Two leaders in Reykjavik

by Johannes Fischer
3/14/2016 – With more than 230 participants and many top grandmasters the Reykjavik Open can boast of a strong field. The Harpa Hall, where the tournament is played, is another attraction. After seven of ten rounds Abhijeet Gupta and Sergei Movsesian share the lead with 6.0/7 each. Half a point behind follow ten players, among them chess legend Alexander Beliavsky.
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Harpa Hall

This year the Reykjavik Open is a bit overshadowed by the Candidates tournament in Moscow and the Women's World Championship in Lviv. But traditionally the Open in Reykjavik has a lot to offer and this year this is no different. The Harpa hall is one of the world's most splendid venue, Iceland is a place many people want to visit once in their lives, and the field of the tournament is again very strong.

After seven rounds former World Junior Champion Abijheet Gupta from India and Sergey Movsesian lead the field with 6.0/7 each.

Abhijeeht Gupta

Sergey Movsesian

Half a point behind follows a group of eleven players with 5.5/7 each. Among is Tania Sachdev from India, currently the best women in the field. Another player in this group is chess legend and former World Championship Candidate Alexander Beliavsky (born in 1953), who in the 80s was one of the world's best players.

In round five Beliavsky won an interesting and energetic game against German IM Jonas Lampert (born in 1997):

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Bc5 6.c3 b5 7.Bc2 d5 8.d4 dxe4 9.Nbd2 exf3 10.Qxf3 Be7 11.Qxc6+ Bd7 12.Qf3 exd4 13.Ne4 0-0 14.Rd1 c5 Both sides follow a topical variation which has been tried a few times recently. At the Gibraltar Open Maxime Vachier-Lagrave here played 14...Re8 and won against Gawain Jones. 15.Rxd4 c5 16.Rd1 Qc8 17.Qd3 Nxe4 18.Qxd7 Qxd7 19.Rxd7 Nf6 20.Rd1 c4 21.Bf4 Bc5 22.Kf1 a5 23.Re1 Rxe1+ 24.Rxe1 Kf8 25.Bd1 Re8 26.Bf3 b4 27.Rc1 bxc3 28.Rxc3 Bb4 29.Rc1 Ne4 30.Rc2 a4 31.Be3 f5 32.g3 Rc8 33.Be2 Nd6 34.a3 Ba5 35.Bf4 Ke7 36.Bd1 c3 37.bxc3 Ne4 38.c4 Nc3 39.Be2 Nxe2 40.Kxe2 Bb6 41.Rb2 Bc5 42.Rb7+ Ke6 43.Bc1 Be7 44.Rb6+ Vachier Lagrave,M (2785)-Jones,G (2625) Gibraltar 2016 1-0 15.cxd4 c4 16.Nxf6+N A new move. In a previous Swedish GM Nils Grandelius tried 16.Bg5 and defeated Lawrence Trent. Nd5 17.Nc5 Bxg5 18.Qxd5 Bg4 19.Qe4 f5 20.Qe6+ Kh8 21.f3 Re8 22.Qc6 Rc8 23.Qb7 Rc7 24.Qxa6 Re2 25.fxg4 Rxc2 26.Re1 g6 27.Kh1 Qd5 28.Re8+ Kg7 29.Rg1 Rxc5 30.dxc5 Rxg2 31.Qd6 Qxd6 32.cxd6 Rd2 33.gxf5 Bf4 34.Rg4 g5 35.h4 h6 36.hxg5 hxg5 37.Rb8 Rd5 38.Rb6 Kf6 39.d7+ Ke7 40.Rb7 Rxf5 41.Rg1 Rd5 42.Re1+ Be5 43.Re4 Kd8 44.Kg2 Rc5 45.Kf3 Rd5 Grandelius,N (2628)-Trent,L (2452) Germany 2016 1-0 (62) 16...Bxf6 17.Be4 Rb8 18.Bf4 Rb6 19.Rac1 Re8 20.h3 Bg5 21.b3 Qf6 22.Be3 Qxf3 23.gxf3!?
An interesting pawn sacrifice to activate White's pieces and to get the d-pawn moving. 23...Bxe3 24.fxe3 cxb3 25.axb3 Bxh3 26.Kf2 g6 27.Rc7 Rc8 28.Rdc1 Rxc7 29.Rxc7 b4?! Black gradually loses control. Better was 29...Rd6 to keep the d-pawn in check. 30.Bc6! Paving the way for the d-pawn. Rb8 31.d5 Kf8 32.e4 h5 33.Kg3 Bf1 34.d6 Now, White's d-pawn is very strong. Moreover, White threatens 35.Bd5. Rd8 35.e5 Bb5 36.Bxb5 axb5 37.Kf4 White's king hurries to support its d-pawn which is more dangerous and more important than Black's h-pawn. Re8 38.Ke4 h4 39.Kd5 g5 40.d7 Rd8 After the time-control was reached Black resigned. After 41.Kd6 Black's h-pawn is simply not fast enough to stop White from playing 42.Rc8, winning. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Beliavsky,A2630Lampert,J24721–02016C78Reykjavik Open 20165.10

Alexander Beliavsky

Tania Sachdev

Elisabeth Pähtz

Dmitry Andreikin

Standings after seven rounds

Rk. SNo   Name Typ FED Rtg Pts.  TB1   TB2   TB3  Rp
1 10 GM Gupta Abhijeet   IND 2634 6,0 33,5 24,5 28,00 2764
2 7 GM Movsesian Sergei   ARM 2653 6,0 33,0 24,0 28,75 2867
3 5 GM Cheparinov Ivan   BUL 2684 5,5 34,5 25,0 26,00 2705
4 9 GM Jones Gawain C B   ENG 2645 5,5 33,5 24,5 25,00 2703
5 1 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar   AZE 2747 5,5 33,5 24,0 26,50 2745
6 3 GM Rapport Richard U18 HUN 2720 5,5 33,0 23,0 24,75 2695
7 15 GM Grigoriants Sergey   RUS 2587 5,5 31,5 22,5 24,25 2565
8 11 GM Beliavsky Alexander G S60 SLO 2630 5,5 29,5 22,0 22,75 2595
9 49 IM Tania Sachdev   IND 2370 5,5 29,0 21,5 22,00 2598
10 31 IM Petrov Nikita U18 RUS 2464 5,5 29,0 20,0 20,25 2567
11 22 GM Bromberger Stefan   GER 2532 5,5 28,5 20,0 21,75 2553
12 35 IM Sarkar Justin   USA 2426 5,5 27,0 18,5 19,75 2526
13 8 GM Grandelius Nils   SWE 2646 5,5 26,5 19,5 20,25 2537
14 6 GM Melkumyan Hrant   ARM 2653 5,0 31,5 23,5 21,75 2562
15 17 GM Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn   ISL 2572 5,0 31,5 23,0 21,00 2586
16 4 GM Sargissian Gabriel   ARM 2702 5,0 31,5 22,5 21,75 2605
17 23 GM Shabalov Alexander   USA 2520 5,0 31,0 22,5 20,00 2582
18 43 IM Liang Awonder U12 USA 2405 5,0 31,0 21,5 20,00 2395
19 27 IM Andersen Mads U20 DEN 2479 5,0 30,5 22,5 21,00 2514
20 21 GM Rambaldi Francesco U16 ITA 2541 5,0 30,5 22,5 20,75 2532
21 39 IM Holm Kristian Stuvik U16 NOR 2414 5,0 30,5 22,0 21,00 2433
22 29 IM Paehtz Elisabeth   GER 2474 5,0 30,5 22,0 19,75 2520
  34 IM Tan Justin U18 AUS 2441 5,0 30,5 22,0 19,75 2508
24 18 GM Brunello Sabino   ITA 2567 5,0 30,0 22,0 20,25 2544
25 2 GM Andreikin Dmitry   RUS 2732 5,0 30,0 21,5 21,00 2625
26 24 IM Di Berardino Diego Rafael   BRA 2511 5,0 29,5 21,0 19,75 2488
27 20 IM Tari Aryan U16 NOR 2553 5,0 29,5 20,5 19,75 2424
28 28 GM Kristjansson Stefan   ISL 2478 5,0 29,5 20,5 19,50 2522
29 36 IM Thorfinnsson Bragi   ISL 2419 5,0 29,0 21,5 18,50 2486
30 14 GM Marin Mihail   ROU 2597 5,0 29,0 21,0 20,25 2502
31 42 FM Antal Tibor Kende U16 HUN 2406 5,0 29,0 21,0 19,00 2452
32 51 IM Vuilleumier Alexandre   SUI 2366 5,0 28,0 20,0 19,00 2346
33 44 IM Christiansen Johan-Sebastian U16 NOR 2401 5,0 27,5 19,0 19,00 2311
34 99   Lindsoe Fredrik Aunan   NOR 2112 5,0 26,5 19,5 17,00 2365
35 48 IM Braun Christian   GER 2386 5,0 26,0 18,5 18,00 2313
36 38 IM Koop Thorben U18 GER 2416 5,0 24,5 17,5 17,00 2282
37 37 IM Lehner Oliver   AUT 2418 5,0 24,0 18,0 17,75 2286

... 233 players

Tatev Abrahamyan

Jovanka Houska

Photos: Lennart Ootes (Tournament page)

Links

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.
 
Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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