The Chinese Grandmaster Li Chao (2700) was the sole winner of the N1 Reykjavik Open which finished yesterday in Harpa Music&Conference hall. Li Chao finishd with 8,5 points over 10 rounds of play. Helgi Ólafsson (2546) was the leading Icelandic player in joint 2nd-5th with 8 points and joined by Robin Van Kampen, Eric Hansen and Eduards Rozentalis who all had a fine tournament.
In the final round, prime minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, gave time out of his busy schedule to execute the first move in Hansen-Olafsson executing the move 1.e4! Yesterday was the prime ministers 39th birthday and him showing up shows how prestigious chess is in Iceland.
The closing ceremony was hosted by Björn Þorfinnsson who did a great job.
Trausti Björnsson,Friðrik Ólafsson og Jón Kristinsson were honored yesterday as they participated in the first Reykjavik Open 50 years ago in 1964.
The top players at the prize giving ceremony.
- 1. Li Chao (2700) 8,5 points
- 2.-5. Helgi Ólafsson, Robin Van Kampen (2603), Eric Hansen (2587) og Eduardas Rozentalis (2623) 8 points
- 6.-10. Hjörvar Steinn Grétarsson (2511) Hannes Hlífar Stefánsson (2541), Erwin L´Ami (2646), Harika Dronovalli (2487) og Raja Panjwani (2460) 7,5 points
Other prize winners were:
2201-2400
- WGM Tatew Abrahamyan 7 v.
- FM Brede Kvisvik (2257) 6,5 v.
- FM Daniel Cawdery (2362) 6,5 v.
2001-2200:
- Daneil Kazmaier (2187) 6,5 v.
- Philipp Bongartz (2143) 6,5 v.
- Oliver Aron Jóhannesson (2115) 6 v.
0-2000:
- Benjamin Haldoersen (1994) 5,5 v.
- Peter Michalowski (1985) 5,5 v.
- Jean-Chrisophe Thiry (1996) 5,5 v.
Best performance in accordance with rating:
- Marius H. Roets 490 (1927-1437)
- Vignir Vatnar Stefánsson 354 (2198-1844)
- Símon Þórhallsson 329 (1965-1636)
Juniors(1997 and later):
- Chitambaram Vr. Aravindh (2395) 6,5 v.
- Tibor Kenda Antal (2325) 6,5 v.
- Benjamin Gledura (2385) 6,5 v.
Women prizes:
- Harika Dronavalli 7,5 v.
- Tatev Abrahamyan 7 v.
- Irina Krush 7 v.
International norms
Six players made international norms. The Egyptian Mohamed Ezat was the only one got get a GM norm but the Danish IM Simon-Bekker Jensen was also painfully closed and frankly deserved one! Five players made IM norms en they were the young Indian Chitambaram Vr. Aravindh, Tatev Abrahamyan, Daniel Cawdery, Brede Kvisvik and Lenka Ptácníková.
