Iceland - literally chess-mad

WHILST there are several stronger chess nations overall, the champion per capita is unquestionably tiny Iceland, where they’re literally chess-mad. From a population of just 278,000, it supports nine grandmasters – which in comparison would equate to 200 among the 60 million or so in Britain.

And, with seven Icelandic International Masters also on the list, they are the only country in the world that has more GMs than IMs on their books. Chess is held in such high esteem in the country that it is put on a level with the performing arts and sports with all professional chess players receiving a government state pension to subsidise their chess earnings.

Their most famous player, Fridrik Olafsson, became Iceland’s first grandmaster in 1958. Just a year later, in 1959, he went on to become (and still is) the only Icelandic player to qualify for a Candidates tournament; scoring wins at Zagreb in the process over giants like Fischer, Keres and Petrosian. Also a politician, he once resigned from a government post to become a professional chess player – which immediately led to his best ever tournament result, finishing equal first with Ljubojevic at Wijk aan Zee 1976.

He then went on to the murky world of chess politics to become the “safe pair of hands” as replacement for Dr Max Euwe as Fide President. However, being an honest politician proved to be his downfall, and his tenure in office was short-lived when he was forced out after just four–years by the ultimate political fixer, Florencio Campomanes. Olafsson decided it was then time to return to domestic politics, where he is now the Speaker of the Icelandic Parliament, the Althing.

A few years ago an opinion poll was commissioned to determine which celebrity Icelanders would most like to spend an evening with. It must have had something to do with those long, cold winter nights but, coming ahead of pop icon Madonna, they opted for the delights of Lancashire’s finest, Nigel Short!

No wonder then that Short, unlike Madonna, always welcomes any visit to Iceland. Last month the former world title challenger took on the present Icelandic champion, Hannes Stefansson, in a six game challenge match (8-13 January) in Reykjavik to celebrate the anniversary of the Hellir Chess Club.

Short, who had difficulties arriving for the start of the match after his Athens home was snowbound in the worst weather for 40 years, got off to the worst possible start as the Icelander took an opening lead of 1.5/2. However, Short soon found his form by scoring four impressive wins in the final four games to take the match 4.5-1.5.

H Stefansson – N Short
VIII Gudmundur Arason, (6)
French Defence
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Be7 6 Nxf6+ Bxf6 7 Bxf6 Qxf6 8 Nf3 0–0 9 c3 Nd7 10 Be2 b6 11 Qa4 a6 12 0–0 Qe7 13 Nd2 Bb7 14 Bf3 Bxf3 15 Nxf3 c5 16 Rad1 b5 17 Qa5 Rfc8 18 Rfe1 cxd4 19 Rxd4 Nc5 20 Ne5 f6 21 Nd3 Na4 22 Nf4 e5 23 Rd2 Qf7 24 Nd5 Nxb2 25 Nxf6+ gxf6 26 Rxb2 Qc7 27 Qxc7 Rxc7 28 Rb3 Kf7 29 Kf1 Rc4 30 Ra3 Ke6 31 Rd1 h5 32 g3 h4 33 Ke2 f5 34 Rd3 f4 35 gxh4 e4 36 Rd1 a5 37 Rb3 b4 38 cxb4 axb4 39 Rd2 f3+ 40 Kd1 Rg8 41 Re3 Ke5 42 h5 Rgc8 43 Ke1 Rc1+ 44 Rd1 R8c3 0–1