The trailer of the movie ‘Queen of Katwe’ starts with a question by the main character, Fiona: ,,Can you do big things from such a small place?” Although Hoogeveen isn’t exactly a ‘small place’, it isn’t a very big place either. And still, big things are happening here, as Bert van der Haar, chairman of the Stichting Schaaktoernooi N.O.-Nederland (Foundation of Chess Tournament Northeast Netherlands) explained to the audience during the opening of this 22nd Hoogeveen Chess tournament: ,,At this moment we are the second chess tournament in the Netherlands. We want to turn Hoogeveen more and more into the chess city of our country, and we will start with placing big outdoor chess sets at each of the 37 primary schools here in the area.” Van der Haar warmly welcomed the four match players, mayor Karel Loohuis of Hoogeveen, and the former mayors Willem Eurlings and Sytze Faber, who were also present, as well as the two guests of honour, Christine Namaganda and Nick Schilder.
Mayor Loohuis said that it was still a special thing for him to open this tournament: ,,I don’t think there is any place in the world where a chess tournament is held in a city hall. I am very proud of the organisation, the volunteers, and the sponsors.” He singled out one story about one of the 32 sponsors who have united themselves under the name ‘Corps32’: ,,McDonald’s (where Nick Schilder gave a simultaneous display for youth players this morning, PB) is the biggest tourist attraction in Hoogeveen, with more than 900,000 visitors every year.” Loohuis fully agreed with the plan to stimulate chess in schools: ,,Children will learn better if, besides the regular subjects, they are also taught music and play sports – also chess.” He said that Hoogeveen could be more assertive: ,,This tournament has a good reputation internationally, and the website is visited by people from all over the world.”
Tournament director Loek van Wely showed a number of videos that illustrated well why it is such a great thing to teach chess to children, adding: ,,One can never be a good chess player unless one can use one’s chess skills in other areas as wel.” He showed the trailer of the American movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, and after that the trailer of Queen of Katwe, in which the tournament’s guest of honour, Christine Namaganda, plays the toughest opponent of main protagonist Fiona. Christine, who has played for Uganda at four Olympiads already, visited several schools in the cities of Hoogeveen and Meppel in the past few days. ,,Life as a chess player in Uganda is not easy”, Namaganda said. ,,It is not a joke. You have to use the chance when you get it. I’ve visited many countries already, but in the Netherlands everything is different. In other places you just hurry from the hotel to the playing hall and back, but here you also get the time to move around.”
Christine Namaganda. Photo: Frans Peeters
As a foretaste of what was coming later, Van Wely then showed a hilaric video where two Americans played blitz on a big board: real ‘condition chess’, for not only did they have to carry the big pieces around, they also had to run to the clock after every move. Next, Van Wely announced a great ambition: ,,At our 25-year jubilee (in 2021, PB) we want to invite the World Champion to play chess here in Hoogeveen.”
There followed an interview with Nick Schilder in which Van Wely posed the popular Dutch singer some tricky questions. Is Nick a chess-playing singer or a singing chess player? Lately, Nick’s focus is more on singing, ,,but there are times that I spend more hours on chess.” When asked about his Elo-rating as a singer, he replied modestly: ,,I think that opera tenors are the real grandmasters. I am a professional, though, so let’s say I’m a FIDE master.” Nick once said you need not be intelligent to be a good chess player, but at this occasion he explained what he had really meant by that: ,,Bobby Fischer once said that anyone could become a chess master. I’m trying to make chess a little less highbrow. In order to derive pleasure from chess, you don’t need to be enormously talented, or sit in the attic studying for hours.” Nick has another great ambition in the area of chess: he supports Anish Giri in his efforts to fight for the world title. ,,By beating him, as you did once?”, Van Wely asked. ,,Yes, that was a wake-up call for him, and he’s doing better now”, Schilder laughed.
After this, the four match players were introduced to the audience, also with videos. It turns out that the American champion, Sam Shankland, once featured in a reality show where famous Americans had to survive in the jungle. The audience saw Shankland very sturdily sporting an axe, but getting it stuck in a tree behind him. ,,Anyway it’s good that chess players have the balls to do such things”, Van Wely praised. Shankland admitted that he used to dream of winning the US title as a kid, but had suffered a reality check after a few years – he was never going to make it. And so he was overjoyed when he did make it early this year, ahead of the elite players Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura. About his opponent, Peter Svidler, he said: ,,He didn’t play well for a couple of games recently, so Peter will be extra motivated for this match.”
Sam Shankland. Photo: Frans Peeters
Of Svidler, Van Wely showed a cricket video, which is one of several hobby’s of the 8-fold Russian champion besides chess. He is also an avid Hearthstone player and a popular commentator at big chess events where he isn’t playing himself. And still, without working too hard on it, a top-10 player? ,,Not anymore”, said Svidler with his characteristic flair of putting things in perspective. ,,And I can’t really play cricket – don’t let this video put you off.”
The new star, Vladimir Fedoseev, is so fresh that Van Wely didn’t even have a ‘compromising’ video of him. The young Russian briefly talked about his career so far: ,,I had a few good results in 2017, and became a bit famous, but not yet as famous as my team captain, Peter Svidler.” He also knew why he was invited: ,,Yes, because I have an aggressive style, just like Jorden van Foreest.” Van Wely stressed that his match with the young Dutchman would have to be bloody, and Fedoseev more or less promised as much: ,,Anyway I hope it will be a match with some good chess.”
About Jorden, the first part of the Dutch documentary ‘De Stelling van Foreest’ (‘The position/theorem of Van Foreest’) was showed, in which he introduces himself. ,,At that time, just after your Dutch title, you dreamed of the world title”, Van Wely said. ,,Yes, but I also had a reality check”, Jorden replied. ,,I don’t have much of a chance. I will now focus more on chess, though. After this match with Fedoseev I will play in the A-group of the Tata Steel tournament in January. I hope to prove that I can still play a nice game.”
The opening ceremony ended with a demo blitz game between Christine Namaganda and Nick Schilder on a big board on the stage. The Ugandese was at a disadvantage because she was wearing high heels, so she got some help from Loek van Wely. Nevertheless she got into trouble against Schilder, who was jumping athletically over the pieces and also played well, winning the game.
After that there was a drawing of lots for the matches, resulting in the following pairing for the first round:
Vladimir Fedoseev-Jorden van Foreest
Sam Shankland-Peter Svidler
And that’s how we will continue tomorrow!
Photos by Frans Peeters: here.
