The Turkish Grandmaster Mustafa Ylimaz proved to be a class above the field at the annual Reykjavik Open Blitz..
All in all a total of 68 players showed up for the 9 rounds 3+2 blitz tournament.
After some early computer problems and a slight delay, the tournament ran smoothly after the first two rounds and the atmosphere was casual and jovial all around.
Mustafa started off very strongly but was matched early by IM’s Thorfinnsson and Hambleton along with youngster FM Vignir V. Stefansson. Eventually Mustafa took charge though and overcame his rivals and was in fact on a very impressive 8 out of 8 with the win in hand before the last round.
The fight for the other podium places was tough but Erik Blomqvist came back from a setback and secured his podium finish with a last round draw against Yilmaz.
Meanwhile the battle for third was fierce. Bjorn Thorfinnsson had a half point lead over Aman Hambleton (who he faced) and Timmermans. Bjorn absolutely had to pull out the win against the “Chesbrah” and managed to do so after an exciting game.
The atmosphere in general was quite nice and everybody seemed to enjoy the tournament.
Individual results can be found on Chess-results
