The chairman of the tournament board, Bert van der Haar, welcomed everybody to this 20th edition of the Hoogeveen Chess Tournament. He recalled that the event had led a ‘reluctant life’ after Univé had stopped as the main sponsor, and CEO Alle Peereboom of McDonald’s Hoogeveen had filled a large part of this gap. The board has now started a new sponsor project, named ‘Corps 32’. They strive to gather a collection of 32 ‘friends’, who will ‘help this tournament to lead a new life, preferably for 20 more years.’ 23 out of these 32 have already been found. ‘Corps 32 will be an elite corps that will join us in our struggle’, Van der Haar said. And he continued: ‘Loek van Wely has once again put together a fantastic tournament.’
Bert van der Haar. Photo: Lennart Ootes
The mayor of Hoogeveen, Karel Loohuis, said he was glad and proud that the tournament has been kept alive. He stressed that it is important to involve chess more strongly in society: ‘in companies, in schools, on the streets’. A good example was the simultaneous exhibition Loek van Wely gave on Thursday, 4 October, at the nearby refugee centre, with boards and pieces presented to the refugees by Secretary of State Jetta Klijnsma two years ago. ‘This event has to become more alive in Hoogeveen’, the mayor said. ‘Internationally it’s already very well known, as we can see from the many visitors to our website. After the Tata Steel Tournament, we are the number two in the Netherlands.’ He concluded by singing the praises of the many-sidedness of chess, illustrating this with the famous story about the inventor of the game and the grains on the 64 squares.
Karel Loohuis. Photo: Lennart Ootes
Eric Smaling, member of the Dutch House of Commons for the Socialist Party, told the audience that he has been playing chess since he was 10 or 11. ‘I’ve carried the game of chess with me for a long time. It gives me much pleasure, and it also influences the way you lead your life, the way you make the decision to go left or right at certain moments. There is a link with politics: you can make an incorrect double knight sacrifice. You will lose, but everybody will be talking about you. It’s the same in politics.’
Smaling didn’t make any bold pronouncements on the differences between chess-playing men and women. He did recall that he once lost not only to Loek van Wely, but also to his wife Lorena. He said he hoped that the Hoogeveen Chess Tournament will grow, and that it will be reflected better in the province of Drenthe. “There is a lot of culture here and, therefore, a lot of creativity.’ He wished the organizers and the players success, and with this the tournament was declared opened.
Eric Smaling. Photo: Lennart Ootes
Now it was time for the tournament director, Loek van Wely, to do the drawing of lots. He said he was glad that the tournament is firmly on its feet again – ‘it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the municipality and the province.’ On the rest day, Wednesday 19 October, there will also be chess, demonstrated by Van Wely and Hans Böhm, in the province house in Assen. And during a simul by Van Wely this morning, for young players at McDonald’s, various parents had been very enthusiastic.
About the two matches, Van Wely said he was very glad to have been able to attract Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan, as well as former vice World Champion Nigel Short, his old ‘buddy of war’ Ivan Sokolov and the new Dutch champion Jorden van Foreest, who had kept the title from Van Wely’s claws earlier this year: ‘These two matches will be wonderful.’
Van Wely asked Hou Yifan for a comment on several remarks her opponent Nigel Short had made about women being less good at chess than men. ‘Actually I didn’t know this’, the World Champion said. ‘I did know Nigel, we have played a few times and we were even partners at an event, two years ago.’ To the question whether she would be willing to wear a hijab at a chess tournament, as will be required at the coming World Championship tournament in Iran, Hou Yifan replied diplomatically: ‘I dropped out of the cycle, so I don’t pay attention to such matters.’
Nigel Short clarified that he had written in New In Chess that ‘men on average play better than women. Hou Yifan is not average. I can also say that younger players are better on average than older players. I am the only player above 50 in the top-100. In any case – no doubt there will be jubilation if I lose this match, but I’ll do my best.’
Hou Yifan drew Black for the first game.
Hou Yifan and Nigel Short. Photo: Lennart Ootes
Van Wely asked Ivan Sokolov: ‘Jorden is a dangerous player, and so are you. Who will be the first one to bite?’ The two like to take stabs at each other. Sokolov said: ‘Jorden plays more dynamically than other Dutch players – more dynamically than you, for instance.’ ‘That’s why I’m hoping for positional games’, Van Wely replied. ‘Then I will sit down and watch them like a specialist. But still I think this match will be a spectacle.’
When asked if he was ready to take the next step in chess, the young Dutch champion Jorden van Foreest said: ‘Against strong players I have increasingly been playing my own game recently, I’m no longer afraid of them. I hope I’m ready.’
Van Wely advised him to take it one step at a time: ‘First you will have to pass Ivan, then you have to pass me. That is one level higher.’
Jorden van Foreest also drew Black for the first game.
Jorden van Foreest. Photo: Lennart Ootes
In conclusion, Jan Feenstra presented his new chess short story. He said: ‘A famous predecessor like Stefan Zweig received criticism from professionals that the games in his Schachnovelle had not been correctly depicted, so I didn’t want to give that a try.’ He had chosen a famous figure from Dutch chess as the protagonist for his story: Uncle Jan, from the book ‘… teaches his nephew to play chess’. Feenstra read a fragment of his book to the audience, and then thanked the board for the assignment, and his publishing house Passage for all their help. Then he handed over the first copies of the book, called The Second, to Eric Smaling and Karel Loohuis.
Pairings matches, first round:
Short-Hou Yifan
Sokolov-Van Foreest
Nigel Short and Hou Yifan in front of a Mao portrait by Andy Warhol. Photo: Lennart Ootes
