Olympiad Spotlight: Netherlands
The Olympics is over and the world will now focus its full attention on the main event - the Chess Olympiad!
If one team could truly be described as the Chessable team, it would be the Netherlands. The Dutch connection at Chessable is very strong, as the entire Open team is composed of published authors. We can also boast that the reigning Dutch Women’s Champion is our very own VP of Content, WFM Maaike Keetman. We also have Geert. Everyone knows Geert.
The Netherlands are the 4th seeds at this year’s Olympiad and will be ambitious about their medal chances. Led by the fearless GM Anish Giri on board 1, they sport an average rating of 2687 and will be a tough prospect for any team. The women’s team are the 18th seeds and feature 18-year-old IM Eline Roebers, who has already taken down many strong grandmasters.
Additionally, veteran Dutch GMs Ivan Sokolov and Loek van Wely will be captaining the Romanian and Italian teams respectively. Sokolov will be looking to build on his success in 2022, after captaining Uzbekistan to the gold medal.
So who are the powerhouses behind Dutch chess?
Well, we’re contractually obliged to mention Anish first, front, up top and center - and make sure you know how great he is. He isn’t forcing us to write this.
GM Anish Giri
This will be Anish’s 7th Olympiad for the Dutch team. He’s collected 3 individual bronze medals along the way, twice on board 1. He has scored a massive 23 wins, 24 draws and just 2 losses in this event, setting the standard that the rest of the team have to keep up with. If Anish performs the way he usually does, the team will have a great chance at a medal.
In his spare time, he has published 7 Chessable courses, covering a Complete 1. e4 Repertoire, the Grünfeld against d4 and 3 entirely different responses to e4 (for some reason).
IM Eline Roebers
This is her 2nd Olympiad, after leading the Dutch women on board 1 in 2022, where she picked up a silver medal with a 2532 performance. Since then, she has picked up wins against GMs Erwin l’Ami, Mustafa Yilmaz and even Hans Niemann - earning her a reputation as a truly fearsome attacking player.
GM Erwin L’Ami
Earlier this year, Erwin revealed that he had been battling Hodgkin’s disease, a form of cancer. Despite this, he defied the odds to become Dutch Champion for the first time, showing incredible resilience. Erwin has published 5 Chessable courses, including a full video version of Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual. And if you haven’t tried his courses yet, the chances are you’ve already studied one that was edited by his wife, IM Alina L’Ami, who works as a content editor at Chessable.
Check out this emotional interview with GM Erwin L’Ami, where he opens up about his recent health problems.
GM Jorden van Foreest
he ultra-creative super GM will play board 2 again this year. The youngest ever Dutch grandmaster has a peak rating of over 2700. His work as a second for both Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen makes him respected as a theoretician who always plays for a win. He comes from the van Van Foreest dynasty of chess players - his great-great grandfather and great-great uncle were Dutch champions. The tradition continues to this day, with his younger brother Lucas and younger sister Machteld both winning the Dutch championship.
His Lifetime Repertoires: Tarrasch Defense course epitomizes his style - it’s the perfect way to play ambitiously with the black pieces.
GM Ivan Sokolov
Supercoach Sokolov is a former 2700 player in his own right, spending decades battling against the world’s elite. He’s responsible for one of the best chess interviews of all time.
Nowadays, he’s better known as a trainer - working for the European Chess Union to create their Advanced Syllabus and leading the young Uzbek team to gold in the 2022 Olympiad. This year he’s back as the captain of Romania, hoping to repeat that incredible performance in Chennai.
If you’re looking to put serious work into your game, then his acclaimed Winning Chess Middlegames course is one of the best ways to give yourself a boost.
Stijn van Gestel
Stijn isn’t a grandmaster and he isn’t playing at the Olympiad (yet) - but he’s responsible for making sure Chessable courses have great audio, so you’ve probably benefited from his work!
He hasn’t published any courses of his own, but if he did, we can assure you that they would sound perfect.
There are too many to mention here but all courses by Dutch authors are currently on sale - including courses by GM Max Warmerdam, GM Jan Timman, GM Benjamin Bok and IM Sopiko Guramishvili - check out the full sale here.
Good luck to the Dutch teams!
