Unfortunately there was no Magnus Carlsen today at the round, his flight had been delayed because of the typical Icelandic weather of strong wind and heavy rainfall. In the absence of the World Champion here are a few other photo impressions from the playing hall and around (you can click on the image to enlarge).

The playing hall

From the other side, with GM Eric Hansen striking a pose

The look

The look belongs to Zhansaya Abdumalik, a 15-year old WGM with the formidable rating of almost 2400. She’s one of the brightest world talents and possibly a future World Champion. A few more shots of Zhansaya:

The hair goes to her waist

The Batgirl playing the Grunfeld

A derby – the charming Tania Sachdev vs Carlsen’s second Hammer (another Grunfeld)

Carlsen vs WGM Maisuradze (who informed me of the hotel jacuzzi and sauna!)

My very good friend GM Luis Galego

The legendary GM Julio Granda Zuniga

Gunnar Bjornsson, the President of the Icelandic Chess Federation, and generally a very nice guy

The dynamic duo of WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni and FM Ingvar Thor Johannesson doing the live comments

The poster for this year’s edition

The bustling sea outside the Harpa playing hall

View from the hotel terrace – the Harpa and the mountains in the back

And now time for that sauna and jacuzzi!