Reykjavik Chess Open 2013 Begins Feb 19

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

The Reykjavik Chess Open 2013 will be held for the 28th time from February 19th to February 27, 2012 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 similar number of GMs are expected in the 2013 tournament. 

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