Reykjavik Open kicks off

by Alejandro Ramirez
3/11/2015 – The series of strong open tournaments continues. Starting with Gibraltar, then Cappelle la Grande, and now continuing with the famous Reykjavik Open. It is the 30th edition of the event, and it has come a long way since Mikhail Tal won the tournament in 1964. The festivities also conmemorate former FIDE president Friðrik Ólafsson's 80th birhtday! Round one and two report.

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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, Friðrik Ólafsson.

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.

The Reykjavik Open is back and stronger than ever. The event doesn't have the strength of Gibraltar, clearly, but it is one of the strongest tournaments in the World. This edition sees as the top seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, not too shabby at 2736.

Photo impressions by Alina l'Ami

Many strong players took the opportunity that two major opens, Cappelle la Grande and Reykjavik, were back to back. Among those players is Alina l'Ami who brings us wonderful photos, as usual!

Opening Ceremony with live music

Organizer Gunnar Bjornsson addresses the crowd

The Mamedyarovs! Shakhriyar and his older sister, Zeinab. The younger sister,
WGM Turkan Mamedjarova, is not in Iceland.

Friðrik Ólafsson, former president of FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov,
current FIDE President, and Zurab Azmaiparashvili, ECU President

Friðrik Ólafsson receiving a well thought and planned present for his 80th birthday this year! (I remember it happened in Wijk aan Zee, when the painting was  being signed by the world champions - Hou Yifan and Magnus Carlsen; the man behind this idea was Eric de Winter, who worked before in the FIDE office in Amsterdam, when Olafsson was the President)

First move on the top board...

Which belongs to top seed, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

He is closely followed by David Navara in rating

Always time for a little blitz between real chess fans

Despite being one of the top seeds, Sergei Movsesian suffered an early defeat

GM Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson is one of the strongest local players

Round One

Things started off as expected, with most GMs winning their first round games, the only big notable exception was Jon Ludvig Hammer being unable to best his opponent, rated almost 600 points lower. Sagar Shah brings us five (!) annotated games from the first duels:

Bo. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg
1 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2756 0 1 - 0 0 Lux Gregory 2065
2 Bergsson Stefan 2063 0 0 - 1 0 Navara David 2736
3 Eljanov Pavel 2727 0 1 - 0 0 Eijk Yuri 2062
4 Runarsson Gunnar 2049 0 0 - 1 0 Melkumyan Hrant 2676
5 Movsesian Sergei 2665 0 1 - 0 0 Prieto Alberto 2045
6 Benet Morant Damia 2044 0 ½ - ½ 0 Hammer Jon Ludvig 2651
7 Granda Zuniga Julio E 2646 0 1 - 0 0 Martinez Lopez Jaime 2044
8 Skovgaard Tom 2042 0 0 - 1 0 Jones Gawain C B 2642
9 Naroditsky Daniel 2633 0 1 - 0 0 Knutsson Larus 2039
10 Chan James 2038 0 0 - 1 0 Gupta Abhijeet 2625
11 Steingrimsson Hedinn 2530 0 1 - 0 0 Masungwini Michael T 1972
12 L'ami Erwin 2605 0 1 - 0 0 Strand Kjetil 2037
13 Lunn Matthew 2034 0 0 - 1 0 Grandelius Nils 2603
14 Fier Alexandr 2601 0 1 - 0 0 Thiry Jean-Christophe 2031
15 Cabello Aguilar Enrique 2015 0 0 - 1 0 Cornette Matthieu 2585
16 Jussupow Artur 2573 0 1 - 0 0 Gschwendtner Stanislav 2009
17 Thorhallsson Simon 2009 0 0 - 1 0 Hansen Eric 2566
18 Maze Sebastien 2564 0 1 - 0 0 Murray Michael A. 2008
19 Edvardsen Ragnar 2001 0 0 - 1 0 Stefansson Hannes 2560
20 Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn 2554 0 1 - 0 0 Hansen Lars-Henrik Bech 1994

Round two didn't have many surprises either, but the rating difference was definitely not as large. Today is the only day that the players will be playing a double round: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Perhaps the biggest news from round two is the fact that not only did Movsesian not win his game against an opponent rated 330 points lower... he lost!

Bisby, Daniel (2321) - Movsesian, Sergei (2665): Position after 29...Bxe5

In the position above it is clear that Movsesian's piece placement is a little shaky. He is up material but his pieces are not that well coordinated, besides there are some issues with the last rank. For now 30.Rb8 is impossible because of 30...Ra1+ (or is it?), so what did White play to create a decisive attack?

We will bring you the solution to this puzzle as well as a full report on the games of round two and three tomorrow, for now here are the results of the morning round and the pairings for the afternoon:

Round Two

Bo. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg
1 Ragnarsson Dagur 2347 1 0 - 1 1 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2756
2 Navara David 2736 1 1 - 0 1 Nguyen Thai Dai Van 2338
3 Loos Roland 2337 1 0 - 1 1 Eljanov Pavel 2727
4 Melkumyan Hrant 2676 1 ½ - ½ 1 Rosner Jonas 2324
5 Bisby Daniel L 2321 1 1 - 0 1 Movsesian Sergei 2665
6 Antal Tibor Kende 2317 1 ½ - ½ 1 Granda Zuniga Julio E 2646
7 Jones Gawain C B 2642 1 1 - 0 1 Gislason Gudmundur 2321
8 Ni Shiqun 2315 1 ½ - ½ 1 Naroditsky Daniel 2633
9 Gupta Abhijeet 2625 1 1 - 0 1 Hitzler Philipp 2315
10 Haldorsen Benjamin 2307 1 0 - 1 1 L'ami Erwin 2605
11 Ptacnikova Lenka 2242 1 0 - 1 1 Steingrimsson Hedinn *) 2530
12 Grandelius Nils 2603 1 1 - 0 1 Mihajlov Sebastian 2308
13 Maisuradze Nino 2302 1 0 - 1 1 Fier Alexandr 2601
14 Cornette Matthieu 2585 1 ½ - ½ 1 Mamedjarova Zeinab 2303
15 Kochetkova Julia 2288 1 0 - 1 1 Jussupow Artur 2573
16 Hansen Eric 2566 1 1 - 0 1 Tjomsland Stig 2300
17 Foisor Sabina-Francesca 2279 1 0 - 1 1 Maze Sebastien 2564
18 Wege Jochen 2277 1 0 - 1 1 Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn 2554
19 Le Roux Jean-Pierre 2548 1 ½ - ½ 1 Wahedi Ahmad Siar 2287
20 Karason Askell O 2274 1 0 - 1 1 Stopa Jacek 2544

Pairings Round Three

Bo. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg
1 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2756 2   2 Bekker-Jensen Simon 2462
2 Gunnarsson Jon Viktor 2443 2   2 Navara David 2736
3 Eljanov Pavel 2727 2   2 Petrov Nikita 2435
4 Pulvett Marin Daniel 2434 2   2 Jones Gawain C B 2642
5 L'ami Erwin 2605 2   2 Wang Yiye 2433
6 Thorfinnsson Bragi IM 2429 2   2 Grandelius Nils 2603
7 Fier Alexandr 2601 2   2 Esserman Marc 2426
8 Hagen Andreas Skytte 2412 2   2 Hansen Eric 2566
9 Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn 2554 2   2 Sequera Paolini Jose Rafael 2408
10 Stopa Jacek 2544 2   2 Soors Stef 2408
11 Steingrimsson Hedinn *) 2530 2   2 Ahlander Bjorn 2380
12 Jensson Einar Hjalti 2390 2   2 Brunello Sabino 2540
13 Gao Rui 2533 2   2 Shen Victor C 2401
14 Hauge Lars Oskar 2380 2   2 Rasmussen Allan Stig 2532
15 Danielsen Henrik 2514 2   2 Abdumalik Zhansaya 2379
16 Tari Aryan 2509 2   2 Arngrimsson Dagur 2366
17 Idani Pouya 2496 2   2 Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 2351
18 Welling Gerard 2355 2   2 Kjartansson Gudmundur 2491
19 Rombaldoni Axel 2488 2   2 Bisby Daniel L 2321
20 Gulamali Kazim 2350 2   2 Colovic Aleksandar 2482

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

Photos by Alina l'Ami

Replay Rounds one and two (top boards)

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Links

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.


Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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