Born on 7th October, 1972 in Heesch, Netherlands, Loek Van Wely is a Chess Grandmaster, having achieved the title from FIDE in 1993. His peak Elo rating was 2714 which was achieved in October of 2001, making him one of the best Dutch Chess players.
Last Updated: July 18, 2022
Full Name: Loek Van Wely
Title: Grandmaster
Born: October 7, 1972
Place of birth: Netherlands
Ratings
World ranking: 150
Rapid: 2520
Blitz: 2569
Classical: 2624
Profiles
Biography
Born on October 7, 1972, in the Netherlands, the Grandmaster is a Dutch legislator and chess player. In 1993, He was accorded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE, the title of International Master in 1990, and became recognized by FIDE as a FIDE Trainer in 2017. He was ranked in the top ten in the world in 2001 with a rating of 2714. He was accorded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE and was ranked in the top ten in the world. In 2001 he achieved a FIDE rating of 2714.
He was elected to the Dutch Senate in March 2019 for the party Forum for Democracy; however, on December 8, 2020, he changed parties to the van Pareren group, which is now attached to the JA21 party. He began playing chess at four and became known as one of the best talents in the Netherlands’ history.
He has grown significantly on the Elo ladder since being a Grandmaster in 1993; Van Wely reached a peak of 2714 and ranking among the top 10 in the globe in 2001. Loek won the Dutch national title six times in a row from 2000 to 2005.
His character as an unrelenting competitor with a ruthless will to triumph makes him a famous visitor in championships all across the globe. He currently has a FIDE rating of 2624 as of July 2022 and a Peak rating of 2614 as of October 2001.
Lorena Zepeda is Van Wely’s wife. He clinched the Dutch Tournaments for the eighth time in his career in 2017. Van Wely enjoys playing cards and has competed as a semi-pro. He has also served as a 2nd for top chess players like Vladimir Kramnik and Ruslan Ponomariov. In 2015, he went on to win the Dutch Lightning Tournament 2015, hosted in his native Tilburg, where he now resides with his wife.
The Beginning
Van Wely clinched the Dutch chess Tournament eight times, winning on six perpetual occasions (2000- 2005) and in 2014 & 2017. While in the Netherlands in 2002, he faced four times the computer program rebel competition winning two games of the possible four. He helped his country in attaining a win at the 2005 European Team tournament in Sweden. Furthermore, Van Wely competed at the Elite Championship on 25 occasions contested in Wijk ann Zee from 1992-2010 and 2012-2017.
In 2003, Van Wely achieved an outstanding performance when he tied for the 4th spot with Alexei Shirov, Alexander Grischuk, Vassily Ivanchuk, and Vladimir Kramnik, putting up a result of 7/13 points.
Van Wely triumphed at the 14th Chicago Open in 2010 and claimed the first position the following year at the Berk Berkeley International Championship. He emerged victorious at the Hogeschool Zeeland Championship by garnering 8 points in 9 games. In total, Van Wely has played 3749 matches. In those matches, he won 1519, drew 1360, and lost 870, leading to a winning score of 58.66 percent. Among the notable tournaments he managed to play in 2022 include; Coupe de France 2022 and the Bundesliga 2021-22 on three occasions.
Achievements
In 1998, he progressively moved to the top of Dutch chess, attaining the last 8 of the FIDE World tournaments. The Grandmaster clinched six straight Netherland Tournaments beginning 2000 to 2005 and leveled points in 2002 in a 4-game tournament against the 2002 computer program REBEL.
Van Wely claimed the eighth Dutch trophy (2014) and finished second to Giri Anish in 2015. In 1993, He was accorded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE (1993) and was ranked among the top ten in the world in 2001, with a FIDE rating of 2714. Other accomplishments include; finishing joint 2nd at the 2002 Rubinstein Memorial scoring 7.5/8 in Amsterdam, equivalent 4th-Corus (2003), beating Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov, and Evgeny Bareev.
Wely triumphed in the 2010 Chicago Open above twenty two Grandmasters and also dominated at the Berkeley International in 2011, defeating the top ten Grandmasters. Wely also won the 2013 Sydney International Open after defeating Chao Li.
Did you enjoy reading about Loek Van Wely? If you did, you might be interesting in reading other player profiles such as Ivan Sokolov, Ivan Cheparinov, and Lazaro Bruzón Batista.
Sources
- “Baudets vertrouwelingen belanden in Eerste Kamer”. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). 2019-03-21.
- Senator Van Wely keert FvD de rug toe en sluit zich aan bij fractie-Van Pareren, parlement.com, 8 december 2020
- Greengard, Michael (18 January 2010). “GM Peter Svidler’s Game Of the Day”. Internet Chess Club. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
- “Loek van Wely wins Chicago Open (UPDATE: Interview)”. ChessVibes.com. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
- “2011 Berkeley International”. Chess-Results.com. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
- “20th Hogeschool Zeeland Tournament 2016”. The Week in Chess. Retrieved 2019-04-27.