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The Reykjavik Open 2015 will be held for the 30th time from March 10th to March 18th 2015 in Harpa, the 28.000 sqm. concert hall. The 2015 tournament is expected to be very strong and will double as celebration of the 80th birthday of legendary Icelandic Grandmaster and former FIDE president, Fridrik Olafsson.
The 2014 Edition was voted the 2nd best open tournament in the world by ACP. Only Gibraltar was higher on the list.
The City of Reykjavík has sponsored the tournament since its inception in 1964, when Mikhail Tal won it with a record 12½ points out of 13. The tournament was initially held every two years, but has since 2008 taken place every year. It was closed in its early years, but has been an open event since the 1980s. Throughout its history the Reykjavik Open has featured many of the strongest chess players in the world at the time, including Mikhail Tal, Nona Gaprindashvili, David Bronstein, Vasili Smyslov, Bent Larsen, Friðrik Ólafsson, Mark Taimanov, Lev Polugaevsky, Jan Timman, Victor Korchnoi, Samuel Reshevsky, Anthony Miles, Nigel Short, Hikaru Nakamura, Judit Polgar, Magnus Carlsen, Alexander Grischuk, Fabiano Caruana and Hou Yifan.
Round Five
A bloody day as usual! Some fascinating chess was seen at the top boards, but it was the top seed, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who emerges as the sole leader after half the tournament is gone:
Pavel Eljanov was close to catching Mamedyarov as his position looked very good against Jacek Stopa, but the Polish player defended fiercely and obtained a draw. Sagar Shah brings us annotations of some of the players that reached a vital 4.5/5:
Let us not forget that Alina l'Ami isn't the only 'l'Ami' in the tournament. In fact, she isn't even the highest rated:
The better l'Ami? we will let you decide after you see this game...
Finally a very instructive example. In beginner's chess 1+1+1 = 3, but in Grandmaster chess this is not always true. Sometimes it's more like 2.5, but when Black screws it up it goes up to 5:
An article on the beautiful city of Reykjavik is not complete without Alina l'Ami's beautiful shots, take a look:
Aryan Tari in his postmortem
The commentary team hard at work
There's a sweet spot for the spectators to watch the games. When they are bored of this spot they can walk 20 steps down to the top boards and see the action live.
"I like how direct and easy going the Icelanders are, giving an example that one should keep feeling comfortable " - Alina l'Ami.
The victim of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov: Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson
Thte leader didn't seem too impressed.
Alexander Fier drew against Rui Gao from China
Meanwhile Arthur Jussupow couldn't hold against David Navara
Hung by a thread: Pavel Eljanov was unable to break Jacek Stopa
The beautiful Harpa...
From different angles!
The view from the official hotel
According to the photographer the "win could be worse". It clocked at 76 km/h.
Stormy weather, with ray of hope
No photoshop! The sunset and its reflection on Harpa's corner
window. (e.d.) the size was photoshopped so it would fit in your browser, unfortunately.
The silhouettes: Alexander Fier and his wife Nino Maisuradze
Standings after round 5
| Rk. | Name | FED | RtgI | Pts. | Rp | rtg+/- |
| 1 | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | AZE | 2756 | 5.0 | 2900 | 7.3 |
| 2 | Eljanov Pavel | UKR | 2727 | 4.5 | 2721 | 0.5 |
| 3 | Navara David | CZE | 2736 | 4.5 | 2761 | 3.1 |
| 4 | Gunnarsson Jon Viktor | ISL | 2443 | 4.5 | 2752 | 23.6 |
| 5 | Gupta Abhijeet | IND | 2625 | 4.5 | 2642 | 2.0 |
| 6 | Fier Alexandr | BRA | 2601 | 4.5 | 2812 | 11.6 |
| 7 | L'ami Erwin | NED | 2605 | 4.5 | 2817 | 11.5 |
| 8 | Stopa Jacek | POL | 2544 | 4.5 | 2611 | 6.4 |
| Gao Rui | CHN | 2533 | 4.5 | 2679 | 11.3 | |
| 10 | Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn | ISL | 2554 | 4.0 | 2585 | 3.5 |
| 11 | Naroditsky Daniel | USA | 2633 | 4.0 | 2649 | 2.3 |
| 12 | Hansen Eric | CAN | 2566 | 4.0 | 2633 | 5.0 |
| 13 | Stefansson Hannes | ISL | 2560 | 4.0 | 2698 | 6.3 |
| 14 | Pakleza Zbigniew | POL | 2498 | 4.0 | 2530 | 3.6 |
| 15 | Libiszewski Fabien | FRA | 2514 | 4.0 | 2557 | 4.2 |
| 16 | Sequera Paolini Jose Rafael | VEN | 2408 | 4.0 | 2418 | 3.3 |
| 17 | Tari Aryan | NOR | 2509 | 4.0 | 2528 | 3.0 |
| Petrov Nikita | RUS | 2435 | 4.0 | 2514 | 7.2 | |
| 19 | Cornette Matthieu | FRA | 2585 | 4.0 | 2583 | 0.6 |
| 20 | Melkumyan Hrant | ARM | 2676 | 4.0 | 2575 | -5.1 |
Pairings Round Six
We have most of the results from round six, but we will have to wait until tomorrow for the beautiful pictures from Alina l'Ami and the commentary from Sagar Shah. In the meantime, it seems that Alexander Fier and Erwin l'Ami came through with huge victories on the black side to catch the leaders, as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov drew against number two seed David Navara.
Don't forget you can follow the action live on our www.playchess.com server.
Photos by Alina l'Ami
Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games
LinksThe games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess 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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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