Reykjavik Open Under Way, Six Lead After Round 4
The annual Reykjavik Open is under way in the capital of Iceland. After four rounds, six players are tied for first place, including top seed GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
GM Pavel Eljanov, GM Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson, IM Jacek Stopa, GM Alexandr Fier and GM Gao Rui are the other players still left with a perfect score.
The Reykjavik Open has yet again reached a record number of participants: 274. A total of 94 titled players are playing, including 35 GMs and 30 IMs.
The tournament started on Tuesday. Two rounds were played on Wednesday. This report includes round 4 which was held on Thursday.
For the author of these lines (and for several grandmasters) it was quite a change, going from Jerusalem to Reykjavik in just two days. Crossing Europe, we travelled from summer right back to winter, as became clear as soon as we had landed.
Don't miss our live coverage of the Reykjavik Open, with hosts FM Ingvar Johannesson and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni, during the rounds at Chess.com/TV!
The tournament is a 10-round Swiss, paired within one big group. Therefore the rating differences in the first round were huge, and there were hardly any upsets. The biggest was GM Jon Ludvig Hammer's draw with Damia Benet Morant, rated 2044. White was even winning at some point.
On the second day the first real David vs Goliath scalps occurred. FM Daniel Bisby (2321) of England defeated not one, but two grandmasters on one day! First he won against GM Sergei Movsesian:
A few hours later Bisby did this to GM Axel Rombaldoni:
The second round started Wednesday morning at 10am, and not everyone was fully awake yet. One game was over after just eight moves, even though the white player isn't a bad player. Interestingly, you can find more than a dozen games with the final position in the database...
In round 3 one of Norway's big talents, 16-year-old FM Lars Oskar Hauge, defeated GM Allan Stig Rasmussen convincingly:
16 y/o Hauge has 2 IM norms. After winning the Nordic U16 Ch last month I asked him when his 3rd will come: "In next event" #ReykjavikOpen
— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) 11 maart 2015
Some of the favorites in Reykjavik have travelled straight from Jerusalem, for instance GM Pavel Eljanov and GM David Navara. The latter won a nice game in the fourth round. Here's the game, and Navara's explanation:
2015 Reykjavik Open | Round 4 Standings (Top 20)
| Rk. | Title | Name | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | Rp |
| 12 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | UKR | 2727 | 4 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 3202 |
| 12 | GM | Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn | ISL | 2554 | 4 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 3105 |
| 34 | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | AZE | 2756 | 4 | 10,5 | 5,5 | 10,5 | 3226 |
| 34 | IM | Stopa Jacek | POL | 2544 | 4 | 10,5 | 5,5 | 10,5 | 3094 |
| 5 | GM | Fier Alexandr | BRA | 2601 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 3127 |
| 6 | GM | Gao Rui | CHN | 2533 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 9 | 3077 |
| 7 | GM | l'Ami Erwin | NED | 2605 | 3,5 | 11,5 | 6 | 9,75 | 2689 |
| 8 | IM | Gunnarsson Jon Viktor | ISL | 2443 | 3,5 | 11,5 | 5,5 | 9,75 | 2734 |
| 9 | GM | Navara David | CZE | 2736 | 3,5 | 11 | 5,5 | 9,25 | 2736 |
| 1011 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | IND | 2625 | 3,5 | 10 | 5 | 8,75 | 3114 |
| 1011 | GM | Jussupow Artur | GER | 2573 | 3,5 | 10 | 5 | 8,75 | 3097 |
| 12 | GM | Libiszewski Fabien | FRA | 2514 | 3,5 | 9,5 | 4,5 | 8,25 | 2966 |
| 13 | GM | Naroditsky Daniel | USA | 2633 | 3,5 | 9 | 5 | 7,75 | 2637 |
| 14 | GM | Maze Sebastien | FRA | 2564 | 3,5 | 9 | 4,5 | 7,75 | 3085 |
| 15 | GM | Colovic Aleksandar | MKD | 2482 | 3,5 | 9 | 4,5 | 7,5 | 2562 |
| 16 | IM | Georgiadis Nico | SUI | 2468 | 3,5 | 9 | 4,5 | 7,25 | 2594 |
| 1718 | GM | Melkumyan Hrant | ARM | 2676 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 4,5 | 7,25 | 2669 |
| 1718 | GM | Grandelius Nils | SWE | 2603 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 4,5 | 7,25 | 2680 |
| 19 | GM | Brunello Sabino | ITA | 2540 | 3,5 | 8,5 | 4,5 | 7 | 2627 |
| 20 | FM | Hauge Lars Oskar | NOR | 2380 | 3 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 2493 |
(Full standings here)
This year the Reykjavik Open is held for the 30th time. It also celebrates the 80th birthday of Icelandic chess legend GM Fridrik Olafsson; the tournament is held in his honor.
In round 2 the youngest faced the oldest participant: Alexander Björnsson (8) vs Pall Jonsson (81), 1-0. | Photo Fiona Steil-Antoni.
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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