Gawain’s currently on 4/4 in the strong Reykjavik Open. I flew back to warm London on Wednesday and have been very busy juggling my three jobs. I’m sorry that there wasn’t a game of the month for March. Gawain’s schedule has been hectic as he’s juggling his travels plus his chess publishing. He’s got a pretty free April/May so I hope to see some more updates from him.
If he’s not updating on here, you can follow him on twitter. His username is GMGawain.
You can check out the homepage where you can find the live games and the pairings. You can also watch daily commentary with GingerGM Simon Williams as well as the Icelandic IM Bjorn Thorfinsson. The videos are produced by Macauley Peterson. I think that this is the first commentary team with the players also playing in the Open! It’s probably a tough gig but Simon is a great commentator!
The playing venue is pretty spectacular. It’s called Harpa and is the first purpose built concert hall in Iceland. It’s on the seafront which is a bit windy but the main issue is some noise from the Restaurant. Players have been offered earplugs to help ease the sound!
I’ll write an update soon about what Iceland has to offer! It’s a fantastic country and every chess fan should visit.