Reykjavik open 2018

Tim Harding

Play started a few minutes ago in the 2018 Reykjavik Open. Five Irish juniors are in the field:
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/reykjavik-open-2018/1/1/98

They are using accelerated pairings this time so no Irish v IM/GM clashes to watch on live boards in round one.
Diana Mirza is in the third quarter, playing an Icelandic opponent much lower rated.

Peter Carroll and Jacob Flynn are playing opponents rated in the 1990s. Jonathan Peoples has an Icelandic opponent with no FIDE rating and Darragh Moran is not paired for round 1 so I don't know if he travelled or not.

In all, the tournament looks a bit weaker this year. The Candidates tournament starts in a few days and should attract most of the online following this month.

Retd.LoyolaCpt

Darragh playing from round 6 onward.

Tim Harding

Retd.LoyolaCpt wrote: »

Darragh playing from round 6 onward.

It seems rather pointless to start a nine round tournament with half a point out of five. (According to chess-results.com he gets only one half-point bye but maybe that's a mistake.)

Starting round 6 he will get very weak opponents in the first game or two.

Anyway, Diana and Jonathan have won; the other two lost in the first round,

Tim Harding

Round 2 starts at 10am local time (9am here) with Diana and Jonathan paired against higher-rated opponents who lost yesterday.

Mirza v Cumming, Rhys (CAN, 2155)
Thorsteinsson, E (2056) v Peoples

Peter and Jacob both have low-rated losers and should get on the scoreboard this morning.

Round 3 is this evening.

sodacat11

How do kids nowadays get to play so much chess? Does no one go to school any more?

Retd.LoyolaCpt

Peoples is in college, Darragh and Peter (who both ran the Gonzaga classic) are in 4th year.

Tim Harding

All the Irish are now on 1/2 including Darragh, who was given a second half-point bye according to

http://chess-results.com/tnr304881.aspx?lan=1&art=25&fedb=IRL&flag=30

Whether he will get any more for the games he misses will become apparent later I guess; there may be a rule limiting the number of half-point byes allowed.

The vagaries of the pairing system now become apparent:
Diana gets a lower-rated opponent and will now play a 1062 Icelander in round 3 which starts 5pm our time (4pm in Reykjavik).
Jonathan will play an "Arena IM" from France whose rating is 2022.
Peter plays an English CM who is currently at 2107 and Jacob meets a 1999 Icelander.

So I predict a win for Diana and hard games for the others.

Tim Harding

Diana indeed won but also a win for Jacob with Black against a 1999 Icelander - well done!
Also a draw for Peter against a much higher rated opponent but Jonathan lost.

Round 4 is tomorrow evening. The Fischer Memorial celebrations mean the schedule from now on is different from last year.

Tim Harding

Round 4 starts 5pm GMT (4pm Reykjavik). There are only three players on 100%.

Diana (2pts) has a downfloat to a 2193 French player who has 1.5.

Jacob (2) has White against the same French player who just defeated Jonathan.

Peter (1.5) has a downfloat to a 2130 Icelander who has 1

Jonathan plays a 1281 Icelander.

Darragh did not get a half point bye for round 3 so when he starts in round 6 it will be on 1 point.

eclipsechaser

Peter Carroll's opponent, Hrannar Baldursson, has the title of AGM beside his name on chess-results. What's that?

Retd.LoyolaCpt

Arena GM - title earned from FIDE's online playing "arena"

eclipsechaser

Retd.LoyolaCpt wrote: »

Arena GM - title earned from FIDE's online playing "arena"

I considered that but then he doesn't have an online rating when you go to his FIDE profile. He must not have renewed his arena membership. Nice to see one can become an online GM before getting close to an over the board title. There's hope for all of us!

Retd.LoyolaCpt

eclipsechaser wrote: »

I considered that but then he doesn't have an online rating when you go to his FIDE profile. He must not have renewed his arena membership. Nice to see one can become an online GM before getting close to an over the board title. There's hope for all of us!

Strange alright. He's using the title to flog his book too: https://www.amazon.com/Master-Chess-Foundations-Opening-Play/dp/1521156557

Tim Harding

"Arena GM" is roughly equivalent to the famous old Indian "degree" of "BA (failed)" in my opinion.

sodacat11

Retd.LoyolaCpt wrote: »

Arena GM - title earned from FIDE's online playing "arena"

Arena GM????? LMAO whatever next?
So now we have
GM Grandmaster
IM International Master
FM Failed Master
CM Cost Money
AM Arena Master
PM Patzer Master
KM Kibitzer Master
And this isn't even counting the women's titles which also swell the FIDE coffers. We sure have come a long way from 1907 when only six chess players
Siegbert Tarrasch , Carl Schlechter, David Janowski, Frank Marshall, Amos Burn, and Mikhail Chigorin were awarded titles. Soon there will be one for everybody in the audience!

cdeb

After Arena GM?

Sorry to disappoint/worry you, but you can be an AIM too. You just need to get to 1700 (and pay E30 of course)

1700 is a solid player though; we can't all aspire to that. What about an AFM title? Just 1400 and E15.

Or start off as an ACM of course. From 1100 rating...

If there's ever a WACM, you'll know it's gone completely mad.

I wonder if FIDE have sold as many of these titles as they'd hoped? I'd like to think not.

sodacat11

I can think of a "title" that would cover anyone below 2300 silly enough to pay for a title but it would begin with a W and wouldn't be very complimentary.

eclipsechaser

sodacat11 wrote: »

I can think of a "title" that would cover anyone below 2300 silly enough to pay for a title but it would begin with a W and wouldn't be very complimentary.

How much does that title cost?

Tim Harding

Reykjavik round 6 was this afternoon. Darragh won his first game (against a 1425) so is on 2/6.

Diana, Carroll and Jacob all drew but Jonathan lost.
At the top of the event there are six players on 5/6.

Tomorrow Diana (3/6) has Black against a 2167 Icelander, should be good tough practice.

Jacob (also on 3) plays a WFM from Iceland (2041), ditto.

Peter (on 2.5) also has Black against an Icelander (1949): you tend to get them when you are below 50 per cent.

But Jonathan (2.5) is playing a 2045-rated US opponent with an Indian name and Darragh plays a 1293-rated Faeroe Islands player, who of course might really be stronger than that.