On Thursday July 16th 2015 the Leiden Chess Tournament will be officially opened by city council Paul Laudy at the City Hall Square in Leiden.
Tournament website/ LIVE games with analysis/ Standings and statistics
Starting at 19:00 pm, the opening event this year will be a match between 2014 Dutch champion GM Loek van Wely (King Loek) and British champion GM David Howell (King David). Both grandmasters are amongst the top world players. They will be playing two matches, while at the same time riding a “desk bicycle” to make true the well-known saying: “A healthy mind in a healthy body”.
The Worktrainer desk bikes have become especially known through exercise guru Prof. Eric Scherder (see picture at www.worktrainer.nl), to stimulate people to exercise more and keep a clear and healthy mind. Main sponsor and above average chess player Roel Piket from Adhoc & Solide Administratie & Advies will start the match by playing the first move.
One of Leiden’s grandmasters, John van der Wiel, will be the commentator during the match. Besides following the match and analysis, the spectators are more than welcome to participate in a simultaneous played game against NOSBO-champion Bert van der Marel from 19:00 pm till 21:00 pm.
On Friday July 17th the tournament will commence in the Leiden Mindsports Centre (Denksportcentrum Leiden) at Robijnstraat 4 in Leiden. At 18:45 pm the tournament starts by executing the first move by main sponsor Roel Piket on the topboard.
Preliminary list of players (top seeds):
1 GM Howell, David W L ENG M 2698
2 GM Postny, Evgeny ISR M 2642
3 GM Tiviakov, Sergei NED M 2639
4 GM Nikolic, Predrag BIH M 2601
5 GM Chatalbashev, Boris BUL M 2516
6 GM Petrov, Marian BUL M 2487
7 GM Milov, Leonid GER M 2462
8 IM Das, Arghyadip IND M 2457
9 Pijpers, Arthur NED M 2433
10 IM Van Delft, Merijn NED M 2428