McShane tops field in Reykjavik Open

Today the 2011 edition of the Reykjavik Open starts, with one of the strongest and largest groups of chess players in years. The top 10 of registered players has Luke McShane, Evgenij Miroshnichenko, Jan Gustafsson, Ivan Sokolov, Ahmed Adly, Yuriy Kuzubov, Jon Ludvig Hammer, Sune Berg Hansen, Vladimir Baklan and Boris Chatalbashev.

The organizers proudly mention main sponsor MP Bank, which was founded by and bears the initials of Icelandic GM Margeir Pétursson. Apparently it's the only bank that survived the Icelandic financial crisis that begun in 2008.

A number of big names travelled to Iceland a bit earlier, to participate in the final rounds of the Icelandic Team Championship. The first four rounds were played in October last year; the last three on March 4-5, 2011. The winning team was Taflfélags Bolungarvíkur A, with Luke McShane on top board. Jan Gustafsson wrote a post about it, and about travelling to Iceland.

Below is the press release from the Icelandic Chess Federation from January, and the top 50 participants.

PRESS RELEASE

The MP Reykjavík Open will be held from March 9 to March 16, 2011 in the City Hall in downtown Reykjavík. The 2011 edition is expected to field one of the strongest and largest group of chess players in years. Nearly thirty GMs have so far registered, including some of the world’s highest ranked players, the youngest GM in the world, some of the strongest women and legends of the game. Already, the number of registered players exceeds the number of participants at last year’s event, but the MP Reykjavík Open is very popular with chess players due to the excellent playing venue and atmosphere, and many chess players return year after year. This year, the MP Reykjavík Open will also be the Nordic Chess Championship and the highest placed player from a Nordic country (Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) will be crowned the Nordic Chess Champion of 2011.

The highest ranked player is Evgenij Miroshnichenko (2670) of Ukraine, followed by Luke McShane (2664), Ivan Sokolov (2657), one of last year’s winners who also regularly features in international chess tournaments in Iceland, and German GM Jan Gustafsson (2652). From Scandinavia, we have Magnus Carlsen’s contemporary, Jon Ludvig Hammer (2647) and Denmark’s Sune Berg Hansen (2603). Moreover, all active Icelandic GMs will take part, including Hannes Hlífar Stefánsson (2580), who has been among the winners in the last three tournaments, Héðinn Steingrímsson (2554), one of the 2009 winners, Henrik Danielsen (2519) and Þröstur Þórhallsson (2387).

Africa’s highest ranked player, Ahmed Adly (2640), Latvian chess legend Evgeny Sveshnikov (2521), who is also joined at the tournament by his son Vladimir, are also registered.

As in previous years, many of the youngest and most promising chess players in the world are attending the MP Reykjavík Open, including the world’s youngest GM, the year 14-year old, Illya Nyzhnik (2530), 14-year old Bulgarian IM Kiprian Berbatov (2437), a nephew of Manchester United player Dimitar Berbatov, and 13-year old IM Suri Vaibhav (2421) of India.

Additionally, Harika Dronavalli (2520), one of the highest ranked women in the world, is attending, together with Tania Sachdev (2391), Sophie Millet (2375) of France and Anna Sharevich (2332), Belarus’ strongest female player and Lenka Ptácníková (2317).

The City of Reykjavík and MP Bank are the main sponsors of the tournament. MP Bank, which was founded by and bears the initials of Icelandic GM Margeir Pétursson, is the only bank that survived the Icelandic financial crisis that begun in 2008. 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. Now in its 26th edition, the tournament was held every other year until 2008, but has since been every year. It was closed in its early years, but has been an open event since the 1980s.

The MP Reykjavík Open has enjoyed such an enviable reputation that more than 120 GMs registered interest in participating this year. Unfortunately not everybody could be accommodated and all conditions have been allocated. Given its open format, however, places are still available for anyone interested in taking part in a strong and lively tournament.

As in earlier years, several chess-related events will take place at the same time as the tournament, including the now famous the Reykjavík Open Chess Pub Quiz and the Golden Circle sightseeing tour that includes stops at Geysir and Robert J. Fischer´s final resting place in the southern part of Iceland. And given the favorable exchange rate of the Icelandic króna, Iceland is one of the most attractive places in the world to visit and play in chess tournaments.

For more information, please check out the website of the tournament at www.chess.is, where all relevant information can be found, including list of players and a registration form.

We look forward to welcoming you to the MP Reykjavík Open.

On behalf of the Icelandic Chess Federation, Gunnar Björnsson, President of ICF.

Reykjavik Open 2011 | Participants (top 50)

No.	Ti.	Name	FED	Rtg
1	GM	McShane Luke J	ENG	2683
2	GM	Miroshnichenko Evgenij	UKR	2670
3	GM	Gustafsson Jan	GER	2647
4	GM	Sokolov Ivan	NED	2643
5	GM	Adly Ahmed	EGY	2640
6	GM	Kuzubov Yuriy	UKR	2627
7	GM	Hammer Jon Ludvig	NOR	2606
8	GM	Hansen Sune Berg	DEN	2603
9	GM	Baklan Vladimir	UKR	2602
10	GM	Chatalbashev Boris	BUL	2602
11	GM	Miton Kamil	POL	2600
12	GM	Pelletier Yannick	SUI	2593
13	GM	Fier Alexandr	BRA	2586
14	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	IND	2580
15	GM	Halkias Stelios	GRE	2579
16	GM	Jones Gawain C B	ENG	2578
17	GM	Hess Robert L	USA	2565
18	IM	Nyzhnyk Illya	UKR	2563
19	GM	Stefansson Hannes	ISL	2557
20	GM	Steingrimsson Hedinn	ISL	2554
21	GM	Danielsen Henrik	ISL	2533
22	GM	Friedel Josh	USA	2529
23	GM	Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag	BRA	2529
24	GM	Sveshnikov Evgeny	LAT	2527
25	IM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2524
26	GM	Hillarp Persson Tiger	SWE	2524
27	GM	Williams Simon K	ENG	2507
28	GM	Kveinys Aloyzas	LTU	2506
29	IM	D Amore Carlo	ITA	2505
30	IM	Grover Sahaj	IND	2495
31	IM	Kristjansson Stefan	ISL	2483
32	IM	Henrichs Thomas	GER	2480
33	IM	Sammalvuo Tapani	FIN	2471
34	IM	Berbatov Kiprian	BUL	2454
35		Grétarsson Hjörvar Steinn	ISL	2444
36	IM	Ziska Helgi Dam	FAI	2432
37	IM	Gunnarsson Jon Viktor	ISL	2428
38	IM	Thorfinnsson Bjorn	ISL	2419
39	IM	Thorfinnsson Bragi	ISL	2417
40	IM	Dearing Edward	SCO	2412
41	FM	Zelbel Patrick	GER	2410
42	IM	Debashis Das	IND	2398
43	IM	Thomassen Joachim	NOR	2396
44	IM	Tiller Bjorn	NOR	2393
45	FM	Ariel Donny	USA	2389
46	GM	Thorhallsson Throstur	ISL	2387
47	IM	Devereaux Maxim L	ENG	2385
48	FM	Sveshnikov Vladimir	LAT	2379
49	IM	Milliet Sophie	FRA	2369
50	FM	Degtiarev Evgeny	GER	2368

Links

• Official website
• Detailed info at Chess-Results