The The N1 Reykjavik Open 2012 is being held from March 6 to March 13, 2012,
in Harpa, Reykjavik's spectacular new music hall on the harbour, just five minutes
walk to downtown Reykjavik. The event is a nine-round Swiss, with top players
including Fabiano Caruana, David Navara, Ivan Cheparinov, Ivan Sokolov, Hou
Yifan, Robert Hess, Gawain Jones, Yuriy Kuzubov, Erwin l'Ami, and many others.
The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the
rest of the game, with 30 seconds increment from move one. Prizes are €
5,000 for the winner, € 2,000 for second place, € 1,250 for 3rd, etc.,
with a total of € 15,000.
Fabiano Caruana wins Reykjavik 2012
Before the final (ninth) round Italian GM Fabiano Caruana led the field by
half a point. Behind him four GMs trying to catch him: Ivan Sokolov of the Netherlands,
David Navara of the Czech Republic, Israeli Boris Avrukh and reigning women's
world champion Hou Yifan. In the final round Sokolov drew Avruhk, and Navara
drew his black game against Bulgarian GM Ivan Cheparinov. So the game Hou Yifan
vs Fabiano Caruana would decide it all. This is how it went:
[Event "Reykjavik Open 2012"]
[Site "Reykjavik/Iceland"]
[Date "2012.03.13"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Hou, Yifan"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2639"]
[BlackElo "2767"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d4
Bb6 9. h3 O-O 10. Be3 h6 11. Nbd2 Re8 12. Re1 {0.16/0} Bd7 {0.12/0} 13. Qb1 {
0.00/0} Na5 {0.00/0} 14. Bc2 {-0.10/0} c5 {0.00/0} 15. d5 {0.00/0} c4 {0.00/0}
16. b4 {0.00/0} cxb3 {0.04/0} 17. axb3 {0.20/0} Bxe3 {0.03/0} 18. Rxe3 {0.32/0}
Nb7 {0.32/0} 19. b4 {0.12/0} Nh5 {0.28/0} 20. Bd3 {0.22/0} Nf4 {0.40/0} 21. Bf1
{0.56/0} Rf8 {0.35/0} 22. c4 {0.43/0} bxc4 {0.32/0} 23. Bxc4 {0.28/0} a5 {0.48/
0} 24. bxa5 {0.52/0} Nxa5 {0.17/0} 25. Qb4 {0.13/0} Nxc4 {0.48/0} 26. Rxa8 {0.
44/0} Qxa8 {0.78/0} 27. Nxc4 {0.33/0} Qa1+ {0.29/0} 28. Re1 {0.13/0} Qa2 {0.21/
0} 29. Nfd2 {0.17/0} Rc8 $1 {0.10/0} 30. Re3 {0.00/0} Qc2 {0.00/0} 31. Kh2 {0.
00/0 As you can see from our Let's Check evaluation graph on the left the
position has been essentially a draw for some time now.} Nd3 $2 {2.48/0} (
31... Qd1 32. Qb3 Qa1 {etc. would have stayed within the drawing margin.}) 32.
Qb7 $18 {2.29/0} Nc5 {2.44/0} 33. Qb6 {2.63/0} Nd3 {2.79/0} 34. Nxd6 {2.16/0}
Rf8 {2.68/0} 35. N6c4 {2.26/0} (35. N2c4 {Moving the other knight to c4 was
the better option.}) 35... Nxf2 {1.93/0} 36. Qb1 {1.13/0} Qxb1 {1.36/0} 37.
Nxb1 {0.95/0} Bb5 {1.85/0} 38. Nba3 {1.41/0} Ba6 {1.27/0} 39. Nxe5 {1.51/0} Re8
{1.46/0} 40. d6 {1.40/0} Bb7 {1.56/0 White is still winning, but now throws it
away immediately after the time control.} 41. Nxf7 $2 {0.04/0} (41. Nac4 Nxe4
42. d7 Rd8 43. Na5 Bd5 44. Rd3 Nf6 45. Rxd5 Nxd5 46. Nb7 {was one way of
converting the advantage to victory.}) 41... Kxf7 $11 {0.07/0 The plan doesn't
work, the young women's world champion has simply dropped half a point.} 42.
Rf3+ {0.06/0} Ke6 {0.07/0} 43. Nb5 {0.06/0} Rb8 $1 {0.04/0} 44. Rxf2 {0.00/0}
Bxe4 {0.03/0} 45. Re2 {0.00/0} Rxb5 {0.00/0} 46. Rxe4+ {0.00/0} Kxd6 47. Kg3
Kd5 1/2-1/2
This draw left Fabiano Caruana (above) with 7.5/9 points and an unchallenged
first place. Seven players were half a point behind the American born Italian,
among them the unlucky Hou Yifan. Three players, Caruana, Sokolov and Hou did
not lose any games, and all three displayed a performance above 2700.
Second: Dutch GM Ivan Sokolov, of Bulgarian/Bosnia extraction
In third place: Czech GM David Navara lost one game (to Sokolov)
Hou Yifan (above) gained a number of rating points and now stands at 2646 on
ChessPro's live rating list of women. That
is easily the second highest rating ever achieved by a female player –
the extraordinary Judit Polgar is still 63 points ahead of the Chinese super-talent
(who is 55 points ahead of her nearest rival, Anna Muzychuk).
Top final standings (after nine rounds)
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