Fabiano Caruana finished sole first at the Reykjavik Open with a score of 7.5/9. The Italian grandmaster, who was the top seed in the Icelandic capital, remained unbeaten and finished half a point ahead of Ivan Sokolov, David Navara, Gawain Jones, Boris Avrukh, Hou Yifan, Sebastien Maze and Henrik Danielsen.

The Blue Lagoon, one of the most famous touristic attractions in Iceland

In our previous report we mentioned the unpredictable weather conditions in Iceland. In the last few days it actually calmed down and there was hardly any snowfall. In the playing hall, things heated up with many great fights on top and lower boards. Eventually top seeded Fabiano Caruana won the tournament, but it could have ended very differently. But let's start with some video impressions!

After round four Fabiano Caruana, David Navara, Ivan Sokolov, Ivan Cheparinov, Gawain Jones and Robert Hess were still on 100%. On Friday night one of the many side events was held in the cafe area of the Harpa building: a pub quiz. It was one of those things that made the tournament a very social gathering. There were questions like "Who is older, Benkö or Taimanov", "Who was Botvinnik referring to when he said: 'the boy doesn't have a clue about chess, and there's no future at all for him in this profession'" and "Which famous player did a thesis on the Chinese prison system at the Sorbonne University in Paris".

In the fifth round on Saturday Gawain Jones and Fabiano Caruana drew quickly on board 1. Ivan Sokolov, who played a good Aeroflot Open last month, made clear that he kept his good form by beating David Navara with Black:

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GM Ivan Sokolov has a wide black repertoire against 1.e4

Ivan Cheparinov seems to be enjoying chess once again. Now that Veselin Topalov isn't playing much chess anymore, Cheparinov is planning to play more himself, more than in 2011. He won against Robert Hess:

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Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria will be playing more chess again

American GM Yuri Shulman was having a horrible first part of the tournament. In the second round he lost to Svetlana Cherednichenko, rated 2279, and in round five he went down against Johan Henriksson, with exactly the same rating.

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In this fifth round I played a nice game myself. My level is not up to the standards of what I tend to show on this site, but everyone is capable of playing one nice move every now and then, right?

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Taking the walk from the hotel to the venue, along the waterfront to the East of the old harbour, we passed the striking Sólfar or Sun Voyager every day. It was created by artist Jón Gunnar Árnason and unvieled in 1971. It is intended to be an abstract representation of a viking ship.

A Sunday is usually a quiet day, for those with regular jobs (and for those who believe that it is actually meant to be a rest day). The organizers thought differently, and planned two rounds on this day! Of course this is very tough, but even more so for the participants who indulged in the infamous night life of Reykjavik on Saturday night. It probably says enough that the most popular pizza place Divinos opens "from 10 to 8" on Saturdays, meaning from 10 a.m. till 8 a.m.! 

One of those regular nightlife explorers is Ivan Sokolov, and so his quick draw with Ivan Cheparinov on the early Sunday morning wasn't a surprise. Except for Caruana's win over Bragi Thorfinsson, many other top games also ended in draws. In the afternoon, Caruana grabbed sole lead thanks to a black win against Cheparinov:

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Fabiano Caruana grabbed the lead in round 7 and kept it till the end

Gawain Jones had a disastrous game against Boris Avrukh.

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Boris Avrukh, the author of several opening books published by Quality Chess, was lucky against Gawain Jones

In the penultimate round, Sokolov used one of his many Ruy Lopez lines to draw with Caruana.

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After the game, the Yugoslav-born Dutch GM referred to his acclaimed The Ruy Lopez Revisited:

He didn't read my book! I guess he will read it now!

Hou Yifan impressively ground down Vladimir Baklan with the black pieces.

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After Gibraltar, Hou Yifan played another excellent open tournament

Against Robert Hess, David Navara won an ending which might have been drawn - at least the players thought so during the post-mortem. (This game also features in the video above.)

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David Navara from the Czech Republic

Fabiano Caruana was still leading by half a point before the last round, and also after the last round as ther top four boards ended in draws. Hou Yifan missed a good chance to win the tournament instead:

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Drawing his last round game against Hou Yifan, Fabiano Caruana finished sole first in Reykjavik

There was a small incident in the last round, when local IM Bragi Thorfinsson didn't show up for his game. The reason was, no doubt, the fact that he was paired against a 2255 player while he needed a slightly stronger opponent to be able to score a GM norm. One of the organizers told us that Thorfinsson will be given the "hairdryer treatment", referring to Sir Alex Ferguson famously shouting to underperforming players!

"Daily briefings"

And so an end has come to a wonderful tournament, or rather, festival, in "chess city" Reykjavik. The closing ceremony was organized in a way that one normally only sees at super tournaments: in the reception area of the town hall, with free champagne and hors-d'oevres. Afterwards we joined the organizers at a tapas place, and in a number of speeches everyone thanked each other for their part of the success. The organizers are ambitious: they are planning to grow further for the 49th and 50th edition which will also take place in Harpa and for which more private sponsorship has already been secured. Besides, for 2015 they hope to get the European Team Championship to Reykjavik.

A must-see (or rather, must-do) in Iceland: the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa. The steamy waters are part of a lava formation. "Bláa lónið" is situated approximately 13 km (8 miles) from the Keflavík International Airport and many tourists in fact visit it on their way to the airport, and so did a large group of American participants of the tournament before flying to New York.

Reykjavik Open 2012 | Final standings