DUTCH GLORY

The Dutch grandmasters Max Euwe, Jan Hein Donner, Jan Timman, Jeroen Piket and Gert Jan Timmerman achieved grand victories in chess tournaments. I selected one triumph for each player. 

pgn-file of tournaments (87 games)    zip-file of CBase-file of tournaments

Bad Nauheim, Stuttgart, Garmisch 1937

Euwe (1901-1981) played in a double rounds event with Alekhine, Bogoljubow and Sämisch. They played two rounds in each of the German cities Bad Nauheim, Stuttgart and Garmisch-Partenkirchen from 18 until 27 vii 1937. Euwe won though he allowed mate in one to Boggie. Max had played with his challenger for the last time before their rematch. He kept his superiority until the fatal sixth game of the return match. 

               1  2  3  4

1 Euwe        ** ½0 1½ 11  4

2 Bogoljubow  ½1 ** 01 01  3½

3 Alekhine    0½ 10 ** 11  3½

4 Sämisch     00 10 00 **  1

 

Max Euwe

Alexander Alekhine

Efim Bogoljubow

Friedrich Sämisch

Venezia 1967

A colourful Dutch grandmaster was Jan Hein Donner (1927-1988). His father was Minister of Justice. Now this position is held by his nephew Piet Hein. Jan Hein’s greatest victory was Venezia 1967. 

A meeting of FIDE had taken place in the Casino Municipale di Venezia or Palazzo Vendramin Calergi, built in 1509. An international chess tournament followed from 21 x until 5 xi 1967. I have analysed Donner’s games.

Donner appears to be a solid positional player in his games. Still he regards chess as a game of hazard. "The chances might be equal and the players have everything under control. But who controls himself?" he tries to argue. Obviously he was lucky against Petrosian.

 

Casino Municipale

Jan Hein Donner

 

             1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4

1  Donner    * ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1  11

2  Petrosian ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 1  10

3  Evans     0 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1  10

4  Pachman   ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1   8

5  Janosevic 0 0 ½ 1 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 0 1   8

6  Lengyel   ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 1 0 ½ ½ 1 ½   7½

7  Robatsch  ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1   7½

8  Tatai     0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 * 0 1 ½ 1 1 1   6

9  Canal     0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 * ½ 1 1 ½ 1   5½

10 Kupper    0 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 ½ * 0 ½ 1 1   5

11 Zinser    0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 * 1 ½ ½   4½

12 Paoli     0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 * 1 1   3½

13 Calapso   0 ½ 0 0 1 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 * ½   3

14 Magrin    0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ *   1½

Donner talked on Dutch television about the first prize, a golden gondola with jewels. "I donate it to the Medical Committee Viet Nam. They will buy medicine for it, but I don’t mind if it is a machine gun, because the Americans have to be kicked out of Viet Nam!" he exclaimed. A scandal was born. He lost his chess column in Elseviers Weekblad immediately. 

Beverwijk 1963

A Dutch star won the 25th Hoogovens tournament (7 until 27 i 1963). Great efforts had been made to organise a magnificent jubilee event. Many former winners took part and most competitors were top one-hundred players. The Soviet stars were Averbakh and Bronstein. People worried about the fate of the Dutchmen but they had underrated the abilities of Jan Hein Donner. He became the winner (12/17) before David Bronstein (11½/17). 

Mar del Plata 1982

The chess career of Jan Timman (1951) has been marked by great successes and defeats. A wonderful triumph was Mar del Plata 1982. The Argentine newspaper Clarin organised the event. Chess was played in the Hermitage Hotel, the biggest casino in the world. It was hot, noisy and crowded from 8 until 28 February 1982. Timman wrote a report for Schaakbulletin 172. His games have been analysed again.

 

Mar del Plata

Jan Timman

 

Two pages of the Clarin were devoted to the tournament each round. The newspaper could report how seven foreign grandmasters ended before the seven local heroes.

Timman had a winning streak of eight games. He defeated the world champion & Portisch and scored 6½/7 against the Argentineans.

 

                 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4

1 Timman         * 1 0 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1  9½

2 Portisch       0 * 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½  8

3 Seirawan       1 0 * ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1  7½

4 Karpov         0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½  7½

5 Polugaevsky    ½ 0 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½  7½

6 Andersson      ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½  7

7 Larsen         1 1 1 0 ½ ½ * 0 1 0 ½ 0 ½ ½  6½

8 Garcia Palermo 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 1 * ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½  6

9 Najdorf        0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ * 1 ½ ½ 1 ½  6

10 Braga         ½ 0 1 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 * ½ 1 0 ½  5½

11 Panno         0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½  5½

12 Quinteros     0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ * 0 1  5

13 Franco        0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 1 1 * 1  5

14 Giardelli     0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 *  4½

 

Dortmund 1994

Jeroen Piket (1969) is a tactical player, who plays solid positional chess. His finest win was the super tournament of Dortmund (15-24 July 1994). 

Jeroen Piket

 

Dortmund 1994

           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

1 Piket    * ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½  6½

2 Adams    ½ * ½ 0 0 1 1 ½ 1 1  5½

3 Epishin  0 ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½  5

4 Yusupov  ½ 1 0 * ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½  4½

5 Dreev    0 1 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 1  4½

6 Korchnoi 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1 1 0 1  4½

7 Karpov   ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ 1 1  4½

8 Timman   ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½  4

9 Lutz     0 0 ½ 0 1 1 0 ½ * 0  3

10 Lékó    ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 1 *  3

 

WORLD CORRESPONDENCE FINAL 15

Qualification for the fifteenth world championship of the ICCF (International Correspondence Chess Federation) had started in 1984. The final round began eight years later on i xi 1996. Gert Jan Timmerman (1956) got a wild card. Seventeen players kicked off. A Russian participant died the next year. The time limit per game was ten moves in thirty days, excluding the postal periods. Games by the seven best players have been analysed. 

Gert Jan Timmerman

Nowadays super tournaments have a higher level in correspondence than in over-the-board chess. During the analyses of the selected games, I discovered a newer chess than Kasparov’s approach. Tactical breakdowns are ruled out. Positional edges are collected until an unstoppable train leads to additional advantages and the final station. Timmerman became world champion, Van Oosterom second, Poulsen third and Gottardi fourth. 

15th WCh 1996-2002

                1 2 3 4 5 6 7   Others

1 Timmerman     * 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 4   8   12   I

2 van Oosterom  0 * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 3½  7½  11   II

3 Poulsen       0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 3½  7½  11   III

4 Gottardi      ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 3   8   11   IV

5 Maes          ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 3   7½  10½

6 Barlow        ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ 2   8   10

7 Finocchiaro   ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * 2   8   10

 

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