Dates for the 2025 Reykjavik Open set!

The Reykjavik Open 2025 will be held from April 9th till April 15th. These dates are final! We will once again play in the magnificent Harpa Conference Hall at the heart of downtown Reykjavik. Registration form Here is our preliminary schedule but it’s subject to change when we know more about other events at the…

Bogdan-Daniel Deac wins the Reykjavik Open 2024

After a very exciting last round where the tournament win was definitely up for grabs, Romanian tournament #1 seed Bogdan-Daniel Deac emerged as the winner. Tournament veteran Sebastien Maze came incredibly close to winning the tournament, he had a winning endgame against Kjartansson but chose the wrong move. A more detailed report from the last…

Six players tied for the lead before the last round

After a topsy-turvy penultimate round we find ourselves with six players tied for the lead, battling for top honors at the Reykjavik Open! Six players tie for the top of the @ReykjavikOpen 2024 after eight played rounds! Scoring 6.5 points, each, Bogdan Daniel-Deac (ROU, 2690), Paulius Pultinevicius (LTU, 2575), Praveen Balakrishnan (USA, 2490), Sebastian Maze…

Suleymenov the sole leader with two rounds remaining

Despite eleven players starting the 7th round in first place, only one remained after it! Kazak GM Alisher Suleymenov gave himself good chances by defeating Turkish GM Vahap Sanal. A big pack is chasing though and breathing down his neck half a point behind, no fewer than 17 players are tied for 2nd place!  …

Eleven players in the lead after six rounds!

The double round day started with  only two players leading the pack. At the end of the day there were 11 players joined at the top! GM Hedinn Steingrimsson and IM Jakub Seemann (who famously went viral following his U-16 World Championship win) led the way but drew their games in the 5th round, the…

Two players still with a maximum score after 4 rounds

Local GM Héðinn Steingrímsson lead the Reykjavik Open with 4 points out of 4 along with Polish IM Jakub Seemann. Both good good wins today. Héðinn faced the Serbian women’s national team memberi Teodoru Injac (2434) with black. The Serbian played the Benko-gambit with reversed colors but it seemed white’s play lacked a little mustard. Hedinn…

Icelandic win at the Pub Quiz

The yearly Pub Qui here at the Reykjavik Open was held yesterday at the playing hall in Harpa. The Quizmaster as he has been for over a decade was FM Ingvar Thor Johannesson 30 questions were on the agenda about various chess themes, from players, positions, Olympiads etc.   The winning team named itself “Diettmar…

Premature eruption?

After 3 rounds out of 9, you wouldn’t expect a premature eruption…unless you are in Iceland! After three rounds we had a volcanic eruption on the south-west coast of Iceland. For most of the chess players, an eruption at this point is premature….so we must ponder is it too early to have 3 out of…

Few upsets in the first round

The first rounds in Swiss tournaments tend to be relatively free of upsets. Despite the accelerated pairings the 1st round of the Reykjavik Open didn’t produce many upsets. The first upset was all the way down on the 65th board where the Faroese player Rani Baldursson (1989) managed to beat Englishman John Pigott (2326) .…

Registration closed!

Unfortunately, we have to announce that registration for the Reykjavik Open has already reached over 400 players! Due to overwhelming interest and participation, we’ve had to close registration for now, as we’re nearing the maximum capacity of our playing area. We already have people on a waiting list so you can still try sending a…