Robin van Kampen

In this Dutch name, the surname is van Kampen, not Kampen.

Robin van Kampen
Van Kampen in 2018
CountryNetherlands
Born (1994-11-14) 14 November 1994 (age 30)
Blaricum, Netherlands
TitleGrandmaster (2011)
FIDE rating2658 (December 2024)
Peak rating2658 (June 2018)
Peak rankingNo. 88 (June 2018)

Robin van Kampen (born 14 November 1994) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. At the age of 14, he won the Dutch U20 Championship.[1] He achieved his grandmaster (GM) title at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 17 days.[2] Van Kampen has represented the Netherlands at the 2013 European Team Chess Championship, and at the 41st and 42nd Chess Olympiad. 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 in the city of Blaricum and brought up in Bussum. 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.[3] This year-after-year domination of all Dutch players in his division class was punctuated with his 2009 victory matching Jan Timman'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 (FM) in 2008. In 2009, he achieved his first International Master (IM) norm 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.[4] In October 2009, FIDE officially awarded him the IM title, thus becoming the youngest Dutch IM in history, a distinction he still holds.[5]

At the end of 2009, at the Groningen 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.[6]

On 31 July 2011 van Kampen won the Helmut-Kohls Tournament in Dortmund, Germany (a closed GM tournament), where he also earned his final GM norm.[7] 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.

Tournament results

In 2010, he made his debut at the traditional Wijk aan Zee Corus Chess Tournament in the Grandmaster Group C, sharing 3rd–4th place with Daniele Vocaturo.[8] In 2012, he shared victory with Hrant Melkumyan in the London Chess Classic FIDE Open.

In 2013, he placed second in the N1 Reykjavik Open, scoring half point behind Li Chao.[9] That year he tied for first in the Basel Chess Festival[10] and Riga Technical University Open.[11] 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, David Navara and Sam Shankland.[12]

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, and FM Lefong Hua.[13][14]

References

  1. ^ "Chess.com Player Profiles: GM Robin Van Kampen". Chess.com. 8 March 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  2. ^ "CVT column: Giri out; Jones, l'Ami, Van Kampen, Krush in!". ChessVibes. 5 February 2013. Archived from the original on 19 May 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  3. ^ "Lijst van kampioenen — Koninklijke Nederlandse Schaakbond". www.schaakbond.nl. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012.
  4. ^ FIDE Title Applications - International Master: Robin Van Kampen. FIDE.
  5. ^ "Atlantis Schaak Meestertienkamp". Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  6. ^ "13-year old Nyzhnyk wins Groningen Open;Timman beats Van Kampen 2.5-1.5". Chessvibes. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  7. ^ "FIDE Title Applications (GM, IM, WGM, WIM, IA, FA, IO)". ratings.fide.com. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  8. ^ "72nd Corus Wijk aan Zee 2010 | the Week in Chess".
  9. ^ "Reykjavik Open 2014 | the Week in Chess".
  10. ^ "Basel Chess Festival 2013 | the Week in Chess".
  11. ^ "Riga Technical University Open 2013 | the Week in Chess".
  12. ^ "77th Tata Steel Masters 2015 | the Week in Chess".
  13. ^ Sunway Sitges: Aravindh Wins, Hambleton To Shave Beard Chess.com
  14. ^ About Archived 14 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine Chessbrahs