Loek van Wely
{{Short description|Dutch chess grandmaster and politician (born 1972)}}
{{family name hatnote|van Wely|Wely|lang=Dutch}}
{{Infobox chess biography
| name = Loek van Wely
| image = Loek van Wely 2022 (52157330498) (cropped).jpg
| caption = Loek van Wely at the 2022 European Corporate Chess Championship
| country = Netherlands
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1972|10|7|df=y}}
| birth_place = Heesch, Netherlands
| death_date =
| death_place =
|title = Grandmaster (1993)
| worldchampion =
| rating =
| peakrating = 2714 (October 2001)
| peakranking = No. 10 (October 2001)
| FideID = 1000268
}}
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;[https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/baudets-echte-vertrouwelingen-belanden-in-eerste-kamer~bbf9fbcc/ "Baudets vertrouwelingen belanden in Eerste Kamer"]. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). 2019-03-21. however, on 8 December 2020 he switched his party allegiance to the van Pareren group,[https://www.parlement.com/id/vlefkecogdw9/nieuws/senator_van_wely_keert_fvd_de_rug_toe_en Senator Van Wely keert FvD de rug toe en sluit zich aan bij fractie-Van Pareren], parlement.com, 8 december 2020 which is now affiliated with the right-wing JA21 party.
Chess career
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{{cite web|url=http://webcast.chessclub.com/Corus10/Round3/GOTD.html|title=GM Peter Svidler's Game Of the Day|last=Greengard|first=Michael|authorlink=Mig Greengard|date=18 January 2010|publisher=Internet Chess Club|accessdate=25 January 2010}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/loek-van-wely-wins-chicago-open-update-interview|title=Loek van Wely wins Chicago Open (UPDATE: Interview)|publisher=ChessVibes.com|accessdate=21 January 2014}} In 2011, he came in first at Berkeley International tournament in Berkeley.{{cite web|url=http://chess-results.com/tnr44276.aspx?art=1&lan=1|title=2011 Berkeley International|publisher=Chess-Results.com|accessdate=19 February 2012}} In 2016, he won the Hogeschool Zeeland tournament scoring 8 points from 9 games.{{Cite web|url=https://theweekinchess.com/chessnews/events/20th-hogeschool-zeeland-tournament-2016|title=20th Hogeschool Zeeland Tournament 2016|website=The Week in Chess|access-date=2019-04-27}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{FIDE}}
- {{Chessgames.com player|11733}}
- {{365Chess.com player|Loek_Van_Wely|Loek van Wely}}
- {{Chess.com player|loek-van-wely|member=KingLoek}}
- {{OlimpBase player|pbd13xre}}
{{Dutch GMs}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wely, Loek Van}}
Category:Chess Olympiad competitors
Category:Members of the Senate (Netherlands)
Category:Sportspeople from North Brabant
Category:Dutch sportsperson-politicians
{{Netherlands-chess-bio-stub}}