A quick video roundup of round 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDwbGKEFIn8
Lots of upsets
Some upsets in round 1. We already had a 1900 player beating a 2478 but there was also an upset when the Icelandic Ingibjörg Edda Birgisdóttir (1783) beat the Dutch IM David Miedema. Some draws as well. Tinna Kristín Finnbogadóttir, another Icelandic female player drew against German IM Martin Zumzande(2419). Sigurður Páll Steindórsson (2235) allowed…
DetailsFirst huge upset!
Soren Jensen rated 1909 beat IM Frode Urkedal 2473 in only 21 moves using the Muzio in the King’s Gambit!!! Now that’s kicking it oldschool!
Meeting old friends
Reykjavik Open has in some ways “loyal customers”. Many players come here over and over and I’ve been shaking many hands today during the 1st round. One of them was Ivan Sokolov to whom I said “ahhh Ivan….another thousand years!!” to which he replied….”amazing…seems everybody has seen this” By “this” he of course means by…
DetailsRound 1 underway
We have started round 1 here in Reykjavik. 228 participants although one player is yet to show up. Final number of participants will be clear later. We had a small problem with the homepage but the server should be fine now and you can find links to live games and link to a stream from…
DetailsYoungest participant ever
This is Oskar Vikingur, he is only 7 years old and among the youngest if not the youngest participant ever in the history of Reykjavik Open! He is ready….we are about an hour away from the 1st round!!
DetailsMedian Bucholz Cut 1 for tiebreaks
As players can take a bye in round 2-7 it has been decided that Median Bucholz Cut 1 will be used for tiebreaks. This means that the worst performing opponent will be cut for those playing all games and for those taking a bye of course that “opponent” is cut meaning the bye will not…
DetailsA legend joins: Fridrik Olafsson will play the Open
Today, Iceland’s first and oldest Grandmaster announced his participation in the Reykjavik Open. Yes, the legendary Fridrik Olafsson will play! Olafsson shouldn’t need to be introduced, especially not to local fans. He became Iceland’s first Grandmaster in 1958. He participated in the first edition of Reykjavik Open back in 1964 and he is a three…
DetailsMaxime in good form
We had a news piece earlier in the month when Maxime was one of the joint winners of the super strong Gibralter Open. Well….he warmed up for the Reykjavik Open by taking first place in the Paris Idf Blitz Championship 2013 which was held Sunday February 17th. Maxime scored an impressive 12 out of 13!…
Details
Organisers working hard!
The organisers got handed over “the keys” to the Harpa music hall today. Several people are working hard on setting up the playing hall for the tournament which starts tomorrow. Players are arriving and it looks like a record will be set for the number of participants which are well over 200 at the moment!Later…
Details