Young German star Vincent Keymer has joined the leading pack after a fantastically resilient win against Czech top GM David Navara. In a way, Keymer had to win the game twice after missing a relatively straightforward win in time trouble. Keymer’s win was for sure the most exciting game of the round. After a great…
Anton Demchenko of Russia caught up to Rauf Mamedov with a nice win against Alexander Donchenko in the 7th round. Demchenko and Mamedov now lead the pack with 6 points out of 7. Rauf Mamedov was offered a short draw on the top board with the black pieces against Kacper Piorun, which he accepted. 7th…
After round three we were approached by a player who expressed that he had symptoms of Covid-19. He went through all the necessary tests and was declared by the doctors as a positive case. As consequence, everyone who was in contact with him was examined by the tracing team of the Icelandic Directorate of health…
Rauf Mamedov seperated himself from the leaders in the 6th round when he managed a nice win against Frenchman Maxime Lagarde. The Azeri veteran employed a rare 7…h6 move in the mainline King’s Indian and his surprise seemed to pay off. He sacrificed a pawn shortly thereafter, despite changing queens, and was very quickly ahead…
There was a shift in the lead in the 5th round as Rauf Mamedov from Azerbaijan managed to defeat the previous leader, Robert Hovhannisyan from Armenia. Joining him in the lead is Frenchman Maxime Lagarde who managed a good win with black versus Russian Mikhail Antipov and another Armenian comes to the rescue as Hovhannes…
Robert Hovhannisyan (2626) from Armenia was the only player on 3 out of 3 that managed to win his game in the 4th round. He, therefore, becomes the sole leader and the only player with a full house after four rounds. Robert managed to hold on to a rather early pawn grab and made the…
Seven players remain with a perfect score after an exciting third round at the Reykjavik Open / European Individual Championship. On the top board, locals had their eyes on the clash between Iceland #1 and German #1 as Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson (2603) battled with Matthias Bluebaum (2674). A draw was agreed after a dynamic battle…
After the second round, only one player out of the top 10 remains with 2 points out of the 2 games, according to my friend, an expert on free money games. This is Matthias Bluebaum (2674) from Germany who is among 20 players that have won both of their games so far at the European…
The first round of the Reykjavik Open / European Individual produced a very limited amount of upsets. But upsets it did produce! The tournament was opened by the Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrin Jakobsdottir and she was assisted by chair of the city council, Alexandra Briem, and Deputy President of ECU Gunnar Bjornsson. And we're…
With the arrival day behind us, everything is ready for the start of the 2021 European Individual Championship. While most of the participants arrived in Reykjavik, the hosts were busy setting up the playing hall and everything that entails. The drawing of lots was handled at the casual opening party. Chief arbiter Omar Salama administered…
