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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Leonard Barden

Chess: iconic Reykjavik Open sparks memory of Bobby Fischer from 1973

Bobby Fischer Boris Spassky Reykjavik Memory Clarks England Bodhana Sivanandan Simon Williams United States
Bobby Fischer of the US (right) and Russia’s Boris Spassky, play their last game together in Reykjavik on 31 August 1972
Bobby Fischer of the US (right) and Russia’s Boris Spassky play their last game together in Reykjavik in August 1972. Photograph: J Walter Green/AP

The nine-round Reykjavik Open, which began on Wednesday afternoon at the Harpa Conference Centre, is an iconic event. It was first played as an all-play-all in 1964, when Mikhail Tal won, and is close to the Hotel Reykjavik Natura, formerly the Hotel Loftleidir, which featured prominently in the epic Bobby Fischer v Boris Spassky match of 1972.

The top seed in the capacity entry of 422 players is Iran’s Amin Tabatabaei, the only 2700-rated player in the field, with Romania’s Bogdan-Daniel Deac (2655) next, and the veteran Ukrainian Vasyl Ivanchuk (2624) the fourth seed.

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