Robin van Kampen (born 14 November 1994) is a Dutch
chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
grandmaster. At the age of 14, he won the Dutch U20 Championship. He achieved his grandmaster (GM) title at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 17 days. Van Kampen has represented the Netherlands at the 2013
European Team Chess Championship
The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...
, and at the
41st and
42nd Chess Olympiad
The 42nd Chess Olympiad (; also known as the Baku Chess Olympiad), organised by the FIDE, Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an openAlthough sometimes referred to as the "men's division", this section is open to all pl ...
. Van Kampen is a research analyst at Caption Partners in New York as of July 2020.
Chess career
Robin van Kampen was born in the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
in the city of
Blaricum
Blaricum () is a municipality and village in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. It is part of the region of Gooiland and part of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (Metropoolregio Amsterdam). It is known for ...
and brought up in
Bussum
Bussum () is a commuter town and former municipality in the Gooi region in the south east of the province of North Holland in the Netherlands near Hilversum. Since 2016, Bussum has been part of the new municipality of Gooise Meren.
Bussum had a ...
. He began playing chess at the age of seven and competing in club chess at the age of 8.
Dutch Youth Chess Championships
Robin van Kampen was Dutch youth champion for four consecutive years: in the under 12 division in 2006, under 14 in 2007, under 16 in 2008 and under 20 in 2009. This year-after-year domination of all Dutch players in his division class was punctuated with his 2009 victory matching
Jan Timman
Jan Timman (born 14 December 1951) is a Dutch chess grandmaster who was one of the world's leading chess players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career, he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known a ...
's 1966 record for youngest ever Dutch Champion in the under 20 section. He was coached by Pascal Losekoot from 8 to 11 years of age.
Rising to Grandmaster title
He was awarded the title of
FIDE 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 (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
(FM) in 2008. In 2009, he achieved his first
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 (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
(IM)
norm
Norm, the Norm or NORM may refer to:
In academic disciplines
* Normativity, phenomenon of designating things as good or bad
* Norm (geology), an estimate of the idealised mineral content of a rock
* Norm (philosophy), a standard in normative e ...
at the Batavia Chess Tournament, a
round-robin event in Amsterdam. Van Kampen earned his third and last IM norm at the Atlantis Chess Closed Tournament in 2009. In October 2009, FIDE officially awarded him the IM title, thus becoming the youngest Dutch IM in history, a distinction he still holds.
At the end of 2009, at the
Groningen
Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...
Chess Festival, the newly-minted IM played a four-game match with Timman, losing by 2.5-1.5 after a last-round defeat and exchanging wins in the first two rounds.
On 31 July 2011 van Kampen won the Helmut-Kohls Tournament in
Dortmund
Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...
, Germany (a closed GM tournament), where he also earned his final GM norm. By doing so he became the youngest Dutch chess player to qualify for the GM title, at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 17 days. This record has since been broken by
Jorden van Foreest
Jhr. Jorden van Foreest (born 30 April 1999) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. He was Dutch Chess Champion in 2016, and won the Tata Steel Masters in 2021. Van Foreest is the No. 2 ranked Dutch player behind Anish Giri.
Chess career
Introduced ...
.
Tournament results
In 2010, he made his debut at the traditional
Wijk aan Zee
Wijk aan Zee (; ) is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Corus chess tournament or the Hoogove ...
Corus 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 ...
in the Grandmaster Group C, sharing 3rd–4th place with
Daniele Vocaturo. In 2012, he shared victory with
Hrant Melkumyan
Hrant Slavayi Melkumyan (; born April 30, 1989, in Yerevan) is an Armenian chess Grandmaster and European Blitz Champion in 2011.
Chess career
He won the international Internet championship organized by the ICC chess Internet portal. In 2006, ...
in the
London Chess Classic
The London Chess Classic is a chess festival held at the Olympia Conference Centre, West Kensington, London. The flagship event is a strong invitational tournament between some of the world's top grandmasters. A number of subsidiary events cove ...
FIDE Open.
In 2013, he placed second in the N1
Reykjavik Open
The Reykjavik Open is an annual chess tournament that takes place in the capital city of Iceland. It was held every two years up to 2008, currently it runs annually. The first edition was held in 1964 and was won by Mikhail Tal with a score of 12. ...
, scoring half point behind
Li Chao. That year he tied for first in the
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
Chess Festival and
Riga Technical University Open
The Riga Technical University Open (also RTU Open) is an international "open" chess festival annually held in Riga, Latvia in August. It is the largest classical chess tournament in the Baltic states.
Abstract
The Riga Technical University Open ...
. He also contributed to Guildford's victory at the
4NCL, scoring 8/9.
In 2015, van Kampen placed fourth in the Challengers group of the 77th Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, behind
Wei Yi
Wei Yi (; born 2 June 1999) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. Wei became a grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 8 months and 23 days, the 9th youngest in history. He is the youngest player ever to reach a rating of 2700, accomplishing this feat ...
,
David Navara
David Navara (born 27 March 1985) is a Czech chess grandmaster, the highest-ranked of his country. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2002, he is a 13-time national champion (in 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 202 ...
and
Sam Shankland
Samuel L. Shankland (born October 1, 1991) is an American chess grandmaster. He won the U.S. Chess Championship in 2018.
Shankland was California State Champion in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, and Champion of State Champions in 2009. He won bron ...
.
Online
Kampen streamed as one of the Chessbrahs until January 2020, along with other titled players such as GM
Eric Hansen, GM
Aman Hambleton, GM
Aryan Tari, GM
Yasser Seirawan
Yasser Seirawan (; born March 24, 1960) is a Syrian-born American chess grandmaster and four-time United States Chess Championship, United States champion. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. Seirawan is also a published chess au ...
, and FM
Lefong Hua.
[Sunway Sitges: Aravindh Wins, Hambleton To Shave Beard]
Chess.comAbout
Chessbrahs
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kampen, Robin van
1994 births
Living people
Chess Grandmasters
Dutch chess players
Sportspeople from Bussum
21st-century Dutch people
People from Blaricum
Chess Olympiad competitors
Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni