What do these results from the 8th round have in common? Alexander Ipatov – Ding Liren 0-1 Wei Yi – Vachier-Lagrave 1-0 Bartosz Socko – Hannes Stefansson 0-1 Hjörvar Grétarsson – Sopiko Guramishvili 0-1 Sebastien Mazé – Wang Jue 0-1 Cherednichenko – Aman Hambleton 1-0 Well, so what do the players in bold and losers…
DetailsWith modern technology and internet, the question has become: Is it enough to look up your opponent in the chess databases? Going beyond that and googling/youtubing his opponent, IM Gretarsson would have found out that WGM Sopiko Guramishvili might have a thing for the Slav, well at least according to the above screenshot from…
DetailsThere’s something special about this year’s Reykjavik Open. Not only do we have a record number of 227 participants from no less than 37 federations, but there’s an especially big delegation from China: GM Ding Liren (2709), GM Yu Yangyi (2688), GM Bu Xiangzhi (2675), GM Xiu Deshun (2530), IM Wei Yi (2501), WGM Huang Qian (2478), IM Lou Yiping (2468), WGM Tan…
DetailsAn interview with one of the most successful Icelandic grandmasters ever: Johann Hjartarson. In 1987 he finished equal first at the Interzonal tournament in Szirak, Hungary and qualified for the World Championship Candidates Tournament in 1988. he defeated Viktor Kortchnoi but lost to Anatoly Karpov in the quarter finals. Hjartarson talks about the tournament, about…
DetailsAn interview with 14-year-old Chinese IM Wei Yi, who will probably clinch the GM title in Reykjavik. He already has two GM norms, and it looks like he has secured his third with a round to spare. That will make him the youngest grandmaster in the world! [vsw id=”Af5AgEvALNc” source=”youtube” width=”560″ height=”315″ autoplay=”no”]
DetailsSix players are on 6,5 out of 8 with 2 rounds to play! Ding Liren has sneeked up on the leaders after some early mistakes. The new 2700-club member, Wesley So also has white versus Dziuba of Poland in the penultimate round and Gajewski has white vs the young Chinese sensation Wei Yi. None of…
DetailsThe 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…
Detailsby 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…
DetailsThe 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…
DetailsIt’s Women’s Day in Iceland and so we decided to interview Sopiko Guramishvili, the girlfriend of top seed Anish Giri and quite a strong player herself! She studies international languages and focuses on English, which you can tell from this interview. [vsw id=”jP8J4VFIiWU” source=”youtube” width=”560″ height=”315″ autoplay=”no”]
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