Reykjavik Open – February 19th-27th 2013
Tuesday, 19 February 2013 12:37
The Icelandic Chess Federation, in co-operation with the Reykjavik Chess Academy, welcomes you to the Reykjavik Open, a chess festival. Probably the most spectacular playing venue for open tournament ever. The tournament will be held in Harpa, Reykjavik´s spectacular new music hall on the harbor. Located in downtown Reykjavik, Harpa features several restaurants and concerts during evenings and weekends.
The Reykjavik Open 2013 will be held for the 28th time from February 19th to February 27th, 2013 in Harpa, the 28.000 sqm. concert hall. The 2013 tournament is expected to be very strong. The 2012 edition included for example the Women World Champion, Hou Yifan, and world no. 7 at that time, Fabiano Caruana, who won the tournament. In 2012 edition 198 players from 33 countries participated, including 26 grandmasters, 11 of which with a ELO rating of 2600 and higher. Total prizes in 2013 will be €15.000, including many special prizes for various ages and rating categories, in addition to the traditional top women prize.
The City of Reykjavík has sponsored the tournament since its inception in 1964, when Mikhail Tal won it with a record 12½ points out of 13. The tournament was initially held every two years, but has since 2008 taken place every year. It was closed in its early years, but has been an open event since the 1980s. Throughout its history the Reykjavik Open has featured many of the strongest chess players in the world at the time, including Mikhail Tal, Nona Gaprindashvili, David Bronstein, Vasili Smyslov, Bent Larsen, Friðrik Ólafsson, Mark Taimanov, Lev Polugaevsky, Jan Timman, Victor Korchnoi, Samuel Reshevsky, Anthony Miles, Nigel Short, Hikaru Nakamura, Judit Polgar, Magnus Carlsen, Alexander Grischuk, Fabiano Caruana and Hou Yifan.
The Reykjavík Open has enjoyed such an enviable reputation that more than 200 chess masters registered interest in participating last year and we expect a similar number of GMs in the 2013 tournament. As in previous years, the goal of organizers is to invite many of the youngest and most promising chess players in the world, as well as the strongest women players around.
Total prize fund of €15000 will be distributed to 10 main and various special prizes for the rating groups, best juniors, best women and best performance according to own ratings. Top prizes are 1. 5.000€; 2. 2.000€; 3. 1.250€; 4. 800€; 5. 600€ etc.
More info at: http://www.reykjavikopen.com
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Lovely country.