Article by John, Joshua and Neil Doknjas
REYKJAVIK OPEN 2017
CM Joshua Doknjas, Neil Doknjas, and FM John Doknjas
This 32nd edition of the Reykjavik Open, April 19-27, 2017, attracted 266 players from 40 countries; and there were a number of Canadians. In fact, our Canadian delegation consisting of 15 players was the 4th largest behind the host country of Iceland (96), USA (18), and India (16).
We enjoyed playing against strong titled players from around the world at the spectacular playing venue, the Harpa Concert Hall. There were a number of titled players (33 GMs, 5 WGMs, 24 IMs, 4 WIMs, 22 FMs, 2 WFMs, 5 CMs, and 2 WCMs).
On the double game day, FM John Doknjas played against two GMs, Dronavalli Harika and Abhijit Kunte, and drew both games. John also played three IMs, and one WIM.
All of Neil Doknjas’ opponents were 225 to 517 higher rated, which was a great opportunity to consistently play strong players over the 10 rounds. As a result, Neil gained 124 FIDE points.
CM Joshua Doknjas won two 2nd Place prizes for the categories of Best U2200 and Top Junior. Two other Canadians did well and won norms: IM Aman Hambleton (GM norm) and FM Michael Kleinman (IM norm).
As for other Canadians, Mark Plotkin came in 4th (one place just out of the money) and Jonathan Yu came in 7th in the U2200 section after tiebreaks. The U2200 top 3 each had 6 pts, as did Mark and Jonathan. In fact, going into the last round Canadians FM Michael Dougherty, FM Dale Haessel, Mark Plotkin, and Jonathan Yu all had chances for top 3 in the U2200 section.
The Reykjavik Open 2017 was an excellent experience for each of us. We all got to play strong titled players, which provided us with high quality games. A special thank you to Larry Bevand and Chess’n Math for their support.
IM Aman Hambleton, FM Michael Kleinman, CM Joshua Doknjas
"Team Canada" - 14 of the 15 Canadians at the 2017 Reykjavik Open.