The Reykjayvik 2018 Tournament opened its doors today in the namesake town in Iceland- the land where Bobby Fischer Rests in Peace. And this year its aptly Christened as the Bobby Fischer Memorial in observance of the tenth anniversary since Bobby Fischer’s passing away in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Sporting a solid field of Grand Masters and a suite of Indian talent the tournament got off to a more or less upset free start for the top talent due to the uneven matched games. One of the upsets involved GM Adhibhan Bhaskaran (IND) who couldn’t convert an advantageous position in an opposite colored Bishops endgame and settled for a draw. The opposite colored Bishops endgame is a little challenging to get decisive in favor of any advantage and requires very precise play. Besides a few local players scoring formidable performances to hold out some solid talent the round was relatively as anticipated. The round two starts tomorrow with pairing getting only more exciting to produce some action packed results to look forward to.
The crowning start to the tournament was the eleven board simultaneous chess display by Indian prodigy Nihal Sarin. Playing a Fischer Random Simul where random positions are set up on all boards via computer each side had 45 minutes for the game. For the promising Indian talent this was a first of its kind in terms of format (Fischer Random and not regular) and timed to only 45 minutes for each game on eight separate boards. Showing some signs of nerves at the start Nihal managed to regain composure and post a solid result of 10/11 that had two draws and nine wins!
Enjoy the pics and replay the games to gain insights on the solid performance by Nihal in rd 1 and some more!
Nihal in action at the Simul
Nihal enjoys a moment with his mother.
Scenic Iceland!
