Soccer…ermm…sorry Football Match!

The rusty winger Peter Doggers surely wouldn’t like me calling the beautiful game “soccer” so we’ll stick to football because it’s played with the feet (unlike American Football which has very little to do with feet). Well…basically more or less (The trademark Ivan Sokolov opening of a story) we played the 3rd annual Football match…

Dinner for two

by Ian Rogers At the Reykjavik Open, the conditions for the top players include coupons for some of Reykjavik’s best restaurants. The Grandmaster couple Erwin and Alina l’Ami have been enjoying their meals at a rather later time than most, given their propensity for marathon games. In the fourth round Alina found herself in a…

Round 7: Not exactly chess

The Reykjavik Open is more than just a tournament; it should be called a chess festival. In the last few days there have been quite a lot of side events, such as a pub quiz, a blitz tournament and a soccer football match! It’s not easy to be modest and at the same time write about something you…

Some side-event news

There is almost no time to do nothing here in Reykjavik…..because of all the fun! When we are not playing the tournament or watching/following/commenting we are doing some fun side events. On Friday we had the 5th edition of the Pub Quiz. This year the questions were very hard and the winners were chess journalists…

Round 6: What to do with those rooks?

“There was a man of the North, Ingólfr, who is truly said to be the first leave it for Iceland, in the time when Haraldr the Fair-Haired was sixteen winters of age (…), he settled south in Reykjavík.” This is taken from Íslendingabók, the Book of Icelanders, written in the 12th century by an Icelandic priest.…

Rounds 4-5: Chess tourists

As Oscar Wilde once quipped, the Icelanders are very smart people. “They discovered America and kept quiet about it!” This quote was one of many little stories that were told by our tour guide on Friday, when over fifty chess players went on the famous Golden Circle tour, which visits Iceland’s main touristic attractions. In…

Harpa

by Ian Rogers Around a decade ago the Reykjavik Open moved to the impressive Reykjavik Town Hall, with views of icy waters shared by large numbers of ducks and swans. In those days Iceland was the rich uncle of Europe and the fine  playing conditions for the biennial Open were not surprising. Returning many years…

Links to coverage online

Chessdom has some coverage on US players: http://usa.chessdom.com/gm-yuri-shulman-among-leaders-in-reykjavik-open/ The Philippines are watching their man closely: http://philboxing.com/news/story-80618.html ChessVibes with link to all the interviews so far: http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/reykjavik-open-rounds-2-3-harpacoustics Chessdom: http://www.chessdom.com/the-real-action-begins-at-reykjavik/ Susan Polgar: http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2013/02/tough-battles-begin-in-reykjavik.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter chess.com with lots of comments: http://www.chess.com/news/reykjavik-open-2013-7015

Rounds 2-3: Harpacoustics

As you probably know, the Reykjavik Open is held – this year for the second time – in Harpa. Harpa is both a concert hall (it is the official home of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Icelandic Opera) and a conference centre, and it has quickly become a famous landmark, located next to Reykjavik’s harbour, from…

Round 1: Inspiration, enthusiasm, passion

The earliest settlers in Iceland probably weren’t planning to visit the country at all. In fact they had never heard of it, it wasn’t a country yet and it certainly wasn’t called Iceland yet! We’re talking about the 9th century, and brave men listening to names such as Naddoddr (a sailor from Norway) and Gardar…