The Open group of the Hoogeveen Chess Tournament will be strong again. For the 20th edition of this event, from Saturday 15 to Saturday 22 October in the town hall of Hoogeveen, sixteen grandmasters have applied. Among them last year’s winner, Abhijeet Gupta from India, and four Dutchmen. Various side events of the tournament will already take place next week.
Besides Gupta, the winner of 2015, a sizable number of other Indian players are on the list of the Open group. There will also be players from Germany, Hungary, Italy, Turkey and Costa Rica, along with the old hand from Ukraine, Oleg Romanishin. The Dutch grandmasters participating are Dimitri Reinderman, Jan Werle, Sipke Ernst and Harmen Jonkman. The list also contains a number of strong masters.
The Hoogeveen Matches will feature Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan vs Nigel Short, and the new Dutch champion Jorden van Foreest vs Ivan Sokolov.
The tournament will be opened on Saturday 15 October by Dr. Eric Smaling, a member of the Dutch Parliament who is also the current chess champion of the Parliament. During the opening, the first copies of a new short story on chess, De Secondant (‘The Second’) by Jan Veenstra, will be presented.
However, tournament director Loek van Wely will give the starting shot already on Tuesday 4 October, with a simultaneous display for the inhabitants of the refugee centre outside Hoogeveen. Two years ago, the Secretary of State, Jetta Klijnsma, already presented ten chessboards with pieces to the inhabitants during her visit to the tournament.
On Saturday 8 October, the Hoogeveen Chess Tournament and the Hoogeveen Chess Club will organize the ‘Rabobank youth tournament’, from 13.30-17.00h at the Salawaku building in Hoogeveen. Play will take place in various groups; application via www.nosbo.nl.
On the morning before the opening, Saturday 15 October, Loek van Wely also gives a clock simul against youth players from 10.00h at McDonalds. Application is possible via secretariaat@hoogeveenchess.nl.
The Open tournament starts on Saturday 15 October. The Hoogeveen Matches start on Sunday 16 October. Wednesday 19 October is a rest day for the matches, but on this day the players of the Open tournament will play two rounds. On that same Wednesday, there is also a chess event in the State Hall of the provincial government building in Assen. Anyone who wants to can play blitz with Hans Böhm or join a simul against Loek van Wely. Application: secretariaat@hoogeveenchess.nl.
All through the tournament a ‘chess bike’ will be put up in the town hall of Hoogeveen, on which you can work out and play chess at the same time.
The last round of all events is on Saturday 22 October.
