| Jun-01-13 | | thomastonk: Alex Vinken is another remarkable Dutch player. He was successful already in the middle of the 1930s in Limburg, the southernmost area of the Netherlands. One highlight is definitely his draw with former world champion Euwe in 1946, but that's not all. In an obituary from 1983 I found the hint that he originated a "Vinkensysteem" (Vinken system), and already in 1942 a newspaper reportet that he played a game with his own system. Vinken died 30 years ago, and his chess club "De Kerkraadse Schaak Vereniging" has hosted a tournament to his honour every year since then. The next one will be held in three weeks from now (http://www.svkerkrade.nl/avt2013.html), and for the first time I am going to join it and try to find out more about the man and his system. |
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| Jun-03-13 | | thomastonk: The Kamstra Cup (Kamstra bekker) in 1942 was a 8 player event. The "Limburger Koerier" reports on July 9, that the following game is the first one between Vinken and the former world champion. Moreover, the unusual "Adam-variant" had been played they say. The game is copied from "Limburgsch dagblad" of July 10. [Event "Kamstra-Beker"]
[Site "Rotterdam"]
[Date "1942.07.08"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Vinken, Alex"]
[Black "Euwe, Max"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C81"]
[PlyCount "58"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. Qe2 Be7 10. c4 Nc5 11. cxd5 Nxb3 12. dxe6 Nxa1 13. Qe4 Nb4 14. exf7+ Kxf7 15. Qf5+ Ke8 16. Ng5 Rf8 17. Qxh7 Qd3 18. Ne4 Qd5 19. Bd2 Nac2 20. a3 Nc6 21. Qg6+ Kd7 22. Nec3 Qb3 23. e6+ Kc8 24. Qe4 Kb7 25. Bc1 N2d4 26. Nd5 Qc2 27. Nbc3 Qxe4 28. Nxe4 Nxe6 29. Bd2 Nc5 0-1 White's tenth move 10.c4?! is quite unusual, and indeed it has been introduced by E Adam in a correspondence game against Harald Malmgren in 1939. Malmgren played the best reply 10.. bxc4 and the game ended drawn after 35 moves. But Malmgren was so impressed that he tried 10.c4?! as White in a correspondence game with Hilding Brynhammar in 1940 (1-0, 31 moves). Euwe's 10.. ♘c5 is not good, but 11.. ♘xb3? is typical Euwe style. He takes a rook on a1 and hopes that his king will survive. 
click for larger view Here Vinken could have got an advantage by 15.♘c3, because Black has many problems on both sides. Instead he played 15.♕f5+, which should give him a draw by perpetual after 15.. ♔g8, but Euwe played 15.. ♔e8?! after which 16.e6! would have been much better than the text. An interesting opening choice (and prepared as we can assume), which gave Vinken good chances. |
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| Jun-19-13 | | thomastonk: Happy Birthday! |
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| Jun-19-13 | | Gejewe: <thomastonk>
Just noticed your post. In the Netherlands, the Vinken-system is 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4.. , what is called Grand-Prix attack elsewhere. I have seen the veteran Alex Vinken play in the GESS jubilee tournament in 1977. When you visit this memorial tournament you should ask for this book : "Allemaal schaken" , 2004, written by Frank Clevers, Josef Stupp, & Frits Esser A big book, 541 pages, consisting of two parts :
- Biography of Alex Vinken
- Chesscolumns 1996-2004 from "Dagblad de Limburger"
The Vinken part runs from page 13 to 168, with text, games and pictures ( and I just noticed a game with Emile Mulder - you have been posting on his page as well ). |
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| Jun-19-13 | | thomastonk: <Gejewe> Thank you very much for this wonderful hint. It would have been such a pity, if I had learnd about the existence of this book after the tournament! |
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| Jun-19-13 | | DoctorD: I would be interested in this book, especially if the chess columns include composed chess problems, whether original or reprints. Any way to get it? |
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| Jun-22-13 | | Gejewe: <DoctorD> The chesscolumns are oriented on local chess news and local players for the biggest part. After a few minutes of flipping through I still have to find the first composed chess problem.. If you are nevertheless interested in the book (it is interesting in my opinion) there might still be a chance to find it . When I remember this rightly I bought it from Frank Clevers directly, but no recollection of where I found the contact information. |
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| Jun-22-13 | | thomastonk: It seems that a lot of material is online available at the page of the Limburgse Schaakbond (http://www.lisb.nl/). The archive (Archief) contains very interesting sections. E.g., there is a potpourri (Allerlei), or Frank Clever's book on 75 years Limburgse Schaakbond, and two sections with newspaper columns, one of them - as it seems as first sight - with Clever's columns from 1996 until today. The book contains a brief portrait on Alex Vinken. Great site! Since Frank Clever is the president of this association, his contact information is available, too. |
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| Jun-24-13 | | thomastonk: Frank Clever let me know that the book "Allemaal schaken" is sold out. The tournament yesterday was quite nice, though I only kibitzed. Before round 3, Vinken's son gave a short speech and expressed the family's gratitude. |
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| Jun-19-15 | | thomastonk: In honour of the occasion (his birthday) I would like to point to the next edition of the <Alex Vinken tournament> on next Sunday: http://www.svkerkrade.nl/avt2015.html . After a break of two years, I'll be there. |
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Kibitzing
