Chess federation to honour Iceland’s first grandmaster with memorial tournament
Friday 4th September 2026 on 22:15 in
Iceland
Iceland’s Chess Federation and the Reykjavík Chess Club will hold an international memorial tournament for Friðrik Ólafsson, the country’s first grandmaster, mbl.is reports. The tournament will take place from November 24 to 29 at the federation’s headquarters in Faxafen and will be called the Friðrik Ólafsson Memorial Tournament.
Ólafsson died last April at the age of 90. He was an honorary member of both organisations, which are jointly organising the event.
The tournament will be smaller than the Reykjavík Open, and participants must have an Elo rating of at least 2,000. Nine rounds will be played over six days, with organisers expecting leading Icelandic players to take part. The number of international participants has not yet been decided.
Gunnar Björnsson, managing director of the Icelandic Chess Federation, said it was too early to say whether the memorial tournament would become an annual event. The aim is for it to become a regular event, however, and for Iceland eventually to host two international tournaments each year. The Reykjavík Open is generally held during the first part of the year.
All those involved will volunteer their work, according to Björnsson. Holding the tournament at the federation’s headquarters will also reduce costs. Lectures, a rapid chess tournament and other activities are planned alongside the main event.
Ólafsson ranked among the world’s leading players as a young man and qualified for the Candidates Tournament in the former Yugoslavia in 1959, where the world’s strongest players competed for the right to challenge world champion Mikhail Botvinnik. He later served as president of the international chess federation FIDE from 1978 to 1982.
Ólafsson was also credited with helping secure Iceland as the venue for the 1972 world championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. He received several honours for his contribution, including the Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon, and was made an honorary citizen of Reykjavík.