Indian success in Iceland

The Reykjavik Open has come to a close in Iceland. Our last report left off with the standings after the seventh round, but before we see how the action finished we have some pictures from the day off.

Iceland is a very unique country, especially for someone from Costa Rica. It has magnificent views, it is strangely cold, and things seem to be rather peaceful. The Reykjavik Open is famous not only because it offers chess players an excellent tournament, but also the opportunity to have many different side events which can be enjoyed, including soccer and guided tours. I decided to join the Golden Circle tour around the geysers and Gulfoss Waterfall.

The day of the tour was extremely cold. It was between rainy and snowy, the windiest day in Iceland during our stay. Actually, the weather was rather moody. Sometimes the day would be sunny and a bit cold, others it would simply be a snowstorm blowing everything away. Our first stop in this windy day was the tectonic meeting place between the North American and Euroasian tectonic plates. Iceland emerged as a result of the divergent, spreading, boundary between these two plates and the activity of Iceland´s own hotspot or mantle plume.

I'm not sure what everyone was trying to pose as. I'm also not sure which ones are chess players and which ones aren't, as most people were so covered up it was hard to tell.

Our second stop was to the geyser field. It was an interesting walk, as the ground was very slippery from the bad combination of ice and rainfall, but it was still worth going. There were several geysers around, some more active than others.

This one in particular erupted every five or so minutes, and it splashed more than one tourist that got too close to it with hot water.

Elizabeth Paehtz doing that weird pose thing in front of a geyser. Is this some kind of European trend?

The third stop was a shivering visit to Gulfoss Waterfall. The picture does it little justice, as fantastic as it does look here, but the weather was simply too cold for anyone to really take out their cameras. Picture by Kostya Kavutskiy, who was far braver than me in actually taking a picture.

Last but certainly not least our trip took us to visit the grave of the legendary Robert James Fischer, and unmissable spot to see when you are in Iceland. Photo by Kostya Kavutskiy.

Reykjavik Open

Back to the chess! The tournament was very hard fought and there were upsets in many, many rounds.

A sunny day to go play chess! This happened only a handful of times...

Anna-Maja Kazarian. Georgian/Armenian playing for the Dutch flag, this promising young lady took third place in the women's prizes, edging out Tatev Abrahamyan (also in the picture) by tiebreak points.

Many epic duels were seen. What a pleasure to see youth and energy in Shakhriyar Mamedyarov battle against experience and strength in Alexander Beliavsky! This time the Azerbaijani took an important win with white.

People traveled from all over for this event, and there was a big American contingency. Awonder Liang was the youngest of them all, and he had an excellent showing playing against many grandmasters. Here he is with his father, Will.

Every round had an immense amount of drama. Lots of unexpected results, time pressure blunders, and players risking more than necessary! A crowd here gathers as Hrant Melkumyan is putting the finishing touches on Steffan Kristjansson.

Tatev Abrahamyan and Alejandro Ramirez

At the end of the tournament it was Abhijeet Gupta who came out on top. Abhijeet played an excellent tournament, finishing with a solid 8.5/10 and showing excellent chess. To me, it was clear that he was gunning for the top positions when he was unafraid to play aggressive chess with the black pieces against his young and talented opponent early in the tournament:

He finished the tournament with a fantastic 2.5/3, defeating on his way grandmasters Movsesian, Grandelius and drawing Rambaldi in the final round. With a 2799 performance and a 20 point boost, this Indian player is definitely fearsome!

Second place went to Russian Dmitry Andreikin, despite the fact that he took two byes. A solid showing and winning some key games allowed him a place in the podium. Third was Ivan Cheparinov, who edged several people out on tiebreaks to claim this place.

Best woman went to Tania Sachdev, who also collected her second GM norm. A great success for the Indian delegation! She defeated Stefansson and me back to back, and held many draws against tough opponents to win her norm.

The closing ceremony was held in the City Hall

Success for the Indian delegation, which consisted of exactly three people. These two and Tania's mom!

Again, I cannot emphasize enough how pleasant it is to play in Reykjavik. It is an incredibly professional tournament, but still accessible to all and with enough side events and side activities that it doesn't feel like a stress fest. I can't wait to go back to the land of cold, of cod, of geysers and waterfalls, and fall in love yet again with Iceland. And, after all, I feel third time will be the charm... I have yet to see the northern lights!

Final top-20

Photos: Lennart Ootes (Tournament page)

Photos from free day: Alejandro Ramirez

Links Official tournament site Download all games in PGN The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.