2015 Reykjavik Open – Fridrik Olafsson’s 80th birthday honorary tournament

The dates are set for the 2015 Reykjavik Open, mark March 10th-18th on your calendar! The venue is the same as the last few years, the Harpan Conference Hall.
The 2015 tournament falls on the same year as the 80th birthday of arguably the most legendary chessplayer in Icelandic Chess history, GM Fridrik Olafsson.

Fridrik Olafsson played in the tournament two years ago. GM David Navara escaped with a draw vs the legend! In this picture he is playing local doctor and tournament regular, Olafur Gisli Jonsson

The 2015 Tournament will therefore be held in his honor. Fridrik played and beat many of the legends of the game such as Karpov, Fischer, Tal, Larsen and several other legends. Later Fridrik became president of FIDE before retiring from the game.

Hopefully this will help trigger a further growth of the Reykjavik Open which has grown each year, culminating in 255 record participants last year from 35 countries. Last year we had 28 GM’s and several other titled players.

The Reykjavik Open welcomes both top players and chess tourists alike. If you always wanted to visit Iceland, why not play in the 2nd best Open Tournament in the World? (As voted by ACP poll!) Last year, some first time visitors got the chance to play on demonstration boards against a Grandmaster.

Juan Pablo Beserra from Brasil in his first visit to a country outside Brasil, played against a GM on live demonstration boards in the first round!

The tournament is a 10-round Swiss and features a double-round on the 2nd day of the tournament. The 10-rounds give more chances for norm seekers. Those who consider the tournament as a side attraction to their visit can take two 1/2 point byes in the first 7 rounds. If two byes are taken, one of them has to be during the double round day.

As always the Reykjavik Open features an attractive Special-events calendar. The Golden Circle tour is a mainstay and a large percentage of the foreign guests take this tour and unanimously like it.

Other mainstays are GM Lectures, Blitz Tournament, Soccer Match and the very popular Pub Quiz

Scenery from Icelandic nature

The winners of the 2014 Pub Quiz

From the Soccer Match

We are looking forward to meeting you in Reykjavik in 2015. As always the list of participants will be diverse with various strength, nationalities and titles. The participation list has already begun to take shape. Already registered are chess legend Arthur Yusupov, the always interesting and talented Julio Granda Zuniga, Reykjavik regular Gawain Jones, Czech #1 David Navara and the lovely and talented tournament regular Tanya Sachdev.

Please visit http://reykjavikopen.com for information or e-mail reykjavikopen2015@gmail.com for Questions.