All photos by Alina L'Ami (click on image for large size)
The Harpa concert hall and conference center is one of Reykjavik's most celebrated structures. Inaugurated in 2011, its beautiful and modern framework was designed to reflect the basalt landscape of Iceland. This is where the Reykjavik Open is being held.
The opening ceremony was held with musical performances with the players at their tables
The fight for the first move on board one where Anish Giri, the top seed was seated. After five rounds, he is one of the leaders with 4.5/5
Dmitry Andreikin (2734) is another top player, and second seed with 4.0/5
Alexei Shirov is a crowd favorite, and it is a sign of his contribution to chess lore that this photo by Alina was sent with the caption, "Fire on the board"
Vidit Gujrathi has been on the steady climb up, and is one of the hottest young Indian GMs on the circuit. He is in the group tied for first with 4.5/5.
Vidit Gujrathi recently released a two-part DVD series on the Caro-Kann, an opening he uses regularly and scored important wins at Qatar last year over Vachier-Lagrave, Jobava and Radjabov. Highly recommended.
Gupta Abhijeet is another fierce competitor from India, and like most of his compatriots: extremely friendly and accessible
Jobava Baadur is always a fun player to watch, with his extremely imaginative, not to mention aggressive chess. He had an excellent start with 4.5/5.
Erwin L'Ami, who won the Reykjavik Open in 2015 outright, shows Sopiko and Anish this bookshop where Bobby Fischer used to enjoy reading. Erwin is a great openings expert, and also published a DVD on the Dutch Stonewall, an opening that has found its way into the repertoire of none other than Magnus Carlsen. His DVD is incredibly well organized and clear, and makes for fascinating instruction.
Gawain Jones is an old hand at these large strong opens, but not only. He won this year's Tata Steel Challengers and will play in the Masters group next year.
Jóhann Hjartarson once played in the Candidates matches in 1988 where he defeated Viktor Korchnoi in match, but lost to Karpov in the quarter finals
Iceland is a chess crazy country with more grandmasters per capita than any other nation
Many young talents are there, such as 12-year-old Nihal Sarin who made headlines with his GM norm in Norway. He started with 3.5/5.
Liang Awonder from the US, who just turned 14, is on his way to a GM norm with a 2628 performance so far
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts | TB | Perf | rtg+/- | |
| 1 | 1 | GM | Giri Anish | NED | 2771 | 4,5 | 11,5 | 2867 | 4,6 |
| 2 | 7 | GM | Jones Gawain C B | ENG | 2671 | 4,5 | 10,0 | 2800 | 6,4 |
| 3 | 14 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | IND | 2607 | 4,5 | 12,0 | 2762 | 8,1 |
| 4 | 10 | GM | Grandelius Nils | SWE | 2641 | 4,5 | 11,5 | 2791 | 7,7 |
| 5 | 4 | GM | Almasi Zoltan | HUN | 2696 | 4,5 | 10,5 | 2801 | 4,9 |
| 6 | 3 | GM | Jobava Baadur | GEO | 2712 | 4,5 | 10,0 | 2795 | 3,7 |
| 8 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | IND | 2670 | 4,5 | 10,0 | 2827 | 8,5 | |
| 9 | GM | Kamsky Gata | USA | 2668 | 4,5 | 10,0 | 2727 | 1,8 | |
| 9 | 39 | IM | Hambleton Aman | CAN | 2434 | 4,5 | 8,5 | 2714 | 15,5 |
| 10 | 17 | GM | Can Emre | TUR | 2578 | 4,0 | 9,0 | 2516 | -2,4 |
| 47 | IM | Ahlander Bjorn | SWE | 2416 | 4,0 | 9,0 | 2471 | 4,5 | |
| 69 | FM | Kleinman Michael | CAN | 2289 | 4,0 | 9,0 | 2477 | 23,8 | |
| 13 | 29 | GM | Panchanathan Magesh Chandran | IND | 2494 | 4,0 | 8,5 | 2551 | 4,6 |
| 34 | IM | Esserman Marc | USA | 2458 | 4,0 | 8,5 | 2523 | 4,9 | |
| 40 | IM | Christiansen Johan-Sebastian | NOR | 2429 | 4,0 | 8,5 | 2496 | 5,0 | |
| 16 | 79 | WIM | Vaishali R | IND | 2259 | 4,0 | 7,0 | 2423 | 21,8 |
| 17 | 16 | GM | Van Foreest Jorden | NED | 2584 | 4,0 | 10,5 | 2664 | 6,0 |
| 18 | 57 | WGM | Abrahamyan Tatev | USA | 2364 | 4,0 | 9,5 | 2502 | 19,4 |
| 19 | 26 | IM | Bailet Pierre | FRA | 2510 | 4,0 | 9,0 | 2551 | 3,7 |
| 20 | 27 | GM | Perelshteyn Eugene | USA | 2509 | 4,0 | 8,5 | 2568 | 4,7 |
| 21 | 24 | GM | Friedel Joshua E | USA | 2524 | 4,0 | 8,0 | 2579 | 4,4 |
| 22 | 6 | GM | Movsesian Sergei | ARM | 2677 | 4,0 | 11,0 | 2704 | 1,1 |
| 23 | 2 | GM | Andreikin Dmitry | RUS | 2734 | 4,0 | 10,5 | 2705 | -1,2 |
| 24 | 12 | GM | Yilmaz Mustafa | TUR | 2614 | 4,0 | 10,0 | 2611 | 0,9 |
| 13 | GM | Landa Konstantin | RUS | 2611 | 4,0 | 10,0 | 2656 | 1,5 | |
| 20 | GM | Donchenko Alexander | GER | 2554 | 4,0 | 10,0 | 2652 | 7,3 | |
| 27 | 21 | GM | Ziska Helgi Dam | FAI | 2553 | 4,0 | 9,5 | 2624 | 2,8 |
| 28 | 30 | GM | Kunte Abhijit | IND | 2491 | 4,0 | 9,0 | 2447 | -1,7 |
| 35 | IM | Thorfinnsson Bragi | ISL | 2457 | 4,0 | 9,0 | 2402 | -1,8 | |
| 30 | 31 | IM | Liang Awonder | USA | 2483 | 4,0 | 8,5 | 2628 | 10,1 |
You can use ChessBase 14 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.
