Reykjavik Open 2025 - dedicated to Fridrik Olafsson

[Kevin Thurlow]

https://chess-results.com/tnr981120.asp ... ilen=99999

419 entries! I was slightly shocked to see I would have been seeded about 200 if I had played. Loads of English players. Live games on Anna Cramling's Youtube channel, chess.com and doubtless elsewhere.

[LawrenceCooper]

https://chess-results.com/tnr981120.asp ... ilen=99999

419 entries! I was slightly shocked to see I would have been seeded about 200 if I had played. Loads of English players. Live games on Anna Cramling's Youtube channel, chess.com and doubtless elsewhere.

GingerGM Twitch channel was covering Simon's game with Blair Connell hosting.

[Kevin Thurlow]

Starting at 1700 UK time, Round 7, including Shreyas Royal (5) vs Ido Gorshtein, and GM Mahammad Muradli vs IM Ezra Kirk (5). EK lost to Ivanchuk, but has beaten GMs in the last two rounds. I don't know if his TPR is correct, (2566 says Chessresults.com), but another win would obviously be useful norm-wise.

Acceleration has now stopped, so pairings look more normal, i.e. you get all the mismatches you avoided earlier, mainly further down the tournament.

[NickFaulks]

I don't know if his TPR is correct, (2566 says Chessresults.com), but another win would obviously be useful norm-wise.

Depends what you mean by correct. His R1 opponent's 2069 will be boosted to 2200, which helps a bit, but essentially a 2/3 finish against good opponents should get a GM norm.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Have lost track of the late-1990s cohort of ENG IMs. Is Ezra Kirk one of the stronger ENG IMs from that period? Here's hoping he gets a GM norm!

(That one of the GMs [Lothar Vogt of Germany] is rated 2229 (albeit aged 73) is slightly shocking - born 1952 in East Germany, awarded the GM title in 1976 (aged around 24), he had a peak rating of 2530 in July 1992 (aged 40), which was a good rating back then.)

[Matt Mackenzie]

As a teenager he played in mid-1960s GDR championships, he's been around a while.

[Roger de Coverly]

Have lost track of the late-1990s cohort of ENG IMs. Is Ezra Kirk one of the stronger ENG IMs from that period? Here's hoping he gets a GM norm!

Born 1996 according to the FIDE rating list. His parents moved to France, so as a teenager he came up through the French training system. His elder brother, Eden, born 1994 and father Jason born 1966 are shown as FRA.

I have a local connection as the father used to live in Buckinghamshire when at school and the brothers would have learnt chess in the Wycombe area or at the Wycombe club before moving to France.

[Nick Burrows]

Have lost track of the late-1990s cohort of ENG IMs. Is Ezra Kirk one of the stronger ENG IMs from that period? Here's hoping he gets a GM norm!

(That one of the GMs [Lothar Vogt of Germany] is rated 2229 (albeit aged 73) is slightly shocking - born 1952 in East Germany, awarded the GM title in 1976 (aged around 24), he had a peak rating of 2530 in July 1992 (aged 40), which was a good rating back then.)

Chess Metrics has his peak at 2636 in 1979 - Number 53 in the world.

http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/Play ... 0032510100

http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/Sing ... 0032510100

[Mick Norris]

Shreyas black on top board v the number 1 seed in the penultimate round

[LawrenceCooper]

Shreyas black on top board v the number 1 seed in the penultimate round

At risk of tempting fate it's been a welcome return to form for him.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Have lost track of the late-1990s cohort of ENG IMs. Is Ezra Kirk one of the stronger ENG IMs from that period? Here's hoping he gets a GM norm!

(That one of the GMs [Lothar Vogt of Germany] is rated 2229 (albeit aged 73) is slightly shocking - born 1952 in East Germany, awarded the GM title in 1976 (aged around 24), he had a peak rating of 2530 in July 1992 (aged 40), which was a good rating back then.)

Chess Metrics has his peak at 2636 in 1979 - Number 53 in the world.

http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/Play ... 0032510100

http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/Sing ... 0032510100

Thank you, Nick. That is clearly his true peak. It is an interesting example of a player's rating going down steeply with age. Some players stop playing, some maintain a high rating well into old age. It does seem very individual. And rating is (of course) not everything.

[Mick Norris]

Shreyas black on top board v the number 1 seed in the penultimate round

At risk of tempting fate it's been a welcome return to form for him.

Yes, I thought so too; Maghsoodloo will be tough, he's had a half point bye and only dropped another half point to Ivanchuk who has also made a welcome return to form

[LawrenceCooper]

Shreyas black on top board v the number 1 seed in the penultimate round

At risk of tempting fate it's been a welcome return to form for him.

Yes, I thought so too; Maghsoodloo will be tough, he's had a half point bye and only dropped another half point to Ivanchuk who has also made a welcome return to form

https://lichess.org/broadcast/reykjavik ... K/8osIsF2P

[NickFaulks]

What happened there? Shreyas reached a lost position with more time on his clock than when he started.

[LawrenceCooper]

What happened there? Shreyas reached a lost position with more time on his clock than when he started.

I think that he mixed up his prep, d6 has been played in the previous games instead of Bxc3+ and it seemed to go downhill very quickly after that.