Helgi Ólafsson (born 15 August 1956) 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 dist ...

grandmaster. He is a six-time Icelandic Chess Champion.

Chess career

A native of

Heimaey Heimaey (), is an Icelandic island. At , it is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and the largest and most populated island off the Icelandic coast. Heimaey is off the south coast of Iceland. It is the only populated isl ...

, the largest and sole populated island in the

Vestmannaeyjar Vestmannaeyjar (, sometimes anglicized as Westman Islands) is a municipality and archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. The largest island, Heimaey, has a population of 4,414, most of whom live in the archipelago's main town, Vestmannaeyj ...

archipelago off the south coast of Iceland, Helgi was sixteen when the

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 1 ...

– Boris Spassky

World Chess Championship 1972 The World Chess Championship 1972 was a match for the World Chess Championship between challenger Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The match took place in the Laugardalshöll arena ...

, dubbed the chess world's "Match of the Century", was held in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

. He subsequently became one of a group of Icelandic chess prodigies who emerged in its aftermath, achieving, himself, the title of grandmaster in 1985. He is the No. 5 ranked Icelandic player as of October 2017. He is author of the book ''Bobby Fischer Comes Home: The Final Years in Iceland, a Saga of Friendship and Lost Illusions'' (2014), New In Chess, .

References

External links

* * Helgi Olafsson Chess grandmasters Helgi Olafsson 1956 births Living people {{Iceland-chess-bio-stub