At the closing ceremony, tournament director Loek van Wely mentioned among others the finals and the Bask event as successful innovations in this year’s events: ‘We hope to do something new every year.’ He thanked the town hall, the province of Drenthe and the ‘Corps 32’ group for their sponsorship: ‘We hope to reach the magic number of 64 next year’.
Loek van Wely – twice
Van Wely gave special thanks to the arbiters and tournament secretary Jeroen Bottema, ‘the spider in the web’, and last but not least Roos Koekoek, the bar lady.
Alderman Erik Giethoorn from the municipality of Hoogeveen said he was glad that the tournament is broadly supported: ‘This offers good security for the future.’
Alderman Erik Giethoorn from Hoogeveen
From the many other side events Giethoorn singled out the special chess day for the youth at McDonald’s, the combination of chess and checkers at the province house in Assen, and the controversial opening last week with Dutch politician Thierry Baudet. “We had 219 participants from 11 countries, and the final of the event was very exciting, with several play-offs. It was a fantastic week, and we’re looking out for the 22nd edition already.”
Then Loek van Wely handed out the prizes for the Amateur 1 tournament (the prizegiving for the morning round, Amateur 2, already took place earlier this afternoon): Dick Stavast was the winner, Job Emans, no. 2, and nos 3-8 were Gerard Baars, Henk Pompstra, Thale Hadderingh, Auke van Urk, Jan Lootsma, and Klaas Jan Koedijk – the latter of whom also won the rating prize.
Finally the prizes were given to the final players of the Open, Roeland Pruijssers (the winner), Dmitrij Kollars, Dinara Saduakassova and Thomas Beerdsen – and the prize winners of the ‘rest’.
Left to right: tournament direct Loek van Wely, Dinara Saduakassova, Thomas Beerdsen, Dmitrij Kollars, Roeland Pruijssers and alderman Erik Giethoorn
That was all for now – till next year!
