Chess on Top of the World
The city of Tromsø in Norway is so far north it is one of the few major habitations in the Arctic Circle.
That means that from late November to the middle of January every year there is a Polar Night, and from the middle of May until late July there is a Midnight Sun.
A summer night in Tromsø (picture by Beate Forså)
Tromsø is bidding to host the 2014 Chess Olympiad, boosted by significant government financial support thanks to the high profile of Norwegian world #1 Magnus Carlsen. But there is already plenty of chess to be found in this remarkable city!
The Arctic Chess Challenge ran from 31 July to 8 August and featured 25 Grandmasters in a field of over 160 players for a 9-round Swiss event. In a dramatic last round finish, Mikhail Kobalia of Russia beat leader Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands to secure the title on tie-breaks from young Mexican talent Manuel Leon Hoyos.
The leading standings:
| Name | Elo | Score | T-B | |
| 1 | Mikhail Kobalia | 2648 | 7.5 | 40.5 |
| 2 | Manuel Leon Hoyos | 2556 | 7.5 | 40.0 |
| 3 | Chanda Sandipan | 2637 | 7.0 | 44.5 |
| 4 | Loek Van Wely | 2677 | 7.0 | 43.5 |
| 5 | Bartosz Socko | 2646 | 7.0 | 42.5 |
| 6 | Marijan Petrov | 2535 | 7.0 | 36.0 |
| 7 | Matthew J Turner | 2506 | 7.0 | 35.5 |
| 8 | Julian Radulski | 2574 | 6.5 | 40.0 |
| 9 | Ivan Ivanisevic | 2611 | 6.5 | 40.0 |
| 10 | Yuri Drozdovskij | 2624 | 6.5 | 39.5 |
| 11 | Anatoly Bykhovsky | 2487 | 6.5 | 38.5 |
| 12 | Igor Khenkin | 2632 | 6.5 | 38.0 |
| 13 | Alexander Moiseenko | 2667 | 6.5 | 37.0 |
| 14 | Sergei Azarov | 2600 | 6.5 | 35.5 |
| 15 | Normunds Miezis | 2518 | 6.5 | 34.5 |
