He was the first Dutch chess player in 36 years to win the Magnus Carlsen, claims 100 million dollars from his accusers – Liberation”>Wijk aan Zee“>Tata Steel tournament. Suddenly, the young grandmaster was fully in the spotlight and for the first time media requests poured in from all sides. Everyone wanted something from him, says Jorden van Foreest (22) from his apartment in Bruges. He has been living in Belgium with his student girlfriend Sofie for over a year now.
The victory in Wijk aan Zee brought him a step further as an international top chess player. “At times when things are going wrong and my courage drops, I think back to that victory and realize: I have to be able to play the game.”
After the tournament victory you sat at home for months. How was that?
“If you win a chess tournament like this, you normally get a lot of invitations. But due to the corona pandemic, the next thing was over the boardtournament in July. That was a shame, because I couldn’t steam through. I used to play chess online, but it doesn’t have the same flair.”
How long can you dwell on such a great achievement?
“With all that attention, it’s easy to think: it’s all fine, I don’t have to train hard right away. I should have done that better, I think in hindsight. In my first two tournaments after that, in Prague and the World Cup in Sochi, I didn’t play very well. In September I booked an important victory with the Sigeman in Malmö. A tournament with a great tradition, that all strong players have won, if not once participated.”
The success of Wijk aan Zee resulted in two sponsorship deals.
“Chess was and is, in a sense, an uncertain existence. Simply because the financial conditions, if you compete at the highest level, are not like in other sports. I am now in a position where I can live fairly comfortably, travel and pay the rent. I make most of the costs behind the scenes; training courses and the hardware and software I need to work at the highest chess level.”
Also read: The week of chess champion Jorden van Foreest (2021)
You told in last year NRC that you wanted to buy an expensive chess computer. Did you do that?
“I now use the cloud. I hire computing power that large companies use for their services and data. I use it to run a strong chess computer on it and train the best chess opening and the best move. I use much better computing power than a year ago, thanks to my sponsors.”
What is the biggest difference between last year and now?
“That I get more invitations for competitions that are only reserved for the absolute top. So I got the chance to play against Kasparov [oud-wereldkampioen] to play chess. I never expected that, because after his retirement in 2004 he still sporadically plays a serious tournament. We played a game of blitz twice [snelschaken] against each other and I managed to beat him once. I would never have been able to gain such an experience without Wijk aan Zee.”
You also worked for world champion Magnus Carlsen.
“I supported him, with three others, for his World Cup match in Dubai against the Russian Jan Nepomnyashchi. Every day we tried to get him as prepared as possible. That worked out extremely well, because after the first six extremely tough matches, he actually won easily. While he slept, we worked from Thailand on the best openings and possible moves. Fortunately, Magnus wakes up quite late.”
How did he get to you?
“Even he can’t do everything himself. And finding opening ideas is one of my strengths, he respects that. I played against him a few times and outsmarted him once in pre-season. In Wijk aan Zee in 2020 I even came close to a victory. But he is the world champion for a reason, his insight is phenomenal. How much he knows about chess, I’ve never seen. It was a huge opportunity and an honor to work for him.”
You are now 35th in the world ranking. What is your ambition?
“When I was sixteen, seventeen years old, I thought the top twenty was not realistic. Now that is within reach. My goal is to get higher in that world ranking. They are small differences.”
Can we call you another talent?
“Others have to decide that. But you could say I can really play with the big boys now and maybe I’m less of a talent.”
What chance do you have this year in Wijk aan Zee?
“Not much, haha. I really don’t know dude, it might be less than 1 percent. But I don’t care, because I’m just going for it again.”
Are you further along on this point than last year?
“Every year I fear it will go bad, but I prove otherwise. I now have the experience that I can win and that is already a lot. I know what to do to win. I’m very interested in it. I can not wait.”
A version of this article also appeared in NRC Handelsblad on 14 January 2022
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of January 14, 2022
