Jóhann Hjartarson (born 8 February 1963) is an Icelandic chess grandmaster and lawyer. He is a six-time

Icelandic Chess Champion 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) ...

and a two-time Nordic Chess Champion. Since 1998, Johann has been the general counsel and secretary of the Icelandic biotechnology company deCODE genetics, a subsidiary of Amgen. Although he retired from professional chess when he began his legal career in the late 1990s, Johann still competes occasionally and remains one of the strongest chess players in Iceland. As of September 2020, he was the No. 3 ranked Icelandic player on the

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

rating list.

Chess career

Jóhann earned the

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

title in 1984 and the Grandmaster title a year later. Among his best international tournament results are shared first place at Reykjavík in 1984 and 1992; shared first at the World Open 1991 in Philadelphia; equal third at Tilburg 1988 (+3−3=8); and sixth at

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

1989 (+2−2=7). In 1987 he finished equal first at the Interzonal tournament in Szirák, Hungary and qualified for the World Championship Candidates Tournament in 1988. He defeated Viktor Korchnoi but lost to Anatoli Karpov in the quarterfinals. Jóhann competed in the

world championship held with the knock-out format in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. Jóhann won the

Icelandic Chess Championship 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 ...

in 1980, 1984, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 2016. He won the Nordic Chess Championship in 1997 and again twenty years later in 2017. With this latter win (in which he edged out Nils Grandelius on tiebreak score), Jóhann qualified to play in the FIDE World Cup 2017. He was eliminated in the first round by David Navara. Jóhann has played for Iceland in the Chess Olympiad,

World Team Chess Championship The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent. It is played every two years. In chess, this tournament and the Chess Olympiads ...

, European Team Chess Championship, World Senior Team Championships, World U26 Team Championship, World U16 Team Championship, and Telechess Olympiad and Nordic Chess Cup. Playing at the European Chess Club Cup, he won the gold medal with German tea
Bayern Munich
in 1992.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hjartarson, Johann 1963 births Living people Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors

Johann Hjartarson Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...