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…
DetailsRichard 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…
DetailsThe 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…
DetailsThe 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…
DetailsDespite 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…
DetailsDuring 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 –…
DetailsThe 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…
DetailsMustafa Yilmaz is the sole leader on 4 out of 4 after defeating Indian GM Suri Vaibhav on the black side of a Najdorf. Meanwhile, Elshan Moradiabadi the only other player with a full house after three rounds had the tough task of handling the black pieces vs the top seeded Richard Rapport. Moradiabadi seemed…
DetailsThree players still have a full house after three rounds at the GAMMA Reykjavik Open. It’s clear though that the accelerated pairings are already affecting the tournament a lot as that number is much smaller than in recent years. Mustafa Yilmaz (2619) was the first player to get to 3 out of 3 when he…
DetailsAlready the accelerated pairings in the Reykjavik Open seem to be having a big effect. In the 2nd round, already only two of the top eight seeds managed to get through the round with a full house! The top seed Richard Rapport (2715) managed to win his game on board one with the black pieces…
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