Loek van Wely

Who is Loek van Wely?

Loek van Wely is a chess Grandmaster from the Netherlands. He won the Dutch Chess Championship six times straight from 2000 through 2005. He was rated among the world's top ten in 2001. In 2002, in Maastricht, Netherlands, van Wely took on the computer program Rebel in a four-game match. The computer won two games and van Wely won two games. In 2005, he led the Dutch team to victory at the European Team Championships in Gothenburg.

Van Wely is a frequent participant in the elite Corus chess tournament. As of 2010, he has participated in the tournament 19 years consecutively.

In May 2010 he won the 14th Chicago Open. In 2011, came first at Berkeley.

On 9 July 2012 Van Wely was denied access to the United States, because he lacked a work visa.