By Lubosh Kavalek, Chess Life 1979/09

The organizers in the Netherlands never seem to run out of inspiration. Four years ago they held two world-class tournaments: Hoogovens in Wijk aan Zee and IBM in Amsterdam. In 1977 the Interpolis company organized its first tournament, involving mostly top players, in Tilburg, and this tournament has become traditional.

In 1976, when Professor Max Euwe celebrated his 75th birthday in Amsterdam, many chess celebrities came there to pay tribute to the former world champion, who was at that time the president of FIDE. The Euwe Committee, together with the sponsor “Litterair Cafe op Tournee,” decided then to organize the first Euwe Vierkamp, a four-man tournament, intending to make it an annual event. The participants — Karpov, Browne, Fridrik Olafsson and Timman — played a double-round-robin tournament, FIDE category 14, average rating 2595. Karpov won it with 4 points in 6 games; Browne scored 3, while Olafsson and Timman made 2½ each. The tournament produced fighting chess, the games averaging 36.4 moves.

But something happened with the sponsor, and the annual character of the event disappeared. It was not until the “Man and His World Chess Challenge Cup” in Montreal was about to start that I heard that new sponsors were interested in staging the four-man tournament in May or June of this year. Finally the date was set and the players invited, but the name of the tournament presented a problem: although the Euwe Committee wanted to call it the Euwe Vierkamp, the sponsors — the Kats building company and Rabobank — wanted their names up front and called it the Kats Grootmeester Vierkamp in Honor of Professor Dr. Max Euwe. In the press, however, the name Euwe Vierkamp prevailed.

Before the tournament started, nobody knew how it would end. There were several predictions. Timman, who could not take part because he was playing in the Vidmar Memorial in Bled-Portoroz, predicted a very boring tournament. He could not imagine that Hort, Sosonko and I would beat one another, and he thought the public would see many short draws. Donner predicted that I would definitely be last, “with 1½, maybe 2 points.” He explained that the worst chess was played in such short double-round-robin tournaments.

In Uitgeest 1970, he had finished second to Spassky but ahead of Botvinnik and Larsen. “There were many blunders, and everybody played below his strength. The same thing happened in Amsterdam 1976, with the exception of Karpov. In Waddinxveen, even if Karpov plays badly, he can still turn in a pretty good result; Hort and Sosonko will not lose many games by bad play — but if you play badly, that’s it.”

For the first time in Dutch chess history, a tournament was opened by the Prime Minister. Van Agt had been known to open bicycle races and soccer matches, but in the small city hall in Waddinxveen, in front of Dr. Euwe, the ambassador from each player’s country, Mayor Smallenbroek and many chess fans, the Prime Minister made history with a knowledgeable speech on chess.

The drawing of lots was done with Remy Martin cognac bottles. We lived in one of the most prestigious hotels in The Hague — Des Indes — and on playing days we were driven the 15 miles to the Waddinxveen city hall in a chauffeured limousine.

It turned out that the games were not so boring. The average number of moves per game was 33, and unlike the 1976 Euwe Vierkamp, the draws did not go below 20 moves. Nor did the spectators object to draws.

Max Euwe was pleased by the quality of the games. Now 78 years of age, he still follows the game with a sharp eye.

The tournament was a success from the organizational point of view, and the sponsors indicated that they would love to do it again.