Reykjavik is heating up

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 Three

An interesting round. Despite the fact that there was still a significant rating difference in several boards, only the players with the white pieces were able to do anything with it. Actually on the top 15 boards only one black win was scored, and that was a big upset by the talented Zhansaya Abdumalik over the very well established GM Henrik Danielsen. The list of players with a perfect 3.0/3 has diminished greatly and we will see some strong fights going into the fourth round.

Photo impressions by Alina l'Ami

Alina keeps bringing us fantastic impressions from the Icelandic Capital:

Luis Galego from Portugal fighting both the opponent and the cold weather

Abhijeet Gupta from India

Typical designs on an Icelandic sweater

Icelandic water! It tastes really good, especially when you add cucumber.

Double rounds are tough affairs, but Ni Shiqun managed a draw against Danya Naroditsky

Harpa, also known as this week as "the playing hall"

Icelandic weather is... icy and snowy...

Icelandic version of lost and found

Gawain Jones from England

 Zeinab Mamedyarova (Mamedjarova? I will ask tomorrow about the proper spelling!)

Arthur Jussupow (Yusupov?), also a name that is spelled in different ways

One of the greatest rising talents in women's chess:
Zhansaya Abdumalik from Kazakhstan starts with a perfect 3.0/3

Carlsen (Henrik) was spotted playing in one of the lower boards.
The other Carlsen (Magnus) will be visiting the tournament later this week.

Everyone has their own thinking poses...

Pavel Eljanov

Hrant Melkumyan from Armenia

Round Two and Three analysis

Sagar Shah brings us analysis of the most exciting games from rounds two and three, as well as the solution to yesterday's puzzle in Movsesian's game:

Standings

Pairings Round Four

There's still some rating discrepancy on the top boards. Also notice that Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is on the first board, but due to special considerations he will be playing the 13th board as his opponent, Hedinn Steingrimsson, will always be playing there.

Many of the top grandmasters will have to play catch-up as they are half a point behind the leaders.

Don't forget you can follow the action live on our www.playchess.com server.

Photos by Alina l'Ami

Replay Round Three (top boards)

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Links Official tournament site The 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.