The 2025 Reykjavik Open commenced today at the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland. President of the Icelandic Chess Federation, Gunnar Björnsson, officially opened the tournament with a speech, after which the 400+ players rose to applaud and honor the life and legacy of Friðrik Ólafsson, to whom this year’s tournament is dedicated.
The first round proceeded largely as anticipated, with higher-rated players prevailing in most of their matches. Most of the top seeds got unscathed through the first round. Top seed GM Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI, 2684) secured a victory against Dr. Georg Tscheuschner (GER, 2168), GM Velimir Ivic (SRB, 2623) defeated Enrico Vroombout (NED, 2161) while GM Shanglei Lu (CHN, 2618) won against local CM Bjorn Holm Birkisson (ISL, 2154)
On the 4th board, experienced Azerbajani national player GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE, 2617): Overcame CM Thomas Villiers (ENG, 2154) in what looked like a fun game full of fun tactics.
The legend, GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR, 2604) seemed to get a comfortable victory over FM Ahmed Abdullah S Alrehaili (KSA, 2152).
Not everbody was this fortunate in the 1st round. Some notable upsets:
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GM Joshua Friedel (USA, 2552): Held to a draw by WIM Guijue Zhou (CHN, 2127).
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GM Yahli Sokolovsky (ISR, 2546): Drew against Jan Balje (GER, 2125).
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GM Vitaly Sivuk (UKR, 2505): Defeated by Eliot Burgalat (FRA, 2119).
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GM Pierre Bailet (FRA, 2495): Drew with CM Andre Kunz (GER, 2115).
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IM Vladyslav Larkin (UKR, 2449): Held to a draw by Jordan Clyde (USA, 2095).
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GM Matthieu Cornette (FRA, 2528): Shared the point with Gauti Pall Jonsson (ISL, 2122) after a very interesting game. Gauti played a good game and in the end we had Gauti with at one point 5 pawns for a knight! Matthieu managed to get all of Gauti’s pawns but Gauti defended better than Vidit did against Magnus in R+N vs R endgame!
These results highlight the competitive nature of the tournament, with lower-rated players demonstrating resilience and challenging higher-rated opponents. As the tournament progresses, it will be interesting to see if more such upsets occur and how they impact the overall standings.
The pairings for the 2nd round are already up on chess-results. Tomorrow is a double-round day and getting through the day with 2 out of 2 is no picnic, even for the top seeds!
For a complete list of results and further details, please visit Chess-Results.com.
