Loek van Wely (born 7 October 1972) is a Dutch chess player and politician. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1993, and was rated among the world's top ten in 2001 with a rating of 2714. In March 2019, he was elected to the Dutch Senate for the right-wing Forum for Democracy;[1] however, on 8 December 2020 he switched his party allegiance to the van Pareren group,[2] which is now affiliated with the right-wing JA21 party.

Loek van Wely
Loek van Wely at the 2022 European Corporate Chess Championship
CountryNetherlands
Born (1972-10-07) 7 October 1972 (age 51)
Heesch, Netherlands
TitleGrandmaster (1993)
FIDE rating2618 (March 2024)
Peak rating2714 (October 2001)
Peak rankingNo. 10 (October 2001)

Chess career edit

He has won the Dutch Chess Championship on eight occasions: six consecutive times from 2000 through 2005, in 2014 and in 2017.

In 2002, in Maastricht, Netherlands, van Wely took on the computer program Rebel in a four-game match, scoring 2/4 (+2–2=0). In 2005, he led the Dutch team to victory at the European Team Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Van Wely participated in the elite tournament held in Wijk aan Zee (originally named Hoogovens, then Corus, now Tata Steel) 25 times, consecutively from 1992 to 2010[3] and again from 2012 to 2017. His best result occurred in 2003, when he shared fourth place with Alexei Shirov, Alexander Grischuk, Vassily Ivanchuk and Vladimir Kramnik scoring 7 out of 13 points.

In May 2010, van Wely won the 14th Chicago Open.[4] In 2011, he came in first at Berkeley International tournament in Berkeley.[5] In 2016, he won the Hogeschool Zeeland tournament scoring 8 points from 9 games.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ "Baudets vertrouwelingen belanden in Eerste Kamer". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). 2019-03-21.
  2. ^ Senator Van Wely keert FvD de rug toe en sluit zich aan bij fractie-Van Pareren, parlement.com, 8 december 2020
  3. ^ Greengard, Michael (18 January 2010). "GM Peter Svidler's Game Of the Day". Internet Chess Club. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  4. ^ "Loek van Wely wins Chicago Open (UPDATE: Interview)". ChessVibes.com. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  5. ^ "2011 Berkeley International". Chess-Results.com. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  6. ^ "20th Hogeschool Zeeland Tournament 2016". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 2019-04-27.

External links edit