Johannes Hendrikus (Hein) Donner (July 6, 1927 – November 27, 1988) was a Dutch chessgrandmaster (GM) and writer. Donner was born in The Hague and won the Dutch Championship in 1954, 1957, and 1958. He took part in the Internacional Chess Tournament (1956), Donner came third, behind Larsen and Darga.[1]FIDE, the World Chess Federation, awarded him the GM title in 1959. He played for the Netherlands in the Chess Olympiads 11 times (1950–1954, 1958–1962, 1968, 1972–1978).[2] He was the uncle of the former Dutch Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, Piet Hein Donner.
On August 24, 1983 Donner suffered a stroke, which he wrote happened "just in time, because when you are 56 you do not play chess as well as you did when you were 26".[3] After surviving the stroke, he went to live in Vreugdehof, which he described as "a kind of nursing-home". He was unable to walk, but had learned to type with one finger, and wrote for NRC Handelsblad and Schaaknieuws.[4]
Donner was also a chess columnist and writer. He was famous for his outspoken and often outrageous columns about subjects such as women, politics, and fellow Dutch grandmaster Lodewijk Prins, whom Donner claimed "cannot tell a knight from a bishop".
In 1987, the book De Koning ("The King") was published, which contained 162 of his chess columns, all but the last written between 1950 and 1983, collected by Tim Krabbé and Max Pam.[5] Also in 1987, Donner received the Henriёtte Roland-Holst Prize, one of the Netherlands' most prestigious literary awards, for Na mijn dood geschreven ("Written after my death"), a selection from the mini-columns he had written for NRC Handelsblad.[5] On November 27, 1988, Donner died of a gastrichemorrhage.[5] He is buried at Zorgvlied cemetery.
In 2006, New in Chess published an English translation of the complete De Koning, entitled The King: Chess Pieces.[6] An abridged edition had previously appeared in English in the 1990s.[7]
Quotes from Donner
This section is a candidate to be copied to Wikiquote using the Transwiki process.
"I love all positions. Give me a difficult positional game, I'll play it. Give me a bad position, I'll defend it. Openings, endgames, complicated positions, and dull, drawn positions, I love them all and will give my best efforts. But totally winning positions I cannot stand."[8]
Writing of Lodewijk Prins, after Prins had won the Dutch Championship: "He hasn't got a clue. He is the worst player in the whole wide world. ... Dear Lodewijk. ... You've won the title and I want to congratulate you. But I think you cannot tell a knight from a bishop and I'm prepared to prove it, too. ... We'll play a match."[9] Prins declined Donner's match offer.[10]
"After I resigned this game with perfect self-control and solemnly shook hands with my opponent in the best of Anglo-Saxon traditions, I rushed home, where I threw myself onto my bed, howling and screaming, and pulled the blankets over my face."[11]
Donner's remark about winning from a dead-lost position: "I couldn't resist saying something that I had never said before after winning a game of chess. I may have thought it, but I had never said it. I said, 'Sorry.'"[12]
"Chess is and will always be a game of chance."[13]
"It is mainly the irreparability of a mistake that distinguishes chess from other sports. A whole game long and there is only one point to score. Just one mistake and the battle is lost, even though the fight may go on for hours. ... That's why a mistake hits so hard in chess."[14]
On playing the black pieces against the move 1.e4: "I don't like this move. And they know it." Donner, The Master Game, BBC2
"How different is chess in the United States. The game of chess has never been held in great esteem by the North Americans. Their culture is steeped in deeply anti-intellectual tendencies. They pride themselves in having created the game of poker. It is their national game, springing from a tradition of westward expansion, of gun-slinging skirt chasers who slept with cows and horses. They distrust chess as a game of Central European immigrants with a homesick longing for clandestine conspiracies in quiet coffee houses. Their deepest conviction is that bluff and escalation will achieve more than scheming and patience (witness their foreign policy)."[15]
"... it doesn't take much insight into human nature to predict that Fischer will not be world champion for long. His quirks, moods and whims will turn against him at the moment when he has reached the top. He'll hit out hard, but at nothing but thin air."[16]
"The difference between the sexes is remarkable in chess, but not any more so, to my mind, than in any other field of cultural activity. Women cannot play chess, but they cannot paint either, or write, or philosophize. In fact, women have never thought or made anything worth considering."[17]
In round one of the Olympiad China won a famous victory over Iceland. Amongst the casualties was Grandmaster Sigurjonsson who lost to Qi Jung Xuan. Coming upon Sigurjonsson, ... Donner had attempted to console him with the following unfortunate choice of words: "Tell me, Grandmaster, how can a Western European Grandmaster lose to a Chinaman?" In round eight, the Chinese played Holland. And the unlucky Donner got an answer to his question...
Speelman was referring to the game Liu Wenzhe–Donner, Buenos Aires 1978: 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be2 Bg7 5.g4 h6 6.h3 c5 7.d5 0-0 8.h4 e6 9.g5 hxg5 10.hxg5 Ne8 11.Qd3 exd5 12.Nxd5 Nc6 13.Qg3 Be6 14.Qh4 f5 15.Qh7+ Kf7 16.Qxg6+ Kxg6 17.Bh5+ Kh7 18.Bf7+ Bh6 19.g6+ Kg7 20.Bxh6+ 1–0[19]
"Computers cannot play chess at all, and they will never be able to, at least not for the next two thousand years or so, for that would take a technology that is still far beyond the horizon ... ."[20]
"My name is J. H. Donner, 'Hein' for friends. 'Jan-Hein' was an unseemly joke of malicious sport journalists, but that's not my name, it never was and it never will be."[21]
^Chessville Reviews - The King - by GM Jan Hein Donner - New In Chess, 2006 - Reviewed by Rick Kennedy - chess book reviews. Chessville.com. Retrieved on 2012-08-11.
^Donner 2006, p. 19 (originally published in Club Magazine DD, July/September 1950). ISBN90-5691-171-6.
^Donner 2006, p. 81 (originally published in De Tijd, 15 December 1965).
^Donner 2006, pp. 83-84 (originally published in De Tijd, 11 January 1966).
^Donner 2006, p. 126 (originally published as Donner-Ree, Polemiek en Tweekamp [Polemic and Match], 1972).
^Donner 2006, p. 133 (originally published in Schaakbulletin 52/53, April 1972).
^Donner 2006, p. 86 (originally published in Elseviers Weekblad, 20 November 1967).
^Donner 2006, p. 144 (originally published in De Tijd, 31 July 1972).
^Donner 2006, p. 139 (originally published in De Tijd, 28 June 1972).
^Donner 2006, p. 147 (originally published in De Tijd, 31 July 1972).
^Donner 2006, p. 151 (originally published in Het Parool, 31 August 1972).
^Jon Speelman, Best Chess Games 1970-80, Unwin Paperbacks, 1983, p. 261. ISBN0-04-794016-6.
^"Liu Wenzhe vs. Donner, Buenos Aires 1978". ChessGames.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
^Donner 2006, p. 345 (originally published in NRC Handelsblad, 13 April 1981).
^Dutch: "Jan-Hein" was een misplaatste grap van kwaadwillende sportjournalisten, maar zo heet ik niet, heb ik nooit geheten... Donner, Van Vroeger, Bakker, 1989 ISBN9789035105898, p. 152.
^Donner 2006, pp. 247-50 (originally published in Raymond Keene, Schaken Met Grootmeesters [Chess with Grandmasters], Amsterdam, 1977).
^"Donner vs. Troianescu, Wageningen 1957". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
^"Donner vs. Larsen, Wageningen 1957". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
References
Donner, J. H. (2006). The King: Chess Pieces. New in Chess. ISBN90-5691-171-6.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to J. H. Donner.
Jan Hein Donner player profile and games at Chessgames.com
Jan Hein Donner Chess Olympiad record at OlimpBase.org
January 07, 2023
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Johannes Hendrikus Hein Donner July 6 1927 November 27 1988 was a Dutch chess grandmaster GM and writer Donner was born in The Hague and won the Dutch Championship in 1954 1957 and 1958 He took part in the Internacional Chess Tournament 1956 Donner came third behind Larsen and Darga 1 FIDE the World Chess Federation awarded him the GM title in 1959 He played for the Netherlands in the Chess Olympiads 11 times 1950 1954 1958 1962 1968 1972 1978 2 He was the uncle of the former Dutch Minister of Social Affairs and Employment Piet Hein Donner Hein DonnerDonner at the national championship in 1978Full nameJohannes Hendrikus Hein DonnerCountryNetherlandsBorn 1927 07 06 July 6 1927The HagueDiedNovember 27 1988 1988 11 27 aged 61 TitleGrandmaster 1959 Peak rating2500 July 1971 On August 24 1983 Donner suffered a stroke which he wrote happened just in time because when you are 56 you do not play chess as well as you did when you were 26 3 After surviving the stroke he went to live in Vreugdehof which he described as a kind of nursing home He was unable to walk but had learned to type with one finger and wrote for NRC Handelsblad and Schaaknieuws 4 The character Onno Quist in the novel and film The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch is based on Donner Contents 1 The columnist 2 Quotes from Donner 3 Notable games 4 Notes 5 References 6 External linksThe columnist EditDonner was also a chess columnist and writer He was famous for his outspoken and often outrageous columns about subjects such as women politics and fellow Dutch grandmaster Lodewijk Prins whom Donner claimed cannot tell a knight from a bishop In 1987 the book De Koning The King was published which contained 162 of his chess columns all but the last written between 1950 and 1983 collected by Tim Krabbe and Max Pam 5 Also in 1987 Donner received the Henriyotte Roland Holst Prize one of the Netherlands most prestigious literary awards for Na mijn dood geschreven Written after my death a selection from the mini columns he had written for NRC Handelsblad 5 On November 27 1988 Donner died of a gastric hemorrhage 5 He is buried at Zorgvlied cemetery In 2006 New in Chess published an English translation of the complete De Koning entitled The King Chess Pieces 6 An abridged edition had previously appeared in English in the 1990s 7 Quotes from Donner EditThis section is a candidate to be copied to Wikiquote using the Transwiki process Donner in 1960 This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves I love all positions Give me a difficult positional game I ll play it Give me a bad position I ll defend it Openings endgames complicated positions and dull drawn positions I love them all and will give my best efforts But totally winning positions I cannot stand 8 Writing of Lodewijk Prins after Prins had won the Dutch Championship He hasn t got a clue He is the worst player in the whole wide world Dear Lodewijk You ve won the title and I want to congratulate you But I think you cannot tell a knight from a bishop and I m prepared to prove it too We ll play a match 9 Prins declined Donner s match offer 10 After I resigned this game with perfect self control and solemnly shook hands with my opponent in the best of Anglo Saxon traditions I rushed home where I threw myself onto my bed howling and screaming and pulled the blankets over my face 11 Donner s remark about winning from a dead lost position I couldn t resist saying something that I had never said before after winning a game of chess I may have thought it but I had never said it I said Sorry 12 Chess is and will always be a game of chance 13 It is mainly the irreparability of a mistake that distinguishes chess from other sports A whole game long and there is only one point to score Just one mistake and the battle is lost even though the fight may go on for hours That s why a mistake hits so hard in chess 14 On playing the black pieces against the move 1 e4 I don t like this move And they know it Donner The Master Game BBC2 How different is chess in the United States The game of chess has never been held in great esteem by the North Americans Their culture is steeped in deeply anti intellectual tendencies They pride themselves in having created the game of poker It is their national game springing from a tradition of westward expansion of gun slinging skirt chasers who slept with cows and horses They distrust chess as a game of Central European immigrants with a homesick longing for clandestine conspiracies in quiet coffee houses Their deepest conviction is that bluff and escalation will achieve more than scheming and patience witness their foreign policy 15 it doesn t take much insight into human nature to predict that Fischer will not be world champion for long His quirks moods and whims will turn against him at the moment when he has reached the top He ll hit out hard but at nothing but thin air 16 The difference between the sexes is remarkable in chess but not any more so to my mind than in any other field of cultural activity Women cannot play chess but they cannot paint either or write or philosophize In fact women have never thought or made anything worth considering 17 According to Jonathan Speelman 18 In round one of the Olympiad China won a famous victory over Iceland Amongst the casualties was Grandmaster Sigurjonsson who lost to Qi Jung Xuan Coming upon Sigurjonsson Donner had attempted to console him with the following unfortunate choice of words Tell me Grandmaster how can a Western European Grandmaster lose to a Chinaman In round eight the Chinese played Holland And the unlucky Donner got an answer to his question Speelman was referring to the game Liu Wenzhe Donner Buenos Aires 1978 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 g6 4 Be2 Bg7 5 g4 h6 6 h3 c5 7 d5 0 0 8 h4 e6 9 g5 hxg5 10 hxg5 Ne8 11 Qd3 exd5 12 Nxd5 Nc6 13 Qg3 Be6 14 Qh4 f5 15 Qh7 Kf7 16 Qxg6 Kxg6 17 Bh5 Kh7 18 Bf7 Bh6 19 g6 Kg7 20 Bxh6 1 0 19 Computers cannot play chess at all and they will never be able to at least not for the next two thousand years or so for that would take a technology that is still far beyond the horizon 20 My name is J H Donner Hein for friends Jan Hein was an unseemly joke of malicious sport journalists but that s not my name it never was and it never will be 21 Notable games EditThis section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves Donner considered the following games to be his two best 22 Donner vs Octav Troianescu Wageningen Zonal 1957 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 c5 5 Bd3 0 0 6 Nf3 d5 7 0 0 Nc6 8 a3 cxd4 9 exd4 dxc4 10 Bxc4 Be7 11 Re1 a6 12 Ba2 b5 13 d5 exd5 14 Nxd5 Nxd5 15 Qxd5 Bb7 16 Qh5 g6 17 Qh6 Nd4 18 Ng5 Bxg5 19 Bxg5 Qb6 20 Rad1 Rac8 21 Re7 Qd6 22 Kh1 Qc6 23 Rxb7 Nf5 24 Bd5 Qc2 25 Rc1 Qe2 26 Bxf7 Kh8 27 Bf6 1 0 23 Donner vs Bent Larsen Wageningen Zonal 1957 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 g3 Bg7 4 Bg2 0 0 5 Nc3 d6 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 0 0 a6 8 d5 Na5 9 Nd2 c5 10 Qc2 Rb8 11 b3 b5 12 cxb5 axb5 13 Bb2 b4 14 Nd1 Ba6 15 Re1 Bh6 16 e4 Bxd2 17 Qxd2 c4 18 e5 Ne8 19 Qd4 c3 20 Nxc3 bxc3 21 Bxc3 f6 22 Qa7 Nxb3 23 axb3 Ra8 24 Ba5 Rxa7 25 Bxd8 fxe5 26 f4 Ng7 27 Bb6 Raa8 28 fxe5 Nf5 29 exd6 exd6 30 Bf2 Rfb8 31 g4 Nh6 32 Re7 Nxg4 33 Bd4 Rb4 34 Rg7 Kf8 35 Rxh7 Bb7 36 Rf1 Ke8 37 Bg7 Rd8 38 Rf8 Kd7 39 Bf6 1 0 24 Notes Edit Mendez Pedro Mendez Luis 2019 The Gijon International Chess Tournaments McFarland p 171 ISBN 978 1 4766 7659 3 Men s Chess Olympiads Jan Donner OlimpBase Retrieved 30 April 2011 Donner 2006 p 5 Donner 2006 p 381 originally published in Schaaknieuws 20 September 1986 a b c Donner 2006 p 10 Donner 2006 Chessville Reviews The King by GM Jan Hein Donner New In Chess 2006 Reviewed by Rick Kennedy chess book reviews Chessville com Retrieved on 2012 08 11 Donner 2006 p 19 originally published in Club Magazine DD July September 1950 ISBN 90 5691 171 6 Donner 2006 p 81 originally published in De Tijd 15 December 1965 Donner 2006 pp 83 84 originally published in De Tijd 11 January 1966 Donner 2006 p 126 originally published as Donner Ree Polemiek en Tweekamp Polemic and Match 1972 Donner 2006 p 133 originally published in Schaakbulletin 52 53 April 1972 Donner 2006 p 86 originally published in Elseviers Weekblad 20 November 1967 Donner 2006 p 144 originally published in De Tijd 31 July 1972 Donner 2006 p 139 originally published in De Tijd 28 June 1972 Donner 2006 p 147 originally published in De Tijd 31 July 1972 Donner 2006 p 151 originally published in Het Parool 31 August 1972 Jon Speelman Best Chess Games 1970 80 Unwin Paperbacks 1983 p 261 ISBN 0 04 794016 6 Liu Wenzhe vs Donner Buenos Aires 1978 ChessGames com Retrieved 2009 02 27 Donner 2006 p 345 originally published in NRC Handelsblad 13 April 1981 Dutch Jan Hein was een misplaatste grap van kwaadwillende sportjournalisten maar zo heet ik niet heb ik nooit geheten Donner Van Vroeger Bakker 1989 ISBN 9789035105898 p 152 Donner 2006 pp 247 50 originally published in Raymond Keene Schaken Met Grootmeesters Chess with Grandmasters Amsterdam 1977 Donner vs Troianescu Wageningen 1957 Chessgames com Retrieved 2009 02 24 Donner vs Larsen Wageningen 1957 Chessgames com Retrieved 2009 02 24 References EditDonner J H 2006 The King Chess Pieces New in Chess ISBN 90 5691 171 6 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to J H Donner Jan Hein Donner player profile and games at Chessgames com Jan Hein Donner Chess Olympiad record at OlimpBase org Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Jan Hein Donner amp oldid 1085665444, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
