Helgi Ólafsson is an Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

ic chess grandmaster who won the Icelandic Chess Championship

Icelandic Chess Championship

The Icelandic Chess Championship is usually held in Reykjavík. It is organised by the Icelandic Chess Federation , the body responsible for holding national chess events and for representing Icelandic chess at the World Chess Federation...

 six times and, as of 2009, holds an Elo rating

Elo rating system

The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor....

 of 2522.

A native of Heimaey

Heimaey

Heimaey , literally Home Island, is an Icelandic island. At a size of 13.4 km² , it is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and the largest and most populated Icelandic island outside the main island of Iceland. Heimaey lies approximately 4 nautical miles off the south coast...

, the largest and sole populated island in the Vestmannaeyjar [Westmen Isles] archipelago off the south coast of Iceland, Helgi was sixteen when the Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer

Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...

–Boris Spassky

Boris Spassky

Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...

 World Chess Championship 1972, dubbed the chess world's "Match of the Century", was held in Reykjavík

Reykjavík

Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...

. He subsequently became one of a group of Icelandic chess prodigies

Chess prodigy

Chess prodigies are children who play chess so well that they are able to beat Masters and even Grandmasters, often at a very young age. Chess is one of the few sports where children can compete with adults on equal ground; it is thus one of the few skills in which true child prodigies exist...

who emerged in its aftermath, achieving, himself, the title of grandmaster in 1985.

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