Tilburg chess event back under new sponsorship

By Kristianus Liem

JAKARTA (JP): For chess enthusiasts Tilburg, there was Interpolis. But after 18 years of sponsorship, Interpolis gave up in 1994 and Tilburg disappeared from the chess world's calender of tournaments.

Two years later, with the knowledge of organizer Mrs. Barbara Schol, Tilburg is back and with a new sponsor, Fontys. Fontys is the largest education institution in the Netherlands as a result of a merger with another institution in 1992.

It provides full-time and part-time professional education and market orientated services, both at home and abroad.

In this first competition, the organizers opted for a formula based on the principles of the sponsor, Fontys University of Professional Education. They invited FIDE World Champion Anatoly Karpov as the main attraction and presented him as "the professor" who was teaching his "students" -- consisting of all participants under the age of 27, the age when one has to pass all one's exams at the university -- the final tricks of the trade.

Karpov, who supported tournament director Barbara Schol right from the beginning -- when the first contacts were made with the sponsor -- by promising his participation, was even more helpful for the students' confident during the event when he played a very rare poor tournament, which improved press coverage drastically.

No less than in the first round, "the professor" was beaten by "the student", 21-year-old Grandmaster Zoltan Almasi from Hungary. For the complete results, see the cross table.