A quick video roundup of round 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDwbGKEFIn8
Lots of upsets
Some upsets in round 1. We already had a 1900 player beating a 2478 but there was also an upset when the Icelandic Ingibjörg Edda Birgisdóttir (1783) beat the Dutch IM David Miedema. Some draws as well. Tinna Kristín Finnbogadóttir, another Icelandic female player drew against German IM Martin Zumzande(2419). Sigurður Páll Steindórsson (2235) allowed…
First huge upset!
Soren Jensen rated 1909 beat IM Frode Urkedal 2473 in only 21 moves using the Muzio in the King’s Gambit!!! Now that’s kicking it oldschool!
Meeting old friends
Reykjavik Open has in some ways “loyal customers”. Many players come here over and over and I’ve been shaking many hands today during the 1st round. One of them was Ivan Sokolov to whom I said “ahhh Ivan….another thousand years!!” to which he replied….”amazing…seems everybody has seen this” By “this” he of course means by…
Round 1 underway
We have started round 1 here in Reykjavik. 228 participants although one player is yet to show up. Final number of participants will be clear later. We had a small problem with the homepage but the server should be fine now and you can find links to live games and link to a stream from…
Youngest participant ever
This is Oskar Vikingur, he is only 7 years old and among the youngest if not the youngest participant ever in the history of Reykjavik Open! He is ready….we are about an hour away from the 1st round!!
President of the federation on the radio
Gunnar Björnsson, the president of the Icelandic Chess Federation was on the local government run radio station this morning to promote the tournament. There is also a forthcoming match this weekend between Iceland and China which will be held in the headquarters of Arion Bank.
More from Polgar
Susan Polgar writes on here blog: Iceland is one of the greatest chess loving nations with a long history of spectacular events. This year is no different. The 2013 Reykjavik Open will feature a number of strong players, including Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, former World Junior Champion, and reigning SPICE Cup Champion, and the top 3 juniors…
Susan Polgar on the Open
Susan Polgar’s blog has a small piece about the forthcoming Reykjavik Open. Check it out!
Participants in Reykjavik Open doing well in Gibraltar
The tournament in Gibraltar has established itself as one of the strongest Opens around. Therefore it is very nice to see two players already registered to play in the Reykjavik Open among the top three players before the last round. Nigel Short has done exceptionally well in the Gibraltar tournament the last few years and…