7th March, 2003

THERE'S one thing everyone knows about chess and Iceland. In 1972 Bobby
Fischer and Boris Spassky fought out what turned literally into a USA
vs. USSR cold war battle of the mind in Reykjavik, which conveniently
was strategically placed in-between the two superpowers.

The enormous worldwide interest created by this epic encounter led to a
chess explosion, especially in Iceland. Over the years, many chess fans
would make the pilgrimage to the Icelandic Chess Federation's
headquarters in Reykjavik just to see the hallowed shrine of the
original table and chess set used in that epic 1972 encounter.

Last year on Icelandic TV, when Nigel Short and Hannes Stefansson played
a six-game match using for the first time since 1972 "that" original
table and chess set from the world championship match (sacrilage, some
would say), the nation's Parliamentary Speaker, Fridrik Olafsson,
announced, "Things are really happening in Icelandic chess again." And
if anyone should know, then it is 68-year-old Olafsson, who in the late
1950s became Iceland's first grandmaster of chess, going on to become a
Candidate for the world crown - and for an all but brief period the
President of FIDE.

Immediately following the Hrokurinn Chess Festival, most of the
competitors moved across the capital city to the Reykjavik City Theatre,
where a few days later they were joined by more of the world's top elite
for another new exciting event: the Edda Rapidplay, sponsored by
Iceland's largest publishing house with a prize fund of $30,000. In
conjunction with the Hrokruinn Chess Club, Edda is also involved in a
major scheme to take chess into schools in Iceland.

The tournament was decided by a swashbuckling final round encounter
between Hrokruinn Festival winner Alexei Shirov and the Belgium champion
Mikhail Gurevich. With an unbeaten score of 8/9, Gurevich won the
$10,000 first prize by beating Shirov to deprive the Latvian (who plays
under the Spanish flag) of an Icelandic double.

Final standings: 1 GM M Gurevich (Belgium) 8/9; 2-3 GM I Sokolov
(Holland), GM E Sutovsky (Israel) 7; 4-12 GM J Lautier (France), GM A
Shirov (Spain), GM M Adams (England), L Van Wely (Holland), GM P
Nikolic, (Bosnia), GM J Ehlvest (Estonia), GM E Bacrot (France), GM V
Bologan (Moldavia), GM J Votava (Czech Rep) 6.5.

A Shirov - M Gurevich
Edda Rapidplay, (9)
French Defence
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Nbd7 6 Nxf6+ Nxf6 7 Nf3 h6 8
Be3 a6 9 Bd3 b6 10 Qe2 Bb7 11 0-0-0 Qd5 12 Kb1 b5 13 Ne5 Bd6 14 c4 bxc4
15 Bxc4 Qa5 16 Rhg1 Rb8 17 Ka1 Bxe5 18 dxe5 Qxe5 19 f4 Qa5 20 Bd4 0-0 21
g4 Ne4 22 g5 hxg5 23 Bd3 Bd5 24 Bb1 Rb4 25 a3 Rb3 26 Rd3 Rxd3 27 Qxd3
Rb8 28 Bxg7 Kxg7 29 Qd4+ Kf8 30 Bxe4 Qb5 31 Bxd5 exd5 32 Re1 c5 33 Qd2
d4 34 f5 f6 35 b3 c4 36 b4 c3 37 Qf2 Qd3 38 Re6 Qd1+ 0-1

JOHN B HENDERSON