Reykjavík is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. Reykjavík has a population of around 140,000 as of 2023. The Capital Region has a population of around 248,000.
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Champion, the reigning five-time World Rapid Chess Champion, the reigning seven-time World Blitz Chess Champion, and the reigning Chess World Cup Champion. He has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since 1 July 2011 and trails only Garry Kasparov in time spent as the highest-rated player in the world. His peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history. He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at an elite level in classical chess at 125 games.
Shahriyar Hamid oghlu Mammadyarov, known internationally as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. As of December 2023, he is Azerbaijan's highest rated chess player. His personal best rating of 2820 makes him the sixth-highest-rated player in chess history.
Abhijeet Gupta is an Indian chess player with the title of Grandmaster (GM). Gupta is the first player to win the Commonwealth Chess Championship five times. He completed his early education from A's Steward Senior Secondary School, Bhilwara before embarking upon his career as a chess player.
Wang Hao is a Chinese chess grandmaster. In November 2009, Wang became the fourth Chinese player to break through the 2700 Elo rating mark.
Wesley Barbossa So is a Filipino and American chess grandmaster, a three-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the first World Fischer Random Chess Champion. He is also a three-time Philippine Chess Champion. On the March 2017 FIDE rating list, he was ranked number two in the world and had an Elo rating of 2822, making him the fifth-highest-rated player in history.
Hannes Hlífar Stefánsson is an Icelandic chess grandmaster. He has won the Icelandic Chess Championship a record thirteen times.
Helgi Áss Grétarsson is an Icelandic chess grandmaster (GM). In 1994 he won the World Junior Chess Championship under 20. One year prior to that he played as a goalkeeper for the Icelandic national soccer team in the 1993 UEFA European Under-16 Championship.Helgi graduated in 2005 with a law degree but in 2018, after many years of hiatus, he became Icelandic Chess Champion for the first time.In April 2024 Helgi became the Icelandic Chess Champion for the second time.Since 2022 Helgi has been a deputy member of Reykjavík City Council.
Sports in Iceland are very popular. Popular sports include football, handball, athletics, basketball, chess, golf, volleyball, tennis, skiing, snowboarding, ice hockey, swimming, rock climbing, mountain climbing, horseback riding, archery, strongman, powerlifting and crossfit. In some of those sports, namely football, handball, basketball and strongman, Iceland is extremely successful, considering its population. It manages to compete at comparable level with countries that have 10-200 times its population.
The Icelandic Chess Championship is usually held in Reykjavík. It is organised by the Icelandic Chess Federation (ICF), the body responsible for holding national chess events and for representing Icelandic chess at the World Chess Federation (FIDE). The ICF was founded in 1925 and its main activities include the national chess championship and the annual 'Reykjavik Open' tournament.
The World Amateur Chess Championship is a tournament organised by FIDE and Amateur Chess Organisation (ACO).
Jóhann Hjartarson is an Icelandic chess grandmaster and lawyer. He is a six-time Icelandic Chess Champion and a two-time Nordic Chess Champion. With occasional brief interruptions, he was the highest-rated Icelandic player from July 1991 to March 2015.
The Aeroflot Open is an annual open chess tournament played in Moscow and sponsored by the airline Aeroflot. It was established in 2002 and quickly grew to be the strongest open tournament; in 2013 it was converted to a rapid and blitz event, while in 2014 it wasn't held. The first event had around 80 grandmasters, while in the second event 150 grandmasters participated. The tournament is played using the Swiss system and the winner is invited to the Dortmund chess tournament held later in the same year, a tradition begun in 2003. Beside the main tournament, there are also B and C-class tournaments.
Anish Kumar Giri is a Dutch chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he completed the requirements for the grandmaster title in 2009 at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days. Giri is a five-time Dutch champion and won the Corus Chess B Group in 2010. He has represented the Netherlands at six Chess Olympiads. He has also won major international tournaments, including the 2012 Reggio Emilia tournament, 2017 Reykjavik Open, 2023 Tata Steel Chess, and shared 1st place in the 2015 London Chess Classic. In 2019 he won clear first at the Third Edition of the Shenzhen Masters.
Eugenio "Eugene" Torre is a Filipino chess grandmaster. In 1974, at 22 years old, he became the first Filipino and non-Soviet Asian to qualify for the title Grandmaster. Torre did this by winning the silver medal in the 21st Chess Olympiad in Nice, France. He is considered the strongest chess player the Philippines produced during the 1980s and 1990s, and played for the Philippines on board 1 in seventeen Chess Olympiads. In 2021, Torre was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame.
Harpa is a concert hall and conference centre in Reykjavík, Iceland. The opening concert was held on 4 May 2011. The building features a distinctive colored glass facade inspired by the basalt landscape of Iceland.
The Bilbao Chess Masters Final is an annual chess tournament which between 2008 and 2012 brought together the strongest players from the previous year's "Grand Slam" events. Series organisers Grand Slam Chess Association (GSCA) became defunct in 2012 due to the demise of the Grand Slam hosts and scheduling problems but the Bilbao Masters continued as an annual invitational event until 2016.
Wei Yi is a Chinese chess grandmaster.
Adhiban Baskaran is an Indian chess grandmaster. He was the 2008 World Under-16 Champion and the 2009 Indian champion. He is currently the 21st highest rated player in India.
Anastasia Mikhailovna Bodnaruk is a Russian chess player who holds the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is the current women's World Rapid Chess Champion after winning the World Rapid Chess Championship 2023.
Mikhail Tal (Soviet Union)
Friðrik Ólafsson (Iceland)
Florin Gheorghiu (Romania), 
Vlastimil Hort (Czechoslovakia)
Jan Timman (Netherlands)
Walter Browne (United States)
Predrag Nikolić (Yugoslavia)
Erling Mortensen (Norway)
Alexei Shirov (Latvia)
Vadim Zvjaginsev (Russia), 
Predrag Nikolić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), 
Jaan Ehlvest (Estonia), 
Emil Sutovsky (Israel) ,
Levon Aronian (Germany), [3] 
Igor-Alexandre Nataf (France),
Robert Markuš (Serbia and Montenegro)
Gabriel Sargissian (Armenia), 
Ahmed Adly (Egypt), 
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan),
Pentala Harikrishna (India)
Wang Hao (China), 
Yuriy Kryvoruchko (Ukraine), 
Kamil Miton (Poland), 
Fabiano Caruana (Italy)
Wesley So (Philippines), 
Nils Grandelius (Sweden) [6] 