When they hear ‘Reykjavik Open’, many chess players spontaneously express the wish to be there. Our author Gerd Densing belongs to this group: he is currently in the Icelandic capital, playing in the tournament, writing and taking photographs. In the first three rounds, he has met not only the rating favourite, Vasyl Ivanchuk (photo), but also many other interesting personalities.
With a score of 8.0/9 (+8, -1, =0) the 16-year-old Indian M Pranesh finished clear first at the 50th Rilton Cup in Sweden, a success that made him India's 79th Grandmaster. Kaan Kucusari and Nikita Meshkovs shared second and third place with 7.0/9. The well-known Swedish streamer Anna Cramling played in the B-tournament and entertained her 250,000 YouTube followers with daily streams. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund