Reykjavik Open 2012
The Reykjavik Chess festival is underway, featuring 25 Grandmasters in the 9-round Open Swiss competition.
The top seed is the young star Fabiano Caruana of Italy, followed by David Navara of the Czech Republic. Other notables include the #3 Bulgarian player Ivan Cheparinov and women's world champion Hou Yifan.
There is also a sizeable US contingent in the city of Bobby Fischer's greatest triumph, including Robert Hess, Yuri Shulman, Marc Arnold, Irina Krush and Maurice Ashley.
The spectacular new venue is worth seeing - the Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre:
The time control is 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by 30 minutes to finish with a 30 second increment from the start. The total prize fund on offer is €15,000.
After four rounds the top standings look like this:
| Name | Nat | Elo | Pts | ||
| 1 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | BUL | 2664 | 4.0 |
| 2 | GM | Jones Gawain C B | ENG | 2635 | 4.0 |
| 3 | GM | Caruana Fabiano | ITA | 2767 | 4.0 |
| = |
GM | Navara David | CZE | 2700 | 4.0 |
| 5 | GM | Hess Robert L | USA | 2635 | 4.0 |
| 6 | GM | Sokolov Ivan | NED | 2653 | 4.0 |
| 7 | GM | Kuzubov Yuriy | UKR | 2615 | 3.5 |
| 8 | IM | Thorfinnsson Bragi | ISL | 2421 | 3.5 |
| 9 | GM | Baklan Vladimir | UKR | 2612 | 3.5 |
| 10 | FM | Coleman Teddy | USA | 2356 | 3.5 |
| 11 | GM | Hou Yifan | CHN | 2639 | 3.0 |
| 12 | GM | L'ami Erwin | NED | 2611 | 3.0 |
| 13 | GM | Ipatov Alexander | TUR | 2561 | 3.0 |
| 14 | IM | Arnold Marc T | USA | 2502 | 3.0 |
| 15 | GM | Williams Simon K | ENG | 2506 | 3.0 |
| 16 | IM | Akshayraj Kore | IND | 2422 | 3.0 |
| 17 | GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | UKR | 2666 | 3.0 |
| 18 | GM | Avrukh Boris | ISR | 2591 | 3.0 |
| 19 | IM | Ziska Helgi Dam | FAI | 2456 | 3.0 |
| 20 | GM | Stefansson Hannes | ISL | 2531 | 3.0 |
Freelance chess media maker Macauley Peterson is producing daily recap videos which are available at the official tournament website or YouTube channel. The first three are below.
Fabiano Caruana opened with a win in round one
Hou Yifan's first move was made by city councillor Óttarr Ólafur Proppé
Pictures from the official website.
