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Blokarting on the Tata rest day

PeterDoggers
| 0 | Chess Event Coverage
Blokarting on the Tata rest dayHow does a chess player spend his rest day? In Wijk aan Zee there's not too much to do, and so most of the Tata participants indeed didn't do much but relax on Thursday. Some dare devils, however, accepted an invitation to a blokarting event on the beach nearby - and had great fun. A photo report.

You might remember Dutch WIM Arlette van Weersel, who won the Women's Invitational tournament during the London Chess Classic last month. Arlette happens to work for event company Summit Sports in Wijk aan Zee, not connected to the chess tournament. One and one is two, she thought a while back, and during the last rest day she organized a blokarting event for all participants in the A, B and C groups.

Blokarting is a form of land sailing, and usually takes place on the beach. A blokart is a wind-powered, one-person vehicle with three wheels and a sail. You steer with one hand, and handle the sail with a rope in the other. The trick is to pull the rope tight for making speed, and loosen it when you need to go slower.

Unfortunately not many chess players showed up. Among the dare devils present were GMs Anish Giri, Mark Bluvshtein and Sebastian Siebrecht and IMs Robin van Kampen, Roeland Pruijssers, and Tania Sachdev. They can assure you blokarting is great fun, so maybe Arlette should simply repeat the event next year, and use them as ambassadors...

Blokarting on the Tata rest day

Let the fun begin...



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

GM Mark Bluvshtein from Canada taking a seat...



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

...and Tania Sachdev trying as well



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

Isn't that a wonderful sight?



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

IM Roeland Pruijssers having a go, with the smoke of the Tata steel ovens behind him



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

The venue: Wijk aan Zee beach



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

Action alert - someone tipped over!



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

But with a bit of help you just continue



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

Sometimes the wind wouldn't cooperate...



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

and then you get stuck, like Anish Giri here



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

Sachdev: "Oh my god, I'm not moving!!"



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

Four strong GMs watching: Ian Nepomniachtchi, his second Vladimir Potkin, Jan Smeets and his second Jan Gustafsson



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

A Russian TV crew joined the fun...



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

...and Alina and Erwin l'Ami said hello too



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

Organizer Arlette van Weersel helping Tania Sachdev to make more speed



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

Pruijssers was improving fast



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

Back to preparation mode for Ian and Vladimir



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

Vladimir Chuchelov and Tania Sachdev interviewed



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

The best chess player in the kart was Sebastian Siebrecht, but he paid the price: getting quite wet and dirty



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

Anish Giri needed a shower too, but had a good time



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

Two more scenery pics to finish with...



Blokarting on the Tata rest day

...surely more players will come next year, won't they?

PeterDoggers
Peter Doggers

Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms.

Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools.

Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013.

As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”

In October, Peter's first book The Chess Revolution will be published!


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