Fire & Ice

After a totally grueling double round day we have 13 players on 3 out of 3. After a rather smooth first round for most of the higher rated players, rounds two and three presented some bigger challenges for the titled players in this tournament. In round 2 most of the top seeds won in clinical…

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Well that’s a first!!

Right now we actually have about 200 people outside the Harpa playing hall because the building had to be evacuated because of a fire alarm and probably a real small fire in the house. Most likely we will return soon but the house has to follow protocol and evacuate while the situation is being taken…

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It starts today

The opening ceremony is in roughly 3 hours away and we will start the tournament and the live broadcast shortly after that. Registration is going well, most of the players showing up and looks like we will have 250+ players from 40+ countries. Let Peter tell you all about it in this news article on…

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Tomorrow it is!

It’s safe to say that people are looking forward to the 2014 Reykjavik Open which will open its 50 year anniversary edition tomorrow! Today the organisers and some volunteers were busy setting up the tournament hall in the lovely playing hall of the Harpa playing venue. Players were showing up and this year we have…

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Some interesting new players

Today we got some late additions to the tournament.  In an older news piece on the actual 50 year anniversary day of the first Reykjavik Open we told you about a game Mikhail Tal played against a local master when instead of succumbing to a repetition he sacrificed his queen for two pieces! Well guess…

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Players perspective!

It’s always nice to read what players are thinking about so it’s a pleasure to point you to these two excellent articles on the experience of two different but closely related players. First we offer Gawain Jones’s article. Gawain has now played the Reykjavik Open three times and two seasons in the Icelandic league so…

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Lisa Orlova interviews IM Gretarsson

Lisa Orlova was one of many competitors in they 2013 Reykjavik Open. She has a chess channel on YouTube and did some interviews while she was in Reykjavik. Here is her interview with local IM Hjörvar Steinn Grétarsson who missed a chance at a GM norm in the last round.