Dutch Club Wageningen Announces Team To Play Kenya

Wageningen Chess Club have announced a strong line up against the Kenya Simbas in this historic event that is scheduled for 3rd October 2009.

The players are:

Board 1:

Grand Master Jan Timman - He is the former world number 2 and played a match with Anatoly Karpov for the FIDE World Title. Timman won the Dutch Championship nine times. He has for the past two years he played for Wageningen in the National League.

Board 2:

International Master Yochanan Afek – Mr Afek is from Israel and has lived in Holland for a number of years. Afek is a famous endgame composer. He trains a number of chess clubs in Holland and for Wageningen he is both trainer and player.

Board 3:

Chess Master Sander van Eijk - A young and attacking player. Last year he scored his first IM norm. After being a chess professional for one year, he now restarted his studies in Law.

Board 4:

Fred Jonker - A very tactical player. Six years ago he became regional champion and thus played in the semi-final of the Dutch Championships. Jonker works at Wageningen University.

Board 5:

Erwin Oorebeek - A player with a good knowledge of the opening. Oorebeek is a strong correspondence chess player.

Board 6:

To be announced later. There is a high possibility that this place will be taken by Eric Smaling who lived in Kenya in the 1990s and is now a member of Parliament.

The Kenya Simbas line is expected to be announced tomorrow

Safaricom are the main sponsors and are proud to be associated with this historic event that comes a few weeks after the landing of the fibre optic cable in Mombasa. The central technological platform of this event will be Safaricom's 3G mobile internet connection.

The interface is the popular site www.playchess.com which will enable chess enthusiasts to follow the game wherever they are in the world! It is also most likely that there will be a live commentary, which can be read online as the games are being played.