The 1st round of the GAMMA Reykjavik Open – Bobby Fischer Memorial 2018 has started. After a quick speech by the president of the Icelandic Chess Federation, Gunnar Bjornsson, and by Zurab Azmaiparashvili the president of ECU it was Líf Magneudóttir of the Reykjavik City Council made the ceremonial first move on board 1.
This edition of the open started with 248 participants from 34 federations. There are 27 GM’s and outside of Iceland the United States has the biggest contingent of players with 23 participants!
The no. 1 seed is Richard Rapport clocking in at 2715 while Pavel Eljanov isn’t far behind with a rating of 2713. GM Hannes Stefansson is the highest rated local GM.
Commenty by GM Simon Williams and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni is on chess.com/tv
As the tournament is dedicated to the memory of Bobby Fischer there will be several special events dedicated to his memory. Participants will be able to take a tour to the 1972 venue, see the table which was used in the match of the century and take tours to the Fischer Centre in Selfoss and Bobby’s grave.
On Friday 9th of March there is also a Fischer Random Tournament on the free day of the tournament which of course is the birthday of the late great Bobby Fischer.
