THE 2021 Icelandic Cup-World Cup Qualifier got underway on March 6 in Reykjavik, Iceland with eight of that nation’s top players competing for the chance to play in the World Cup later this year.
The eight players – six grandmasters, one IM and one FM – will play a knockout format of two classical games’. Ties will be broken by two rapid tiebreak games and if this does not produce a decision, blitz matches and a final Armageddon game, if needed, will decide who advances.
The eight are GMs Hjorvar Gretarsson (2578), Hannes Stefansson (2536), Johann Hjartarson (2525), Margeir Petursson (2450), Helgi Gretarsson (2440), and Bragi Thorfinnsson (2439), IM Gudmundur Kjartansson (2483), and FM Vignir Vatnar Stefansson (2330). Top seed GM Hjorvar Gretarsson, 2nd seed Stefansson, 3rd seed Hjartarson, and 4th seed Kjartansson hurdled their opponents V. Stefansson, Thorfinsson, H. Gretarsson, and Petursson, respectively, in the opening games and need only to draw their second games to advance to the next round.
For a bit of tournament trivia, the event’s oldest participant is GM Petursson at 61 years old, while the youngest is FM Vignir Vatnar Stefansson who is 18 and probably the son of 49-year old GM Hannes Stefansson. The 58-year old GM Hjartarson is a six-time Icelandic Chess Champion, a two-time Nordic Chess Champion and was a 1987 World Championship candidate who defeated GM Viktor Korchnoi but lost to GM Anatoly Karpov in the quarterfinals.
Stefansson, V (2330)-Gretarsson, Hj (2578) [E10]
Reykjavik (1.1)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.g3 b5 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.b3 c5 7.Ba3 Qa5+ 8.Qd2 Qxd2+ 9.Nbxd2 cxd4 10.Bxf8 Rxf8 11.Kf1 Bxf3 12.Nxf3 bxc4 13.Nxd4 Ra7 14.bxc4 Rc7 15.e3 Rxc4 16.Rb1 Ke7 17.Ke2 d5 18.Rb6 Nfd7 19.Rb2 Rfc8 20.Kd2 Nc6 21.Bf1 Nxd4 22.Bxc4 dxc4 23.Rb7 Nb5 24.a4 Nd6 25.Ra7 Rc6 26.Rb1 Ne4+ 27.Kc2 Nxf2 28.a5 Ng4 29.Rb6 Nxe3+ 30.Kd2 Rxb6 31.axb6 Nd5 32.b7 c3+ 33.Kc2 Nb8 0-1
Stefansson, H (2536)-Thorfinnsson, B (2439) [C78]
Reykjavik (1.2)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 d6 8.d4 Bb6 9.Be3 0-0 10.Nbd2 Bb7 11.Re1 exd4 12.cxd4 Nb4 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bh4 g5 15.Nxg5 hxg5 16.Bxg5 Bxd4 17.Nf3 Bxb2 18.Rb1 Bc3 19.Re3 Qd7 20.Rxc3 Nxe4 21.Nd4 Bd5 22.Rh3 Nxg5 23.Rg3 f6 24.h4 c5 25.hxg5 f5 26.Rh3 c4 27.Rh6 Qg7 28.Qh5 Qxd4 29.Rg6+ Kf7 30.Re1 Qxf2+ 31.Kxf2 Nd3+ 32.Kg1 1-0
Hjartarson, J (2525)-Gretarsson, He (2440) [B06]
Reykjavik (1.3)
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Be3 a6 5.Qd2 b5 6.h4 Nf6 7.f3 h5 8.0-0-0 c6 9.Kb1 Qc7 10.Qe1 Nbd7 11.Nh3 Bb7 12.Ng5 c5 13.d5 Ne5 14.f4 Neg4 15.Bc1 Bc8 16.Ne2 Nd7 17.Ng3 Nb6 18.Be2 Nc4 19.Bd3 0-0 20.e5 dxe5 21.f5 e4 22.Bxc4 bxc4 23.fxg6 fxg6 24.d6 Qb7 25.N3xe4 Bf5 26.Qe2 Ne5 27.Nxc5 Qc8 28.dxe7 Re8 29.Rd5 Rxe7 30.Bf4 Bg4 31.Qf2 Nc6 32.Bd6 Re2 33.Qf7+ Kh8 34.Qxg6 Qe8 35.Qh7# 1-0
Kjartansson, G (2483)-Petursson, M (2450) [E04]
Reykjavik (1.4)
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 a6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.e3 Rb8 8.Qe2 b5 9.b3 cxb3 10.axb3 Bb7 11.Bd2 Be7 12.Rc1 0-0 13.Ne1 Nb4 14.Bxb7 Rxb7 15.Bxb4 Bxb4 16.Rxa6 Qd5 17.Qc2 Bxe1 18.Rxe1 Ne4 19.Nc3 Nxc3 20.Qxc3 b4 21.Qc2 h5 22.h4 e5 23.dxe5 Qxe5 24.Rd1 c5 25.Rc6 Rb5 26.Rc1 Rd8 27.Rxc5 Rxc5 28.Qxc5 Qb2 29.Qc4 g6 30.Rf1 Qc3 31.Qxc3 bxc3 32.Rc1 Rd3 33.Rc2 f5 34.Kf1 Rd1+ 35.Ke2 Rb1 36.Rxc3 Rb2+ 37.Kf3 Kf7 38.e4 Kf6 39.exf5 gxf5 40.Rc6+ Ke5 41.Rb6 Rc2 42.Rb5+ Ke6 43.Ke3 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ba3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…b5 2.Bc5#; 1…Bc1 2.Bxc1#; 1…Sb5/d5/a4/e4/a2/e2/b1/d1 2.Q(x)e4#; 1…Sd3/xf3/c2/g2 2.Q(x)d3#./PN
