The 37th edition of the Reykjavik Open will be held from March 29th until April 4th, 2023 in Harpa, the 28.000 sq. m. concert- and conference hall in downtown Reykjavik. The tournament has been the flagship of Icelandic chess for many years and one of the most prestigious and well-liked open tournaments on the calendar every year.
The tournament is proud to add Chessable as its sponsor and right now we have over 200 participants already registered, including 23 grandmasters and several other titled players. The current top seed is frequent tournament visitor Nils Grandelius, the Swedish number one, and other players are on the verge of joining the tournament!
Our goal this year is to break the 300-player mark and set a new tournament record! We came close last year with 245 players, we can do better this year with the chess world more or less having returned to normal after “you-know-what” in 2019-2021!
If you are looking for an interesting and friendly tournament to include in your chess calendar, Reykjavik Open is for you!
Spring Tournament
The new April schedule adopted last year is aimed at giving the players an even better chance of enjoying Iceland, with warmer temperatures when the island bursts into spring color, allowing our guests to soak up the bright spring light and hopefully have that bit of extra energy to spend on the 64 squares. The ability to witness the Northern Lights is still possible in April although it’s nearing the “offseason” for this natural phenomenon. Last year some players went on a tour at the start of the tournament and managed to catch a glimpse of the bright green light.
Much more than a chess tournament
As in earlier years, several chess-themed events will take place at the same time as the tournament, including the now-famous Reykjavík Open Chess Pub Quiz and the Golden Circle sightseeing tour that includes stops at Geysir and Bobby Fischer’s final resting place in the southern part of Iceland. Iceland is one of the most attractive places in the world to visit and play in chess tournaments. The full 2023 side-event calendar will also include Harpa Blitz Tournament. Other events might be added to the calendar, stay tuned on the tournament website for more info!
Join the legends and be part of chess history
Throughout its history, the Reykjavik Open has featured many of the strongest chess players in the world at the time. These include the former world champion, Magnus Carlsen as well as the former challenger for the title Fabiano Caruana, the 8th world champion Mikhail Tal, who won the first tournament in 1964 with a record 12½ points out of 13, as well as the 7th world champion Vasili Smyslov. It has also featured the strongest women in the world, including, Judit Polgar and world champions Hou Yifan and Nona Gaprindashvili, as well as challengers for the world title like Victor Korchnoi, David Bronstein Nigel Short and Jan Timman.
In recent years, the tournament has featured world-class players – in addition to those mentioned earlier – like Anish Giri, Pragganandhaa, Gukesh , Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Wesley So, while earlier editions featured legends like Friðrik Ólafsson, Anthony Miles, Bent Larsen, Lev Polugaevsky, Mark Taimanov, and Samuel Reshevsky.
You can find hotel deals and sightseeing tour deals here on the tournament website.
So what are you waiting for? Info on joining here on reykjavikopen.com as well as info on entry fees.
