Reykjavik Open 2010
Thursday, 11 February 2010 23:34
The Reykjavik Open 2010 is set to take place on 24th February – 3rd March, 2010. The website of the tournament is www.chess.is and the e-mail of the organizing committee is reykjavikopen2010@gmail.com .
There are, of course, many reasons for participating in Reykjavik open 2010. Iceland is a traditional place of chess and most of the current chess elite has played in Reykjavik one time or another. And Reykjavik hosted the “Match of the Century” in 1972.
Iceland has a long history of chess activities, dating from the Middle Ages. The Reykjavik Chess Club was founded in 1900 and ever since chess tournaments have been organized in Iceland on a regular basis. Most Icelanders know how to play chess and local Grandmasters were, for a period of time, amongst the celebrities.
Iceland’s first grandmaster, Fridrik Ólafsson, was in fact her first “celebrity”, and every popular media followed his ventures with a great interest and the public flocked to watch, as he showed his magic in Reykjavik.
Most chessplayers know Iceland’s affiliation to chess and her reputation for hosting great tournaments. The first Reykjavik international tournament took place in 1964. The magician from Riga emerged the winner. In 2008 the Chinese duo, Wang Hao and Wang Yue, along with the Icelandic champion Hannes Stefánsson, tied for the 1st place.
Despite the crises, Reykjavík Open in 2009 was the most crowded in her history. 110 participants from 21 countries took part. It was the first Reykjavík Open in odd number year despite the crises – Hédinn Steingrímsson, Hannes Stefánsson and Yuiry Kryvoruchko were the winners.
All information at www.chess.is
Gunnar Bjornsson
President of the Icelandic Chess Federation
Registered players (as of 3rd February):
1 GM Baklan Vladimir UKR 2654
2 GM Dreev Alexey RUS 2650
3 GM Sokolov Ivan BIH 2649
4 GM Kuzubov Yuriy UKR 2634
5 GM Shulman Yuri USA 2624
6 GM Ehlvest Jaan USA 2600
7 GM Kacheishvili Giorgi GEO 2587
8 GM Hillarp Persson Tiger SWE 2581
9 GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2577
10 GM Stefansson Hannes ISL 2574
11 IM Lenderman Alex USA 2560
12 GM Maze Sebastien FRA 2554
13 GM Kveinys Aloyzas LTU 2536
14 GM Nataf Igor-Alexandre FRA 2534
15 GM Miezis Normunds LAT 2533
16 GM Kogan Artur ISR 2524
17 IM Grandelius Nils SWE 2515
18 GM Romanishin Oleg M UKR 2512
19 GM Danielsen Henrik ISL 2495
20 IM Nyzhnyk Illya UKR 2495
21 GM Galego Luis POR 2487
22 IM Cori Jorge PER 2483
23 IM Harika Dronavalli IND 2471
24 IM Kristjansson Stefan ISL 2466
25 IM Krush Irina USA 2455
26 FM Grover Sahaj IND 2448
27 IM Bromann Thorbjorn DEN 2434
28 IM Gunnarsson Jon Viktor ISL 2429
29 GM Thorhallsson Throstur ISL 2426
30 IM Loeffler Stefan GER 2416
31 WIM Cori T Deysi PER 2412
32 WGM Karavade Eesha IND 2405
33 IM Thorfinnsson Bragi ISL 2398
34 IM Tania Sachdev IND 2398
35 IM Kjartansson Gudmundur ISL 2391
36 IM Thorfinnsson Bjorn ISL 2383
37 IM Arngrimsson Dagur ISL 2383
38 Gislason Gudmundur ISL 2382
39 IM Ansell Simon T ENG 2381
40 IM Sareen Vishal IND 2364, etc.
This is a fun event. Everyone should play in it.
What time is it?