Amsterdam Mosquitoes presents their team
Amsterdam Mosquitoes is the nickname under which a team from the Dutch chess club Kennemer Combinatie will participate in the PRO Chess League. Kennemer Combinatie is the reigning champion of The Netherlands. They have also won the Dutch team Cup - a knock-out competition for teams consisting of 4 players - twice. In the first season of the PRO Chess League the Mosquitoes qualified for the knock-out phase but were eliminated in the first round by the London Towers after a very tight encounter.
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GM Loek van Wely - 2656 |
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Loek (45) is both the highest rated and most experienced member of the squad. He is also the only professional player. Loek's chess achievements are impressive. He is reigning Dutch champion and has won the national championship an amazing 8 times in total, became European Champion with the Dutch national team twice (2001 and 2005), reached the quarter final of the Fide World Championship (1997) and was ranked number 10 in the world (2001). |
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GM Jan Smeets – 2608 |
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Jan (32) is the Mosquitoes guest star: he is the only player who does not represent the Kennemer Combinatie in the Dutch national league. He became Dutch champion twice (2008 and 2010), won the Dutch Open championship (2012) and became shared second in the European individual championship (2012). He also was one of Topalov seconds in the 2010 World Championship match against Anand. In 2013 he quit professional chess to start a business career as prop trader. Currently he is still active in the Bundesliga and Dutch team championship. |
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GM Wouter Spoelman – 2578 |
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From young age it was clear that Wouter (27) has a great talent for the game. He became Dutch national youth champion in several age categories. The most impressive of these may be becoming U21 champion at age 16 with 8.5/9 in 2007. Two years later he obtained the grandmaster title. In recent years he achieved his most notable results at the Dutch national championship. In 2013 he tied for first place despite being the lowest rated participant, but lost the tie-break. In 2014 he was the sole leader going into the final round when a loss cost him the title. In 2016 Wouter obtained his MSc in medicine and he is now working as doctor in the emergency room. |
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GM David Klein – 2501 |
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David (24) is one of the truly local players and has been a member of Kennemer Combinatie from a young age. After high school he took a gap year to focus on his chess. This brought him big successes. He gained almost 100 rating points, obtained the IM title and two GM norms. The European Chess Championship 2012 was perhaps his finest chess moment, where he started with 4.5/8 against merely GMs with wins over Saric and Sulskis. After becoming Grandmaster in 2014 David has put chess somewhat on the back burner, although he remains active in the Dutch Team Championship and plays the occasional tournament. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Chemistry at the Leiden University. |
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IM Quinten Ducarmon – 2472 |
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Quinten (23) joined Kennemer Combinatie several years ago despite living on the opposite side of The Netherlands. He achieved the international master title in 2013. In the same year, he also won the prestigious open tournament in Zeeland. In 2014 he achieved his first GM norm at International Open de Sants in Barcelona beating among other GM Granda Zuniga. Quinten is very ambitious in both his chess and professional career. After obtaining his BSc at the University College Roosevelt Cum Laude he is now pursuing a PhD at the Leiden University Medical Center. |
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IM Miguoël Admiraal - 2453 |
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Miguoël (23) was always considered a huge chess talent, but his chess career really gained momentum in 2015. He gained 100 rating points and obtained the IM title after norms in Vlissingen and Barcelona. The latter was most impressive as he needed only 8 rounds to secure his final norm with among others a win over GM Nijboer and draw against GM Potkin. Miguoël also qualified for the challenger group of the famous Tata tournament in 2016 by winning the top amateur group the year before. With 5/13 and an impressive victory over GM Sam Sevian he held his own. Miguoël is currently studying Econometrics at the University of Amsterdam. |
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IM Christov Kleijn – 2442 |
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Christov (26) joined Kennemer Combinatie several years ago and has been almost invincible since. His last loss in team events dates back from November 2013 after which he manages to remain undefeated for 35 consecutive games (+20=15). In 2010 Christov became IM by breaking the 2400-boundary in the Batavia Master Tournament which he managed to win. The last couple years he has been less active on the 64 squares, but completed his study in Econometrics. He is currently working as a financial risk manager at Achmea: one of the largest financial service providers of The Netherlands. |
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IM Ali Bitalzadeh – 2390 |
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Ali (28) obtained his IM title in royal style by winning the Open Dutch Championship of 2008. His 7.5/9 was good for a 2745 performance rating and a GM norm. In 2010 he won the Nooteboom Tournament with 5.5/6 beating among others GM Meijers. Ali is a very dangerous opponent for any chess player which is illustrated by his win over GM Erwin l’Ami in 2011 and draw against GM Vachier-Lagrave in 2008. Ali holds a MSc in Accounting and Control and is working as an accountancy consultant. |
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FM Ilias van der Lende – 2332 |
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Although Ilias (23) grew up near the club he only joined the team last year. Before that he remained loyal to the first club from the small town of Santpoort. He obtained the FM title in 2015 and has been rated 2300+ since. In 2017 he achieved two IM norms. Especially the latter was impressive: his 6.5/9 against 4 IMs and 3 GMs in the Bethune chess tournament was just a half point shy of a GM norm. |
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FM Jasel Lopez – 2316 |
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Jasel (23) is the higher rated player from Aruba and has represented his federation in the 2010 chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk. He joined the Kennemer Combinatie last year and has shown spectacular performance since with a score of 12/16. His 1.5/2 against strong opposition was an important contribution to winning the Dutch cup final last year. |
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FM Lennart Dek – 2279 |
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Lennart (31) is the player/manager in the team with an emphasis on the latter. He has been a member of the club for quite some time and helped the first team to climb from the second division to the top league. Last year his rating briefly broke the 2300-boundary which secured him the FM title. Lennart is the third econometrician of the team and works for the Dutch bank ABN AMRO. |
