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Chess In Iceland
Organized chess in Iceland dates back to 1900 with the founding of the Reykjavík Chess Club. The game grew significantly in popularity following the 1972 World Chess Championship, held in the capital Reykjavík, between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. Fischer later became an Icelandic citizen in 2005. Today, Iceland remains active in the international chess community and hosts annual tournaments such as the Reykjavik Open. Chess Grandmaster and Icelandic citizen Friðrik Ólafsson is widely credited with the development of chess in Iceland. 1972 World Chess Championship See also * Culture of Iceland * Reykjavik Open * Bobby Fischer Center The Bobby Fischer Center ( Icelandic: ''Fischersetur'') is a small non-profit biographical museum housing memorabilia of the 1972 World Chess Champion, Bobby Fischer located in Selfoss, Iceland. Contents The Bobby Fischer Center has on display ... References Chess in Iceland Sport in Iceland Culture of Iceland {{Chess-stub ...
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Chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. The players, referred to as White and Black in chess, "White" and "Black", each control sixteen Chess piece, pieces: one king (chess), king, one queen (chess), queen, two rook (chess), rooks, two bishop (chess), bishops, two knight (chess), knights, and eight pawn (chess), pawns, with each type of piece having a different pattern of movement. An enemy piece may be captured (removed from the board) by moving one's own piece onto the square it occupies. The object of the game is to "checkmate" (threaten with inescapable capture) the enemy king. There are also several ways a game can end in a draw (chess), draw. The recorded history of chess goes back to at least the emergence of chaturanga—also thought to be an ancesto ...
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Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the region's westernmost and most list of countries and dependencies by population density, sparsely populated country. Its Capital city, capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which is home to about 36% of the country's roughly 380,000 residents (excluding nearby towns/suburbs, which are separate municipalities). The official language of the country is Icelandic language, Icelandic. Iceland is on a rift between Plate tectonics, tectonic plates, and its geologic activity includes geysers and frequent Types of volcanic eruptions, volcanic eruptions. The interior consists of a volcanic plateau with sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, and many Glacial stream, glacial rivers flow to the sea through the Upland and lowland, lowlands. Iceland i ...
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World Chess Championship 1972
The World Chess Championship 1972 was a match for the World Chess Championship between challenger Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The match took place in the Laugardalshöll in Reykjavík, Iceland, and has been dubbed the Match of the Century. Fischer became the first US-born player to win the world title. Fischer's win also ended, for a short time, 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Championship. Fischer won the right to challenge for the World Championship after some dominant performances during the qualification cycle, in which he defeated some of the world's leading players by unprecedented margins. The first game was played on July11, 1972. The 21st and last game, begun on August31, was after 40 moves, with Spassky resigning the next day without resuming play. Fischer won the match 12½–8½, becoming the eleventh undisputed world champion. The match was covered in the United States on ABC's Wide Worl ...
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Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. Reykjavík has a population of around 139,000 as of 2025. The surrounding Capital Region (Iceland), Capital Region has a population of around 249,000, constituting around 64% of the country's population. Reykjavík is believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, which, according to , was established by Ingólfr Arnarson, Ingólfur Arnarson in 874 Anno Domini, AD. Until the 18th century, there was no urban development in the city location. The city was officially founded in 1786 as a trading town and grew steadily over the following decades, as it transformed into a regional and later Country, national centre of commerce, population, and governmental activities. Re ...
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Bobby Fischer
Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Chess Championship, US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11–0 score, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. Qualifying for the World Chess Championship 1972, 1972 World Championship, Fischer swept matches with Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen by 6–0 scores. After winning another qualifying match against Tigran Petrosian, Fischer won the title match against Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, USSR, in Reykjavík, Iceland. Publicized as a Cold War confrontation between the US and USSR, the match attracted more worldwide interest than any chess championship before or since. In 1975, Fischer World Chess Championship 1975, refused to defend his title when an agreement could not be reached with FIDE, chess's internat ...
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Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilyevich Spassky (; January 30, 1937 – February 27, 2025) was a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. Spassky played three world championship matches: he lost to Tigran Petrosian in World Chess Championship 1966, 1966; defeated Petrosian in World Chess Championship 1969, 1969 to become world champion; then lost to Bobby Fischer in a famous match in World Chess Championship 1972, 1972. Spassky won the Soviet Chess Championship twice outright (1961 USSR Chess Championship (29th), 1961, 1973 USSR Chess Championship, 1973), and twice lost in playoffs (1956 USSR Chess Championship, 1956, 1963 USSR Chess Championship, 1963), after tying for first place during the event proper. He was a Candidates Tournament, World Chess Championship candidate on seven occasions (Candidates Tournament 1956, 1956, Candidates Matches 1965, 1965, Candidates Matches 1968, 1968, Candidates Matches 1974, 1974, Candidates Matches 197 ...
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Chess Tournament
A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London 1851 chess tournament, London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard form of chess competition among multiple serious players. Today, the most recognized chess tournaments for individual competition include the Candidates Tournament and the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. The largest team chess tournament is the Chess Olympiad, in which players compete for their country's team in the same fashion as the Olympic Games. Since the 1960s, Computer chess, chess computers have occasionally entered human tournaments, but this is no longer common, because computers would defeat humans and win the tournament. Most chess tournaments are organized and directed according to the World Chess Federation (FIDE) handbook, which offers guidelines and regulations for conducting tournaments. Chess tournaments are mainly held in ...
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Reykjavik Open
The Reykjavik Open is an annual chess tournament that takes place in the capital city of Iceland. It was held every two years up to 2008, currently it runs annually. The first edition was held in 1964 and was won by Mikhail Tal with a score of 12.5 points out of 13. The tournament is currently played with the Swiss system, while from 1964 to 1980 and in 1992 it was a round-robin tournament. The 2013 edition was voted the second best open tournament of the year in the world by the Association of Chess Professionals, behind Gibraltar Chess Festival. The 2025 edition of this tournament was held from 9 April - 15 April 2025, at Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Center in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was won by Parham Maghsoodloo. Winners All players finishing equal first are listed; the winner after tiebreaks is listed first. As of 2024, there have been 11 Icelandic winners of the tournament. References The History of Reykjavik Open (1964-2012)*Complete standings on Chess-Re ...
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Chess Grandmaster
Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally the title can be revoked for cheating. The title of Grandmaster, along with the lesser FIDE titles of International Master (IM), FIDE Master (FM), and Candidate Master (CM), is open to all players regardless of gender. The great majority of grandmasters are men, but 42 women have been awarded the GM title as of 2024, out of a total of about 2000 grandmasters. There is also a Woman Grandmaster title with lower requirements awarded only to women. There are also Grandmaster titles for composers and solvers of chess problems, awarded by the World Federation for Chess Composition (see List of grandmasters for chess composition). The International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) awards the title of International Correspondence Chess Gra ...
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Friðrik Ólafsson
Friðrik Ólafsson (26 January 1935 – 4 April 2025) was an Icelandic chess grandmaster. He was president of FIDE from 1978 to 1982. He was a six-time Icelandic Chess Champion and a two-time Nordic Chess Champion. Chess career Friðrik was born in Reykjavík, Iceland. A first-time winner of the Icelandic Chess Championship in 1952 and of the Nordic Chess Championship a year later, he rapidly became recognised as the strongest Icelandic chess player of his generation. Friðrik's first result of international note was his shared first with Viktor Korchnoi at Hastings 1955–56. Friðrik's best result in World Chess Championship competition was in the 1958 Interzonal tournament, where he finished equal 5th–6th, automatically earning the grandmaster title (the first for Iceland) and qualifying for the 1959 Candidates Tournament, the last stage to determine the challenger to the World Chess Champion in 1960. It was an amazing achievement for someone who was not a chess pro ...
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Culture Of Iceland
The culture of Iceland is largely characterized by its literary heritage that began during the 12th century but also traditional arts such as weaving, silversmithing, and wood carving. The Reykjavík area hosts several professional theaters, art galleries, bookstores, cinemas and museums. There are four active folk dance ensembles in Iceland. Iceland's literacy rate is among the highest in the world. Arts Architecture Icelandic architecture draws from Scandinavia and traditionally was influenced by the lack of native trees on the island. As a result, grass and turf-covered houses were developed. The original grass houses constructed by the original settlers of Iceland were based on Viking longhouses. Literature Much of the history of Iceland has been recorded in the Icelandic sagas and Edda. The most famous of these include ''Njáls saga'', about an epic blood feud, and '' Grænlendinga saga'' and '' Eiríks saga'', describing the discovery and settlement of Greenland ...
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Bobby Fischer Center
The Bobby Fischer Center ( Icelandic: ''Fischersetur'') is a small non-profit biographical museum housing memorabilia of the 1972 World Chess Champion, Bobby Fischer located in Selfoss, Iceland. Contents The Bobby Fischer Center has on display photos, the scoresheets, a printout for the radiation measurements demanded by Boris Spassky's delegation after the 17th game and a replica of the chessboard used during the World Chess Championship 1972. The museum includes interesting artifacts related to Fischer's stay in Iceland from 2005 to 2008, including Fischer's chair from the antiquarian bookshop Bókin in Reykjavík. Other activities The building facilitates the ''Chess Club of Selfoss and Vicinity'' to play and learn about chess. In addition, the building is a venue for chess exhibitions and presentations. Fischer's grave Fischer's grave site is at Laugardælir cemetery ( ), approximately two kilometres or a short walk away from the Bobby Fischer Center. See also * Cultur ...
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