21 M ISK for the winner

Many of the world’s best chess players compete in the World Fischer Random Chess Tournament , which begins at the Hotel Natura in Reykjavík tomorrow in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the duel between the grandmasters Fischer and Spassky. About forty volunteers are working at the event, which will be open to the public.

Magnus Carlsen, the reigning World Chess Champion, Wesley So, the World Champion in Fischer Random Chess and super grandmasters such as Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura will be at the opening gala at the Hotel Natura tonight.

All contestants are searched

The tournament begins at 3 o’clock tomorrow and the winning prizes are nothing to sneeze at. Around sixty million ISK is at stake, with the winner receiving 21 million ISK for the first place.

Gunnar Björnsson, the president of the Icelandic Chess Federation, says the audience is welcome to the tournament, which runs from tomorrow until Sunday, from three to eight.

When he is asked about additional checks before entering the tournament in light of the cheating rumours in the chess community he says: “Everyone entering the area will be searched with metal detectors. You have to leave phones and smart watches behind.”

A lot of action is expected, as the time limit will be shorter than in regular chess, or  25 minutes for the first 35 moves, with five minutes added at the 36th move.