The main attraction of the chess tournament in Hoogeveen this year is a match between Jan Timman and Jorden van Foreest. The laurelled top grandmaster and the up-and-coming talent play six games between October 17 and 24 in the town hall of Hoogeveen. Negotiations for a second match are being made at this point. For the 19th time, a large open tournament and two amateur tournaments will also be held in Hoogeveen. A new feature this year is a Basque tournament on Wednesday 21th October.
Among the participants in the open tournament will be the Dutch top players Erwin l’Ami, Sipke Ernst and Jan Werle. They will cross swords with a choice of Dutch and foreign players. The amateur tournaments will be played over seven rounds and have a rest day on Wednesday 21th October.
The Basque tournament is a form of chess that was first introduced in the Basque city of San Sebastian: with each duel the opponents play each other on two boards simultaneously, once with white and once with black. It is a new branch on the evergreen tree of chess.
The event is organized for the second time with grandmaster and multiple Dutch champion Loek van Wely in the function of tournament director. The most important sponsors of the Hoogeveen Chess Tournament are the municipality of Hoogeveen, the province of Drenthe, McDonald’s and Univé.
