Red-Hot in Iceland

John B. Henderson • March 31, 2023

Iceland is a chess-loving country forever steeped in the game’s history for hosting the fabled Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky world championship match in 1972, and also for granting Fischer asylum late in life and where the iconic and troubled American legend died and is now buried.


The capital city, Reykjavik - strategically placed between the USA and the USSR - was, of course, the scene of that infamous 1972 Cold War battle between Fischer and Spassky, and each spring it now also holds arguably one of the most popular open tournaments in the world.


Not only do many come just to play in a very popular international open but also to pay homage to and soak up the world championship association, plus probably a pilgrimage visit - thanks to Atlas Obscura - of Fischer’s simple grave next to the Lutheran Church in Laugardælir, about 40 miles southeast of Reykjavík near the village of Selfoss.


This year’s Kvika Reykjavik Open, which runs from March 29 to April 4 at the striking all-glass new capital landmark of the Harpa concert hall, is the 37th edition since another legendary world champion - and Fischer friend - Mikhail Tal won the inaugural title in 1964. Back then, this formerly was a biennial event, but with the growth of chess in the Magnus Carlsen era, the tournament has become so popular it has made the much-welcomed transition to an annual event. 


Among the 400-player field competing, there’s a 34-strong contingent of Grandmasters led by Ukraine legend Vasyl Ivanchuk - but the one who was turning things red-hot in the early rounds was England’s Simon Williams, aka the Ginger GM, with his simply breathtaking second round brilliancy that’s yet another early candidate to add to our growing list for the game of the year.


Photo: © Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir

GM Simon Williams - WIM Anastasiya Rakhmangulova

Kvika Reykjavik Open, (2)
QGD Slav Defence, Exchange variation

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 The Exchange Slav is not exactly the stuff of exciting chess, but then again, the Ginger GM is no ordinary GM! 3...cxd5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.f3!?! The first warning sign that Williams has something a bit different in mind for his opponent other than just the normal, boring Exchange Slav! 5...e6 The 'automatic pilot' move - but more testing of White's 5.f3 move is 5...Qb6! as now 6.e4? runs right into 6...dxe4 7.fxe4 e5! 8.dxe5 Ng4 9.Nh3 Be6 10.Be2 h5 and Black is doing more than fine here with the better development and all the holes in White's creaking position.

6.e4 dxe4 7.fxe4 Nc6 Not bad per se, but more testing was 7...Bb4!? 8.Qd3 (Here 8.Bd3? doesn't work, as now it backfires to 8...Nxe4! 9.Bxe4 Bxc3+ 10.bxc3 Qh4+ 11.Kf1 Qxe4 and Black has both a material and positional advantage.)8...O-O 9.Nf3 b6 10.e5 Ba6 11.Qc2 Bxf1 12.exf6 Bc4 13.fxg7 Kxg7 and Black is doing well with the bishop-pair. 8.Nf3 Bb4 9.Bd3 Ba5 The urge to have the bishop on the b6-g1 diagonal is very tempting - but it wastes a little time, and that time is all Williams needs to get his own, stunning attack rolling.10.e5 Nd5 11.O-O! What else did you expect? Williams has decided, as they would say in poker, to go 'all-in' now with his attack. 11...Nxc3 12.bxc3 Bxc3 13.Rb1 h6? The die was cast anyway for Black, but this only tempts Williams to be more creative with his attack. As bad as it was, Black had to accept the multiple pawn sacrifices on offer now with 13...Bxd4+ 14.Kh1 Bxe5 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.Bb5+ Bd7 17.Qe2 Nc6 18.Ba3 but with the king stuck in the middle of the board and all of White's pieces poised to strike, three-pawns somehow don't seem worth it! 14.Ba3 a5 Looking to play ...Bb4 to at least try to take away the influential power of the bishop down the a3-f8 diagonal - but there's a big, sacrificial sting in the tail with a brilliancy that Williams soon finds! 15.Qa4! Bd7 16.Rxb7! Nxd4 Is Williams concerned that his queen is under attack? 17.Nxd4!! Nope! Williams gives not a jot about his queen! Who needs them anyway? 17...Bxa4 [see diagram] 18.Nxe6! Qh4 Williams had seen that his bishop was taboo, as 18...Qxd3 allows the picturesque mate with 19.Re7#. 19.Rfxf7 Bb4 There was no salvation in the obvious 19...Qe1+ 20.Bf1 Qe3+ 21.Kh1 and there's still no answers to either of the rooks mating on e7. But with ...Bb4, Rakhmanguova hopes she can double cover the e7 square, only that leaves an even prettier finish from Williams. 20.Rf8+!! 1-0 Black resigns in view of 20...Rxf8 21.Bg6+ Rf7 22.Bxf7#.

The 42 Paradox

By John B. Henderson • October 2, 2023
Well, well, well. After rampaging his way through many of the finals and opponents throughout the 2023 Champions Chess Tour, Magnus Carlsen’s “final boss” reign came to a screeching halt in what proved to be an enthralling AI Cup Grand Final on Friday, as the favourite was beaten not once but in three games, and over two matches, by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who sensationally grabbed the last remaining spot in the Champions Tour Final in December. Earlier, Carlsen had defeated MVL in the final of the winners’ bracket, before the Frenchman gained the right to a rematch in the double-elimination contest by beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final of the losers’ bracket. In the Grand Final, buoyed up and firing on all cylinders, MVL beat Carlsen by a 2½-1½ score.

We'll Meet Again

By John B. Henderson • September 29, 2023
The self-proclaimed “final boss of chess” does what the final boss of chess does best of all: Magnus Carlsen beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final of the AI Cup winners’ bracket, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season, to reach yet another Grand Final in the novel double-elimination contest. But it wasn’t without an epic bare-knuckle street fight from both players, as MVL proved to be a worthy opponent for what looked to be an unstoppable Carlsen, who narrowly prevailed in the Armageddon to take the match 3-2. "This is the sort of thing that happens when you play Sicilians in every game," said a magnanimous Carlsen in victory after four fighting Sicilians left the match tied at 2-2.

Tiers For Fears

By John B. Henderson • September 27, 2023
Fans were treated to arguably the greatest online rivalry in chess history recently, with the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship Grand Final showdown between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura seeing the Norwegian narrowly snatch victory by a solitary win to end the American speed maven’s hopes of a sixth successive victory. But Carlsen’s narrow win left the salivating fans feeling they’d been denied seeing this epic gladiatorial speed contest going into overtime - but they didn’t have to wait long for the rivalry redux, as a couple of days later, both Carlsen and Nakamura went head-to-head yet again in the opening day of the AI Cup, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season.

Bossing It

By John B. Henderson • September 25, 2023
Magnus Carlsen more than lived up to his self-proclamation of being “The Final Boss of Chess” with a revenge-is-sweet narrow victory over fellow chess influencer Hikaru Nakamura, as he denied his long-time arch-rival a sixth successive Chess.com Speed Chess Championship title last Friday. Last year, it was Nakamura who narrowly squeaked home by one point - this time, in yet another thrilling match consisting of three different speed limits - 5+1, 3+1 and 1+1 (more commonly known as ‘bullet’) - between the two speed titans, it again ended with the same scoreline, though this time seeing Carlsen triumph by a solitary win after two pulsating hours of thrilling play, as he took the $150,000 2023 Speed Chess Championship presented by Coinbase, 13.5-12.5.

Death, Taxes, Magnus & Hikaru

By John B. Henderson • September 22, 2023
With a smorgasbord of online chess events out there now, the granddaddy of them all is surely the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship , with a $150,000 prize fund that determines just who is the best blitz and bullet players. It has become the perennial fan-favourite with arguably the best viewing experience - and the fans are set for yet another spectacular finale later today, as the two rivals who dominate the roll of honour, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, get set for another explosive showdown in the 2023 final. Friday’s final and commentary, free to view, starts at 14:00 ET (11:00 PT; 20:00 CEST; 23:30 IST) on Chess.com. Carlsen and Nakamura have won each edition since the inaugural Speed Chess Championship event in 2016 - Carlsen won the first two speed titles before taking a hiatus, only for Nakamura to rule the roost, winning four more times.

A Messi Kid

By John B. Henderson • September 19, 2023
India today is a land of amazing young talents and prospects in chess, with the country seemingly having a never-ending production line of prodigies rolling off the factory conveyor belt. But for some countries, such as Argentina, prodigies only seem to come around with all the regularity of Halley’s Comet . One of the first notable post-war chess prodigies was Oscar Panno from Buenos Aires, who became the first world-class player born in South America. In 1953, at the age of 17, he became only the second World Junior Champion , having won the coveted youth title ahead of a strong cadre of future elite-level Grandmasters such as Boris Ivkov (who in 1951 was crowned the first World Junior Ch), Bent Larsen, and Fredrik Olafsson.

The Great Rook 'n' Roll Swindle

By John B. Henderson • September 14, 2023
“Chess is a cruel game. We all know that feeling when your position has gone awry and everything seems hopeless. You feel like resigning. But don’t give up! This is precisely the moment to switch to swindle mode. Master the art of provoking errors and you will be able to turn the tables and escape with a draw or sometimes even steal the full point!” So wrote David Smerdon, an Australian chess grandmaster and one of his country’s leading behavioural economists, on the back cover of his witty and wickedly entertaining, not to mention the much-lauded and deserving 2020 ECF Book of the Year winner, The Complete Chess Swindler (New in Chess).

No Country For Young Men

By John B. Henderson • September 11, 2023
With the top teenage talents being overshadowed in the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid in Kolkata by a dominant performance from seasoned veteran Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, there were hopes of a homeland comeback in the follow-on Blitz tournament - and one looked to be on the cards, only for another “old guy”, this time Alexander Grischuk, crashing the teenage party by capturing the second, even faster speed title. Early doors, all eyes were firmly on Rameshbabu “Pragg” Praggnanandhaa, with his flying start of a perfect 5/5 on the opening day of the two-day double-round contest. But that was as good as it got for the 18-year-old Candidate-qualifier, who could only finish the day on 6.5/9, and despite being the sole leader, he held what looked a very slender half-point lead over nearest rivals Santosh Vidit and Grischuk, ominously the only unbeaten player.

My Indian Summer

By John B. Henderson • September 8, 2023
The past couple of years have proved to be a major one for India - not only a global player with world leaders descending this week in New Delhi for the G20 Summit and recently successfully landing a spacecraft on the moon but now also a fully-fledged chess superpower, with many exciting young talents set to make the country a dominant force for the foreseeable future. Many would even speculate that Indian Chess could well turn into a hegemony, in much the same way as the Soviets dominated the chess scene in the 1945 post-war period until its collapse and ultimate dissolution in 1991. The latest big chess tournament to be held in India coincides with the G20, with the fifth Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz - a spinoff from the larger Dutch super-tournament, the Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee - taking place 5-9 September in Kolkata.

Me & The Kids

By John B. Henderson • September 4, 2023
The fifth and latest leg of the Champions Chess Tour , the Julius Baer Generations Cup more than lived up to its name with the world No.1, Magnus Carlsen, after overpowering Alireza Firouzja in the winners’ final, to effortlessly cruise his way into the Grand Final, declaring: “It’s just me against the kids now!” After three clean kills that included a brace of back-to-back 2½-½ victories over Iranian Amin Tabatabaei and his old title foe Caruana, Carlsen proceeded to sweep Firouzja 3-0 to reach the Grand Final of the contest - but it wasn’t lost on the “old man” that non of his old rivals were left in the competition, and that meant that Denis Lazavik (16), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (18), and Firouzja (20) were the only three left standing to see who would go forward to meet him in the Grand Final.
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