The pre-eminent Icelandic chess event
Reykjavik hosted a round-robin tournament with international participation as far back as 1957 and, in 1960, Bobby Fischer won a smaller tournament against four Icelanders. Nevertheless, the official count of the "Reykjavik International" does not begin until 1964. The "pedigree" on the tournament page lists Mikhail Tal as the first winner — a round-robin tournament with fourteen players, including nine Icelanders. The first tournament using the "open" (Swiss) format was organized in 1982 and was won by GM Lev Alburt, who had defected from the USSR to the USA three years earlier.
In recent years, the sparking Harpa Concert Hall has served as the magnificent venue for the tournament, and every player who has participated there has stories of the great atmosphere in the city, around Iceland, and the tournament itself.
The XXXIII Reykjavik International takes place from the 8th to the 16th of April. Some 240 players have turned up. Although there are fewer elite GMs rated over 2700 Elo than usual, the best players in the starting list are all ones with entertaining playing styles and plenty of fighting spirit.
Starting rank (top 25)
...240 Players
The list is headed by Gawain Jones, who is well on his way to crossing the 2700 mark and perhaps becoming number one in England. Even as an author, Jones is brilliant. His two volumes on the Sicilian Dragon variation are probably the best ever released for this opening.
Of course for those who prefer video-based learning, you'd be hard pressed to find a better openings guru than Carlsen-second GM Peter Heine Nielsen who has authored a two-volume set of his own for ChessBase!
Volume one of the DVD deals with 9.Bc4, White's sharpest option, and shows how Black can counter this ambitious try by White with the main lines of the Soltis variation (12.h5), which was played by Magnus Carlsen regularly as well.
The Dragon is one of Black's most daring openings, leading to fascinating positions with opposite castling and strong mutual attacks. This DVD provides a complete and up to date repertoire to help Black to score with the Dragon.
Second seed is Nils Grandelius. The Swedish Grandmaster is also currently flying high and will soon be an established 2700 GM.
Behind Jones and Grandelius, the Iranian youngster Alireza Firouzja and Dutch veteran Erwin l'Ami are third and fourth. Erwin is accompanied by his wife Alina, who belongs to the photographic '2700-club'.

Erwin and Alina l'Ami | Photos: Lennart Ootes
On this DVD you will be taken on a journey through what is arguably the sharpest opening line known to men.
The Icelandic former world-class player Johan Hjartarsson has been inactive for long stretches but has now found fun in chess and has not forgotten how the pieces move.
Among the many Indian talents at the start, Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh are two to follow closely. Both of them, along with Prithu Gupta started with wins, but only Prithu remains perfect after three rounds.

Praagnanandhaa and Gukesh | Photo: Fiona Steil-Antoni / ReykjavikOpen.com
Lets look at some of the chess action:
Alireza Firouzja's exemplary attacking skills were on display in his smooth first round demolition of German Julius Chittka.
1.e4 | 1,185,008 | 54% | 2421 | --- |
1.d4 | 959,510 | 55% | 2434 | --- |
1.Nf3 | 286,503 | 56% | 2441 | --- |
1.c4 | 184,834 | 56% | 2442 | --- |
1.g3 | 19,892 | 56% | 2427 | --- |
1.b3 | 14,600 | 54% | 2428 | --- |
1.f4 | 5,954 | 48% | 2377 | --- |
1.Nc3 | 3,911 | 50% | 2384 | --- |
1.b4 | 1,791 | 48% | 2379 | --- |
1.a3 | 1,250 | 54% | 2406 | --- |
1.e3 | 1,081 | 49% | 2409 | --- |
1.d3 | 969 | 50% | 2378 | --- |
1.g4 | 670 | 46% | 2361 | --- |
1.h4 | 466 | 54% | 2382 | --- |
1.c3 | 439 | 51% | 2425 | --- |
1.h3 | 289 | 56% | 2420 | --- |
1.a4 | 118 | 60% | 2461 | --- |
1.f3 | 100 | 47% | 2427 | --- |
1.Nh3 | 93 | 66% | 2506 | --- |
1.Na3 | 47 | 62% | 2476 | --- |
Please, wait...
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4 4.Bc4 e6 5.Nf3 Ne7 5...Nf6 6.0-0 6.e5 d5 6...a6 6.Nxd4 cxd4 7.Ne2 Nc6 8.0-0 Bc5 9.d3 0-0 10.a3 10.Bf4 d6 11.Qd2 e5 12.Bg5 Qc7 13.c3 Be6 14.cxd4 Nxd4 15.Rac1 Bxc4 16.Rxc4 b5 17.Rcc1 Qb6= 10...d6 10...a6 11.Ng3 Bd7 12.f4 Rc8 13.f5 Ne5 14.f6 g6 14...gxf6 15.Bh6 Re8 16.Nh5 15.Qd2+- Kh8 15...Ng4 16.Qg5 d5 17.Ba2+- 16.Qg5! 16.Qh6 Rg8 17.Rf4 g5!-+ 16...d5 17.Rf4 Re8 17...dxc4 18.Qh6 Rg8 19.Qxh7+ Kxh7 20.Rh4# 18.Bb3 18.Qh6? Bf8-+ 18...Nc6 19.Rh4 Bf8 20.e5 Ne7 21.Rxh7+! 21.fxe7? Bxe7 21...Kxh7 22.Qh4+ Kg8 23.Bh6! 23.Bh6 Nf5 24.Nxf5 exf5 25.Bxf8 Kxf8 26.Qh8# 1–0
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Firouzja,A | 2669 | Chittka,J | 2268 | 1–0 | 2019 | | GAMMA Reykjavik Open 2019 | 1.3 |
Please, wait...
The Rossolimo Variation of the Sicilian Defence (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5) is always an excellent choice with White if you want to avoid the deeply analysed main lines of the Open Sicilian. Alexei Shirov provides you with the requisite understanding of the opening's subtleties, by annotating extensively his most important games in this variation. During his career, he has played the 3.Bb5 system with both colours and he shares with you on this DVD his valuable experience.

Chittka and Firouzja | Photo: Fiona Steil-Antoni
IM Lawrence Trent focused his Weekly Show on 2138-rated Stephan Briem's upset of American GM Andrew Tang:
Lawrence is live most Tuesdays at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT)
Jones dropped a half point with Black against the young and strong Kazakh IM Dinara Saduakassova. Ironically, Saduakassova started her tournament with a win over Jones' wife WIM Sue Maroroa, before facing Gawain on board one in round two.
After 37.♘e7 ♚g7 38.♘c6 ♜c3 from Jones, headed for the inevitable draw, avoiding a thoughtless move, like 38...h5? which could still have ruined Black's day: 38.♘xa5 and the two black pieces would have been very unhappy.

Saduakassova, with white, in round one | Photo: Fiona Steil-Antoni
As a reward for her draw against the top seed, Saduakassova was paired with the second seed, Grandelius, in the next round. This time she was gradually ground down by the Swedish ace.
With 59...♞e5 Black could preserve good drawing chances. But Saduakassova's 59...♝c5 made her task difficult. 60.♗g3+ ♞e5+ 61.♔c3 looks like a case for the endgame expert Karsten Müller to investigate considering he literally wrote the book on the subject. Grandelius managed to convert, but he had already given up a half a point a round before against the completely unknown IM Low Zhen Yu Cyrus from Singapore.
As for Jones, he shed a second half point in round three against the always-dangerous Icelandic IM Gudmundur Kjartansson. That one will surely sting after the missed opportunity Jones had in the following position:
Can you spot the winning continuation?
SHOW65.c4! ♜db7 (Black was in Zugzwang) 65.c5 and the weak position of the black king gives White an easy win.
So, after three rounds, the number of players with 100% scores has already been reduced to five. Armenian GMs Sergei Movsesian and Robert Hobhanisyan top the leading quintet, followed by the young Indian Prithu.
In the third round, Movsesian met one of the other Indian talents in the field, Gukesh, and succeeded with the Closed Sicilian in scoring his third victory.
Black played 34...♛f8? and lost material to 35.♖xb5 ♝xb5 36.♕e5+.

Gukesh has 2/3 to start | Photo: Fiona Steil-Antoni
Surprisingly, 1905-rated Aasef Alashtar from France and Soren Pedersen from the USA who has just a 1724 FIDE rating (although his US Chess rating is 2079) have also reached 3/3. Neither of these last two has yet made it to the live broadcast boards, but both will face Grandmasters in the fourth round.
Even Erwin l'Ami was not completely unscathed in the first three rounds. After his victory over German FM Oliver Bewersdorff, the Dutchman also scored a full point win over IM Tania Sachdev.
On this DVD, well-known Indian WGM Tania Sachdev shows you how to evaluate certain positions and then find the right concepts and plans on the basis of her own games.
Here l'Ami broke the Gordian knot with 32.♖xd4 and took the initiative after 32...cxd4 33. ♝b4 etc.
Round three brought Erwin another opponent from the most likely country of chess' origins. Young Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa kept the game balanced and took a half a point.
Standings after Round 4 (top 20)
1 |
3 |
|
GM |
Firouzja Alireza |
U16 |
|
2669 |
3,5 |
2786 |
|
5 |
|
GM |
Movsesian Sergei |
|
|
2637 |
3,5 |
2801 |
|
8 |
|
GM |
Hovhannisyan Robert |
|
|
2630 |
3,5 |
2778 |
4 |
2 |
|
GM |
Grandelius Nils |
|
|
2687 |
3,5 |
2743 |
|
14 |
|
GM |
Potkin Vladimir |
|
|
2597 |
3,5 |
2620 |
6 |
6 |
|
GM |
Lupulescu Constantin |
|
|
2634 |
3,5 |
2762 |
|
20 |
|
GM |
Cornette Matthieu |
|
|
2556 |
3,5 |
2777 |
8 |
19 |
|
GM |
Stefansson Hannes |
|
|
2558 |
3,5 |
2869 |
|
37 |
|
GM |
Thorfinnsson Bragi |
|
|
2436 |
3,5 |
3229 |
10 |
10 |
|
GM |
Lagarde Maxime |
|
|
2612 |
3,0 |
2387 |
11 |
9 |
|
GM |
Tari Aryan |
|
|
2615 |
3,0 |
2598 |
12 |
31 |
|
IM |
Prithu Gupta |
U16 |
|
2478 |
3,0 |
2556 |
13 |
4 |
|
GM |
l'Ami Erwin |
|
|
2647 |
3,0 |
2625 |
|
30 |
|
GM |
Hambleton Aman |
|
|
2484 |
3,0 |
2532 |
15 |
11 |
|
GM |
Petrosian Tigran L. |
|
|
2605 |
3,0 |
2593 |
|
13 |
|
GM |
Van Foreest Jorden |
|
|
2598 |
3,0 |
2557 |
|
17 |
|
GM |
Fier Alexandr |
|
|
2570 |
3,0 |
2496 |
|
23 |
|
GM |
Brunello Sabino |
|
|
2534 |
3,0 |
2589 |
|
28 |
|
GM |
Salomon Johan |
|
|
2495 |
3,0 |
2539 |
|
53 |
|
IM |
Sarkar Justin |
|
|
2337 |
3,0 |
2631 |
All available games
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
- Create an account to access the games cloud.
Translation from German and additional reporting: Macauley Peterson
Links