Jón Loftur Árnason (born 13 November 1960) is an Icelandic

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

grandmaster. He is a three-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 was World U17 Chess Champion in 1977.

Chess career

Like fellow Scandinavians

Simen Agdestein Simen Agdestein (born 15 May 1967) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster, chess coach, author, and former professional footballer as a striker for the Norway national football team. Agdestein won eight Norwegian Chess Championships between 1982 an ...

and

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...

, Jón in his youth was hailed as a potential world champion after a string of results. In 1976, while only 15, he finished equal first in an event for players under 21. The same year, he won an Icelandic open tournament with the score of 9.5/11. Just a year later, playing in a telex match for Iceland against England, he drew as

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

against

Jonathan Mestel Andrew Jonathan Mestel (born 13 March 1957 in Cambridge, England) is Professor of Applied Mathematics at Imperial College London. He worked on magnetohydrodynamics and biological fluid dynamics. He obtained his PhD with the thesis "Magnetic Le ...

, an established master. Also in 1977, at

Cagnes-sur-Mer Cagnes-sur-Mer (, literally ''Cagnes on Sea''; oc, Canha de Mar) is a French Riviera town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Cagnes-sur-Mer is a town in south-eastern ...

, he won the World Under-17 Championship (ahead of other distinguished young talents, including

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...

), before becoming Icelandic champion on the first of three occasions (1977, 1982 and 1988). Shortly thereafter, he accepted an invitation to join the Botvinnik chess school. In 1979,

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 ...

awarded him the title of

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 ...

. In international competition, he took first at Husavik 1985, Plovdiv 1986 and Helsinki 1986 (shared). In 1986, FIDE awarded him the

International Grandmaster Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally it ha ...

title. In individual encounters with some of the world's best players, he showed that he was a strong player. He defeated world championship contenders and super-grandmasters of the calibre of

Short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

, Korchnoi, Shirov, Adams, Dreev, Vaganian and Larsen. He has also drawn former

world champions A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Petrosian Petrosyan (Armenian: ), Petrosian or Petrossian (Eastern Armenian), Bedrosian or Bedrossian (Western Armenian) is a common surname in Armenia. It is a patronymic from the Armenian first name Petros (equivalent to Peter, making the name effectivel ...

, Smyslov, Tal,

Karpov Karpov (russian: Ка́рпов) is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aleksandr Karpov, Soviet ace, double Hero of the Soviet Union * Anatoly Karpov (born 1951), Russian chess grandmaster, Undisputed World Chess Champion 1975� ...

, and Khalifman. Representing his nation's

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

team between 1978 and 1994, he helped Iceland to 5th and 6th-place finishes in 1986 and 1992 respectively.

Personal life

Jón Loftur Árnason ceased playing competitively around 1995, in order to concentrate on his other passion, business and finance. He obtained a degree in Finance and Accounting from the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( is, Háskóli Íslands ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' s ...

and embarked on a career that took him to Icelandic firm Oz Communications Inc., where he was appointed Secretary and Treasurer. Perhaps due to his elevated position, the company showed an affinity with chess and in 2000, sponsored the prestigious rapid ''chess@iceland'' tournament, won by Kasparov ahead of

Anand Anand may refer to: People * Anand (name), a surname and given name (including a list of people with the name) * Anand (actor), Indian actor * Anand (Maoist), Indian communist * Anand (writer) (born 1936), Indian Malayalam writer Places * Anand ...

. Jón took part, but was by then short of top class practice and finished in last place. Since then, he has played chess only in a minor capacity, mainly in local team tournaments.

Notable games

Viktor Korchnoi vs Jon Loftur Arnason, Reykjavik, CBM 02 1987, English Opening: King's English Variation, General (A20), 0-1Jon Loftur Arnason vs John Nunn, Novi Sad (ol) 1990, Spanish Game: Closed Variations (C84), 1-0Jon Loftur Arnason vs Alexey Dreev, Reykjavik op 1990, French Defense: Tarrasch Variation. Modern System (C03), 1-0

References

* ''Chess'' Magazine (August 1978) - page 346, A new Icelandic star.
Olimpbase - Olympiads and other Team event information

Reference to Arnason's business career up to 2002

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arnason, Jon Loftur 1960 births Living people Chess grandmasters Jon Loftur Arnason World Youth Chess Champions Jon Loftur Arnason