Erwin l'Ami Wins Reykjavik Open With A Round To Spare
Calling it “a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” a modest GM Erwin l'Ami scored his career's best performance at the Reykjavik Open.
With a splendid 8.5/9 the 29-year-old Dutch grandmaster secured tournament victory with a round to go, and so his last-round loss was irrelevant.
GM Pavel Eljanov, the winner in 2013, finished second with 8.0/10 and on the same number of points ended French GM Fabien Libiszewski.
To seed GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's 7.5/10 was only slightly disappointing rating-wise. GM David Navara, who finished second at the European Championship two weeks ago, lost in the final round to finish on 6.5 points.
But this tournament will be remembered for one man only: GM Erwin l'Ami. After he refuted Mamedyarov's play in round seven and converted an ending after a blunder by Granda in round eight, GM Hrant Melkumyan became his next victim.
The Armenian GM was actually slightly better out of the opening as l'Ami had avoided the most critical lines in a Grünfeld. But then Melkumyan then he showed his cards too quickly. His action on the queenside had disastrous consequences; he eventually lost a pawn, and many moves later the game.
Here's l'Ami's reaction right after the game, taken from the live show produced by Chess.com:
“I'm just completely exhausted actually,” said l'Ami. “But it's a really good feeling. This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing I guess. I hope not, but...Actually I have a cold, and I just came from Cappelle la Grande and I didn't have huge expectations but it's been going really well.”
While he was speaking with FM Ingvar Johannesson, congratulating tweets were shown on the screen:
Congratz @erwinlami with your absolutely amazing performance @ReykjavikOpen! Way to go, mate! ;-)
— Robert Ris (@RobertRis) March 17, 2015
Incredible score by my friend @erwinlami! Congratulations on your tournament victory with one round to spare! #ReykjavikOpen
— Robin van Kampen (@GMRobinVK) March 17, 2015
Proud of my husband @erwinlami ! So happy with his win @ReykjavikOpen with one round to go!! pic.twitter.com/4Pb5kx7waM
— Alina l'Ami (@alinalami) March 17, 2015
While I am in the hiding,preparing for my upcoming battles, @erwinlami is making sure the Dutch flag is waving high. In style too! Congrats!
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) March 17, 2015
His wife Alina wasn't in the playing hall during the final phase of the game. l'Ami: “I didn't see her yet so she probably couldn't bear watching me! I thank her of course, because without her I would never have made it. She is always the one doing everything to make it perfect.”
“I'll be ready, don't worry,” said l'Ami when Johannesson asked him if he “could play” in round 10. Well, it didn't go so well for the Dutchman. He was lucky enough to get White again in his final round game vs GM Pavel Eljanov, but also here he didn't get much out of the opening.
A draw would have been fine, and in fact the position was roughly equal around move 23, but l'Ami chose the wrong plan of grabbing a pawn on a6. Black grabbed the initiative and never let go.
Congrats @erwinlami with a fantastic performance no matter what I upset him a bit today.Could be better but some work should done in Meran:)
— Pavel Eljanov (@Eljanov) March 18, 2015
l'Ami (2605) scored a performaned rating of 2826 and won 26.8 Elo points. He's not fully back at his highest rating ever though: 2651, in May 2014.
The tournament winner had been rather quiet on Twitter himself during the tournament (staying away from the ever-distracting social media was perhaps one of the reasons for his success?), but afterward he was back:
A bit annoyed with today's game, but all in all I had a pretty good time in #ReykjavikOpen :)
— Erwin l'Ami (@erwinlami) March 18, 2015
It really happened, I have the proof now! #reykjavikopen https://t.co/Tl7FzYqRJH
— Erwin l'Ami (@erwinlami) March 18, 2015
Another surprise in this tournament was GM Fabien Libiszewski, who was part of a group of French grandmasters who took two byes during the tournament. His actual score therefore was an excellent 7.0/8.
In the final round the French GM played the French and beat GM Gawain Jones, who said he “just couldn't find a plan.”
GM David Navara ended his tournament badly. After a bye on Sunday he lost to GM Alexandr Fier, then easily beat IM Marc Esserman but in the final round he was just too creative against GM Henrik Danielsen.
Quite a few norms were scored at this year's Reykjavik Open:
- IM Jacek Stopa scored a 9-round GM norm.
- WGM Zhansaya Abdumalik, FM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, WGM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, FM Daniel Bisby and FM Tibor Kende Antal scored 9-round IM norms.
- FM Jonas Rosner scored a 10-round IM norm.
2015 Reykjavik Open | Final Standings (Top 30)
| Rk. | SNo | Title | Name | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | Rp | rtg+/- |
| 1 | 11 | GM | L'Ami Erwin | NED | 2605 | 8,5 | 64,5 | 53 | 53,25 | 2826 | 26,8 |
| 2 | 3 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | UKR | 2727 | 8 | 67,5 | 54 | 53,5 | 2749 | 3,7 |
| 3 | 28 | GM | Libiszewski Fabien | FRA | 2514 | 8 | 61,5 | 49 | 50,25 | 2737 | 20,4 |
| 4 | 13 | GM | Fier Alexandr | BRA | 2601 | 7,5 | 66,5 | 53 | 47,75 | 2715 | 16,4 |
| 5 | 9 | GM | Naroditsky Daniel | USA | 2633 | 7,5 | 65,5 | 53 | 47,25 | 2667 | 6,6 |
| 6 | 1 | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | AZE | 2756 | 7,5 | 65,5 | 52 | 46,25 | 2726 | -1,7 |
| 7 | 4 | GM | Melkumyan Hrant | ARM | 2676 | 7,5 | 64,5 | 52 | 45,5 | 2635 | -2,6 |
| 8 | 16 | GM | Hansen Eric | CAN | 2566 | 7,5 | 64,5 | 51,5 | 46,75 | 2665 | 13,8 |
| 9 | 6 | GM | Hammer Jon Ludvig | NOR | 2651 | 7,5 | 64 | 52,5 | 47,5 | 2603 | -2,9 |
| 10 | 10 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | IND | 2625 | 7,5 | 63,5 | 51 | 46,75 | 2673 | 6,5 |
| 11 | 18 | GM | Stefansson Hannes | ISL | 2560 | 7,5 | 62,5 | 50,5 | 47,5 | 2585 | 3,6 |
| 12 | 27 | GM | Danielsen Henrik | ISL | 2514 | 7,5 | 62 | 49,5 | 44,75 | 2585 | 10,4 |
| 13 | 15 | GM | Jussupow Artur | GER | 2573 | 7,5 | 61 | 49,5 | 45,5 | 2644 | 8,7 |
| 14 | 12 | GM | Grandelius Nils | SWE | 2603 | 7,5 | 58,5 | 47 | 43,25 | 2589 | -0,7 |
| 15 | 23 | GM | Gao Rui | CHN | 2533 | 7 | 65,5 | 52,5 | 43,5 | 2573 | 6,9 |
| 16 | 7 | GM | Granda Zuniga Julio E | PER | 2646 | 7 | 65 | 52 | 42,5 | 2605 | -2,4 |
| 17 | 19 | GM | Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn | ISL | 2554 | 7 | 63,5 | 50,5 | 42,75 | 2553 | 1,6 |
| 18 | 8 | GM | Jones Gawain C B | ENG | 2642 | 7 | 63 | 50,5 | 42,5 | 2567 | -7,1 |
| 19 | 17 | GM | Maze Sebastien | FRA | 2564 | 7 | 62,5 | 51 | 41,75 | 2628 | 7,8 |
| 20 | 50 | IM | Norowitz Yaacov | USA | 2422 | 7 | 62,5 | 50,5 | 41,75 | 2501 | 13,3 |
| 21 | 26 | GM | Grover Sahaj | IND | 2519 | 7 | 62 | 51 | 41,75 | 2499 | 0,1 |
| 22 | 31 | GM | Idani Pouya | IRI | 2496 | 7 | 62 | 50 | 41,5 | 2511 | 4,7 |
| 23 | 65 | WGM | Khademalsharieh Sarasadat | IRI | 2357 | 7 | 61,5 | 50,5 | 41,75 | 2531 | 49,4 |
| 24 | 14 | GM | Cornette Matthieu | FRA | 2585 | 7 | 61 | 49,5 | 43,5 | 2572 | -0,1 |
| 25 | 20 | GM | Le Roux Jean-Pierre | FRA | 2548 | 7 | 61 | 49 | 43 | 2517 | -1,7 |
| 26 | 33 | GM | Rombaldoni Axel | ITA | 2488 | 7 | 61 | 48,5 | 41 | 2457 | -1,9 |
| 27 | 5 | GM | Movsesian Sergei | ARM | 2665 | 7 | 59,5 | 47,5 | 40,25 | 2553 | -10,2 |
| 28 | 63 | IM | Sarkar Justin | USA | 2376 | 7 | 59 | 47,5 | 40,75 | 2490 | 17,2 |
| 29 | 78 | FM | Antal Tibor Kende | HUN | 2317 | 7 | 57 | 47 | 39,25 | 2552 | 58 |
| 30 | 75 | FM | Rosner Jonas | GER | 2324 | 7 | 56,5 | 45 | 38,25 | 2447 | 34,8 |
(Full standings here)
The Reykjavik Open 2015 was held for the 30th time. 274 players from 37 countries participated.
Previous reports:
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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