2018 Reykjavik Open Will Honor Bobby Fischer

The GAMMA Reykjavik Open in Iceland is always popular among American players. In 2017, Kostya Kavutskiy wrote about the same event in his Magical Recap, "After I won, I couldn’t believe what I had done! 7.5/10 in one of the biggest opens in the world? I was just as shocked as everyone else! The closing was a blast, and it was my first time receiving a prize in a European tournament, with all the fanfare, roses and handshakes."

Top U2400 from this year's Reykjavik Open (L to R: John Pigott, Kostya Kavutskiy, Tatev Abrahamyan, & Tournament Organizer Gunnar Bjornsson) Photo: Maria Emilianova

This year has a special appeal to US players as the event will be dedicated to Bobby Fischer, who spent his last years as an Icelandic citizen.

Tournament organizers said, "(The American World Champion's) contributions to chess history will be celebrated during the tournament, which will be held in Harpa, the 28.000 sqm. concert hall and conference center. A truly unique tournament hall – probably the best in the world! Reykjavik Open has always a very strong field and there will no difference in 2018."

The tournament will also feature a Fischer Random Championship on the rest day, March 9, when Bobby Fischer would have turned 75.

Find out more about the event on the website.