The First offical European Championship in Fischer Random was played on the 9th of March, on Bobby Fischer’s birthday….fittingly!
The tournament was held by the GAMMA Reykjavik Open organisers in co-ordination with the ECU and with great support from Susan Polgar. The atmosphere in the playing hall was tremendous and many players claimed it was the most fun they had in a while playing chess!
Before every round the starting position was randomly drawn so before the game instead of being relaxed you usually saw the players already pondering the starting position and possible plans.
After a long day of interesting battles a trio of American players lined themselves up in the first 3 places! Alexander Lenderman had the best tiebreaks and beat out fellow American Elshan Moradiabadi as they both racked up an impressive 7.5 out of 9. Next up was Joshua Friedel on 7 points. As they are all American and therefore not European, the 4th place finisher, Richard Rapport (also 7 points) was crowned the first European Champion of Fischer Random Chess!
The junior prize was grabbed by Dravid Shailesh from India and the top womens prize was won by Alina l’Ami who is therefore women’s European Champion! Susan Polgar generously donated those extra prizes to the tournament!
The highest placed local were Throstur Thorhallsson, Bjorn Thorfinnsson and Gudmundur Kjartansson.
Efstir Íslendinga voru Þröstur Þórhalsson, Björn Þorfinnsson og Guðmundur Kjartansson með 6 vinninga af 9.
Lilja Alfreðsdóttir, Minister of Education visisted the tournament and played the ceremonial first move before the last round.