Jhr. (female equivalent: ; french: Écuyer; en, Squire) is an honorific in the Low Countries denoting the lowest rank within the nobility. In the Netherlands, this in general concerns a prefix used by the untitled nobility. In Belgium, this is ...

Lucas van Foreest (born 3 March 2001) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. He won the

Dutch Chess Championship The Dutch Chess Championship was officially established in 1909, although unofficial champions stretch back to the 1870s. Early years : Official championships The official championship was established in 1909 as a biennial, twelve-player, round-ro ...

in 2019. Van Foreest earned the

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combinatio ...

title in 2016 and was awarded the Grandmaster title in 2018, at age 17. A member of the

Van Foreest Van Foreest is the name of an aristocratic family that most probably originates from the region of Aachen, Germany, but is already found in the County of Holland in the 13th century. The family was already noble from earliest times (" Uradel"). ...

family, his brother Jorden won the

in 2016, and both his great-great grandfather

Arnold Arnold may refer to: People * Arnold (given name), a masculine given name * Arnold (surname), a German and English surname Places Australia * Arnold, Victoria, a small town in the Australian state of Victoria Canada * Arnold, Nova Scotia Uni ...

and great-great granduncle

Dirk A dirk is a long bladed thrusting dagger.Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), ''Dagger'', The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. VII, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (1910), p. 729 Historically, it gained its name from the Highland Dirk (Scot ...

were three-time Dutch Champions.

Chess career

Van Foreest started playing

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

aged "around six, seven". He achieved his first

(IM)

norm Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the envir ...

at the Dutch Team Competition, from September to October 2015. He scored 7/9, which was enough for both the IM norm and Grandmaster (GM) norm. He achieved his second IM norm at the Amsterdam Chess Tournament in July 2016, and his third IM norm at the Hoogeveen Open in October 2016. In January 2017, he won the top amateur group at the

Tata Steel Chess Tournament The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Ste ...

, thus qualifying for the Tata Steel Challengers in 2018. He achieved his second GM norm at the 9th Batavia Chess Tournament in March 2017. He shared first with Bobby Cheng on 6½/9 (+6–2=1), finishing second on tiebreak. He won the Bruges Masters in August 2017. Van Foreest competed in the Tata Steel Challengers in January 2018, placing eleventh with a score 5½/13 (+3–5=5). He competed at the Open Dutch Championship, held from 24 July to 2 August. He shared first with

Erwin l'Ami Erwin l'Ami (born 5 April 1985 in Woerden) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. Early years l'Ami learned to play chess at the age of five, when his father introduced him to the moves and then took him to the local chess club. Chess career At Gausd ...

and Erik van den Doel on 7/9, achieving his third GM norm in the process. He was awarded the GM title by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

in October 2018. , Van Foreest is a student of

Sergei Tiviakov Sergei Tiviakov (russian: Серге́й Тивяков; born 14 February 1973) is a Russian–Dutch chess grandmaster. He is a three-time Dutch Champion and was European Champion in 2008. Chess career Tiviakov won the World Under-18 Champion ...

. Van Foreest competed in the Tata Steel Challengers again in January 2019, scoring 6/13 (+2–3=8) for a ninth-place finish. In March, he participated in the

European Individual Chess Championship The European Individual Chess Championship is a chess tournament organised by the European Chess Union. It was established in 2000 and has since then taken place on a yearly basis. Apart from determining the European champions (open and women's), ...

. He placed 60th with 6½/11 (+5–3=3) for a of 2634. In July, Van Foreest won the

. He tied for first with 5/7 (+3–0=4), and defeated his elder brother Jorden on tiebreak to win the title.

Personal life

Born in

Hengelo Hengelo (; Tweants: ) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel. The city lies along the motorways A1/E30 and A35 and it has a station for the international Amsterdam – Hannover – Berlin service. Pop ...

on 3 March 2001, Van Foreest comes from the noble

family and has the honorific of ''

jonkheer (female equivalent: ; french: Écuyer; en, Squire) is an honorific in the Low Countries denoting the lowest rank within the nobility. In the Netherlands, this in general concerns a prefix used by the untitled nobility. In Belgium, this is the ...

''. He is the great-great grandson of

Arnold van Foreest Arnold Engelinus van Foreest (29 June 1863 – 24 June 1954) was a Dutch chess master. The younger brother of Dirk van Foreest, he thrice won Dutch Championship. He is the great-great grandfather of the siblings Jorden van Foreest, the 2016 D ...

and great-great grandnephew of

Dirk van Foreest Dirk van Foreest (3 May 1862 – 24 February 1956) was a Dutch chess master. The elder brother of Arnold van Foreest, he thrice won Dutch Championship (in 1885, 1886, and 1887). He also took fifth place in 1884 and took second place, behind Ru ...

. Both Arnold and Dirk were three-time Dutch Chess Champions (Arnold: 1889, 1893, 1902; Dirk: 1885, 1886, 1887). Lucas has four brothers and one sister. His eldest brother, Jorden (born 1999), became the youngest chess grandmaster in Dutch history at the age of 16, and won the Dutch Chess Championship at age 17 in 2016. His sister, Machteld (born 2007), won the Dutch Girls' U10 Championship at the age of 6 and shared second place in the Dutch Girls' U20 Championship when she was 9. In 2017, she became the first girl ever to win the Dutch U12 Championship.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Foreest, Lucas van 2001 births Living people Chess grandmasters Dutch chess players Jonkheers of the Netherlands Sportspeople from Hengelo Van Foreest family