Harold van der Heijden

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Harold van der Heijden (front) in March 2007

Harold van der Heijden (born December 18, 1960 in Veghel ) is a Dutch collector of endgames and studies , editor, chess organizer and chess composer .

Study collection

Harold van der Heijden has built up one of the largest collections of chess studies in cooperation with numerous other college friends over the past few decades. In contrast to previous collections in the form of card files, his collection has existed from the beginning as a database with possible uses through chess programs . When it was published in 1990, 2000 and 2005 it was made available to a wide range of experts and laypeople all over the world, and it contributes greatly to the further popularization of chess studies. The 4th edition of the database (October 2, 2010) contains 76,132 studies, the data are in PGN format .

In addition to collecting, van der Heijden is very active in the Alexander Rueb Vereiniging voor Schaakeindspelstudies ( ARVES ), was the last editor-in-chief of EBUR and has now taken over this position in EG .

Chess composition

In 2001 Harold van der Heijden was appointed International Chess Composition Referee . As tournament director for studies, he has recently ensured rapid processing of the FIDE album thanks to the consistent use of electronic aids and has been repeatedly appointed to this task in the studies department.

After initially having published three studies by him in 1981, van der Heijden has been composing endgame studies since the 1990s and can refer to a number of successes. The following study is a throwback to a very well-known study by Szaja Kozłowski . In the latter, the king is on f3, both together form a twin. The solution there is 1. Rg7 +! Kxh8 2nd Rh7 + Kg8 3rd g7! with a win (1. Be5? fxg6 +!). In the study by Harold van der Heijden this fails on 3.… Re8 +.

Harold van der Heijden
EBUR, 2002
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White to move wins

Template: checkerboard / maintenance / new


Solution:

1. Bh8 – e5! f7xg6
2nd Rh7 – g7 + Kg8 – h8
3rd Ke3 – e4! g6 – g5
4. Ke4 – d5 g5 – g4
5. Kd5 – e6 g4 – g3
6. Be5 – f6 g3 – g2
7. Ke6 – f5 g2 – g1D
8. Rg7xg1 + Kh8 – h7
9. Rg1 – h1 + Kh7 – g8
10 Kf5 – g6 plus mate

Private

Harold van der Heijden is married. The marriage resulted in two sons. He received his PhD from Utrecht University in 2009 and works as a research analyst in veterinary medicine .

Works

Study database:

  • Harold van der Heijden: Diskettes (study collection), 1990 (more than 23,000 studies)
  • Harold van der Heijden: CD Endgame Study Database 2000 . ChessBase 2000
  • Harold van der Heijden: CD hhdbiii . Self-published. 2005
  • Harold van der Heijden: HHdbIV . Self-published. October 2, 2010

Books:

  • Harold van der Heijden: Pawn Promotion to Bishop or Rook in the Endgame Study. New in Chess, Alkmaar ISBN 90-5691-005-1
  • Harrie Grondijs; Harold van der Heijden: Inleiding tot de Eindspelstudie. RUEB, Rijswijk, 2008.

Individual evidence

  1. chessbase.de: Largest study collection in the world . September 27, 2010, accessed September 28, 2010
  2. International referees for chess compositions (studies)

Web links