Echesspedia

The Koninklijke Nederlandse Schaakbond was founded in May 1873 and was one of the co-founders of FIDE in 1924. Chess has been a long tradition in the country and with the achievement of Max Euwe as World Champion in 1935, the game reached such popularity that Netherlands became one of the leading West European countries before and after World War II.

The national team has participated in 36 Olympiads since 1927 and was crowned European Champion in 2001 and 2005.

Among the top international events organised in Holland were Scheveningen in 1913,  Zandvord in 1936, AVRO in 1938, the first part of the World Championships in 1948 and 1993, the Olympiad in 1954, the traditional Beverwijk and Wijk aan Zee, IBM Tournament, Tilburg, Ohra, Interpolis, Lost Boys Amsterdam, Euwe and Donner Memorials,  and finally, Groningen Chess Festival which hosted for nearly 20 years the European Junior Championships.

The best Dutch players includes Max Euwe, Jan Timman, Donner, Loek Van Wely, Ivan Sokolov, Sergei Tiviakov and Anish Giri.

In 2011, the Dutch chess federation listed 279 titled played including 25 IGMs and 76 IMs.

The national winning team at the 2005 European Team Championship with I. Sokolov, Van Wely, Van der Doel, Tiviakov, Hammers (captain) and Timman.

Created in 1873, the official championship was definitively established in 1909 as a biennial, twelve-player, round-robin tournament. In 1970, annual championships were instituted. In 1935 a championship for women was established. Peng Zhaoqin is the record-women with 11 titles.
The national champions were:

1873 G.W.B. Gifford, 1874 A. de Lelie, 1875 G.W.B. Gifford, 1876 J. de Vogel, 1877 A. P. Daniels,  1878 Marteen Van’t Kruijs,1879 C. Dupre, 1880 Henri Bird, 1881 Levi Benima, 1882 Christaan Messemaker, 1883 Levi Benima, 1884 Chritaan Messemaker, 1885 Van Foreest, 1886 Arnold Van Foreest, 1887 Arnold Van Foreest, 1888 Rudolf Loman, 1889 Arnold Van Foreest, 1890 Rudolf Loman, 1891 Rudolf Loman, 1892 R. Van den Berg, 1893 Arnold Van Foreest & Rudolf Loman, 1894 Rudolf Loman, 1895 Adolf Georg Olland, 1896 Bleijkmans, 1897 Rudolf Loman, 1898 Tresling, 1899 Henri Atkins, 1900 Gerard Oskam, 1901 Adolf Georg Olland, 1902 Arnold Van Foreest, 1903 Paul Saladin Leonhardt, 1904 Dirk Bleijkmans, 1905 Frank Marshall, 1906 Bernard Wolff Beffie, 1907 Jan Willem te Kolsté, 1908 Johannes Esser & Pope, 1909 Adolf Georg Olland, 1912 Rudolf Loman, 1913 Johannes Esser, 1919 Max Marchand, 1921 Max Euwe, 1924 Max Euwe, 1926 Max Euwe, 1929 Max Euwe, 1933 Max Euwe, 1936 Salo Landau, 1938 Max Euwe, 1939 Max Euwe, 1942 Max Euwe, 1947 Max Euwe, 1948 Max Euwe, 1950 Max Euwe, 1952 Max Euwe, 1954 Jan Hein Donner, 1955 Max Euwe, 1957 Jan Hein Donner, 1958 Jan Hein Donner, 1961 H. L. Tan, 1963 Frans Kuijpers, 1965 Prins, 1967 Hans Ree, 1969 Hans Ree, 1970 Eddy Scholl, 1971 Hans Ree, 1972 Koen Zuidema, 1973 Genna Sosonko, 1974 Jan Timman, 1975 Jan Timman, 1976 Jan Timman, 1977 Viktor Korchnoi, 1978 Jan Timman & Genna Sosonko, 1979 Gert Ligterink, 1980 Jan Timman, 1981 Jan Timman, 1982 Hans Ree, 1983 Jan Timman, 1984 John Van der Wiel, 1985 Paul Van der Sterren, 1986 John Van der Wiel, 1987 Jan Timman, 1988 Rudy Douven, 1989 Riny Kuijf, 1990 Jeroen Piket, 1991 Jeroen Piket, 1992 Jereon Piket, 1993 Paul Van der Sterren, 1994 Jeroen Piket, 1995 Ivan Sokolov, 1996 Timman, 1997 Predrag Nikolic, 1998 Ivan Sokolov, 1999 Pedrag Nikolic, 2000 Loek van Wely, 2001 Loek van Wely, 2002 Loek van Wely, 2003 Loek van Wely, 2004 Loek van Wely, 2005 Loek van Wely, 2006 Sergei Tiviakov, 2007 Sergei Tiviakov, 2008 Jan Smeets, 2009 Anish Giri, 2010 Jan Smeets, 2011 Anish Giri.

Euwe congratulating Donner after Hans‘s victory in the National Championship in 1954

The recordmen: Twelve titles for Max Euwe, nine titles for Jan Timman, six titles for Loek Van Wely, four titles for Hans Ree and Jeroen Piket.