The GAMMA Reykjavik Open will keep on going strong in 2019 and we will continue playing in the beautiful Harpa venue. In 2018 we had 248 players from 34 countries and a strong field with 27 GM’s. A true chess experience like no other and we also have plenty of special events during the tournament,…
The 2018 GAMMA Reykjavik Open has successfully concluded and the closing ceremony was held in the Reykjavik City Hall. Líf Magneudóttir, president of the City Council, assisted with the proceedings. Earlier that day, Gunnar Bjornsson the president of the Icelandic Chess Federation and Dagur B. Eggertsson Mayor signed a 3 year deal to have…
Heading into the last round, Baskaran Adhiban had to face Mustafa Yilmaz with the black pieces in a decisive game for the title! Yilmaz had the white pieces and opened with his usual 1.d4 and Adhiban went for a Stonewall setup. The game had some dynamics in the middlegame and white had chances of a…
Fantastic news for the future and organisation of the GAMMA Reykjavik Open. Today before the 8th round it was announced that GAMMA will be renewing their sponsorship deal for another three years! It is also clear that Harpa will be available as the playing venue. After the announcement, Agnar Tomas Moller made the first move…
There was loads of action in the 8th and penultimate round of the GAMMA Reykjavik Open. Before the round, Rapport and Adhiban led with 6 out of 7 and their matchup on board one was highly anticipated. Very surprsingly and after interesting opening play by Adhiban, Rapport blundered horribly missing a simple tactic. To Adhibans…
Richard Rapport and Baskaran Adhiban are now leading the GAMMA Reykjavik Open after a pair of nice wins in the 7th round. Rapport defeated the recent winner of the European Fischer Random tournament. Rapport had the white pieces and in a slightly unusual Sicilian sideline Rapport got good control of the e5 square in a…
The Turkish GM Mustafa Yilmaz won the annual Harpa Blitz tournament which was held on Saturday 10th of March. A total of about 60 players showed up for the blitz and along with Yilmaz the top contenders figured to be Uzbek GM-elect Noridbek Abdusattarov and former winner Yaacov Norowitz. In the end, these three turned…
The top tables at the GAMMA Reykjavik Open drew their games and this opened the door for several players half a point behind to catch up. Lenderman and Yilmaz fought in a long double rook endgame but Lenderman held on for a draw. On board two Nihal Sarin agreed to a draw against Gata Kamsky…
Despite Iceland buthering the Dutch on the football pitch, the Dutch duo of Peter Doggers and Arne Moll don’t seem to mind visiting the Reykjavik Open. Peter has been handling the broadcasts at the Reykjavik Open for a long time now and Arne has visited the tournament on a number of occasions. They both…
During Reykjavik Open 2018, a chess set used during The Match of the Century is on view at the National Museum of Iceland. The chess tournament Reykjavik Open 2018 is held in commemoration of Bobby Fischer. During the Match in 1972 two grandmasters, Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, represented the two superpowers of The Cold War –…
