Eric Hansen, Eduardas Rozentalis and Helgi Olafsson. The closing ceremony will start in half an hour at the Rekjavik city hall!
At the start of today’s round 9 I predicted a lot of decisive on the top boards, but what happened exceeded even my expectations… There was not a single draw on the first 9 boards!! On board 1 Li Chao lined up a 3rd consecutive win, this time against Richard Rapport. This game was a…
