Reykjavik Open 2014 – Dates Announced

The Reykjavik Open 2014 will be held from March 4th to March 12th, 2014, in Harpa, the 28.000 sqm concert hall. The tournament is expected to be very strong.
The event is celebrating 50 years anniversary since its inception in 1964, when Mikhail Tal won it with a record 12½ points out of 13. Throughout the years, Reykjavik Open grew to become one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world.
The 2013 edition featured Anish Giri, Wesley So and Pavel Eljanov, the winner of the tournament, as well as Wei Yi, youngster from China who became the youngest Grandmaster in the world with a great performance in Reykjavik. 227 players from 37 countries participated, including 35 Grandmasters, 19 of them rated 2600 and higher.
The 2012 edition saw the Women’s World Champion, Hou Yifan, and then the world no. 7, Fabiano Caruana, who won the tournament.
The City of Reykjavik has sponsored the tournament since its inception in 1964. 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 tournament will be held in Harpa, Reykjavik’s spectacular new music hall and conference centre by the harbour, only 5 minutes walk from downtown Reykjavik. Harpa features several restaurants and concerts during evenings and weekends.
The tournament will be played over 10-rounds of Swiss system. Rate of play is 90 min for 40 moves + 30 min + 30 sec increment.
FIDE norms possible. FIDE rules apply, but article 6.6a will be enforced in following manner: Any player who arrives at the chessboard later than 30 minutes after the start of the session shall lose the game.
Top prizes are 5.000€ / 2.000€ / 1.250€ / 800€ / 600€ etc
There are also prizes for best women, juniors and elo categories.
Reykjavik Open 2013
Tournament website