Jan Louwman, 25.10.1924 – 04.12.2002
Jan Louwman can be considered the father of Dutch computer chess. There, and
in the rest of the world, he has for two decades been considered one of the
leading experts in this area. He was tireless in his efforts to promote computer
chess, writing articles in the magazines "Computerschaak", Schakend
Nederland" and his own publication "Megabyte". He organised computer
chess events, operated programs in computer tournaments all over the world,
and tested new programs in his home "laboratory" which contained 17
computers. He also accompanied and advised programmers like Ed Schröder
and Frans Morsch.
Although Jan was very ill for a number of years he still appeared regularly
at computer chess tournaments. In 2001 he operated Chess Tiger at the world
championship in Maastricht (picture above). He was always present at the well-known
CSVN tournaments in Leiden, as a visitor and operator.
With Vincent Diepeveen in Paderborn 2002
Jan Louwman was much appreciated by many people, but he was also know for his
very direct and sometimes impolite remarks. If you talked to him calmly you
would always discover the warm, humorous personality. Even during his illness
he remained mentally awake and active.
The funeral ceremony for Jan Louwman takes place on Monday, December 9, 2002
at 15:00 hours MET. It will be held in the crematorium "Hofwijk",
Delftweg 230 in Rotterdam-Overschie.
Eric van Reem
Bread and butter
Obiturary
by Dr Chrilly Donninger
My computer chess debut took place in 1990 at the computer chess Olympiad in
Maastricht. My program Nimzo's first game was against Gideon, written by Ed
Schröder. The program was operated by Jan Louwman. This gentleman greeted
me with the words "Dag Meneer Waldheim" (good day Mr Waldheim). At
the time I was living in Holland and knew exactly what he meant. Our Austrian
president was Kurt Waldheim, and for the Dutch he was the epitome of the ugly
Nazi Austrian.
I should have been insulted, but Jan seemed such a nice, playful fellow that
I decided to fight back instead. The people of Limburg and Maastricht consider
themselves the Cinderellas of Holand. I asked Jan, who hails from Rotterdam,
whether he had been granted a visa to Maastricht. "That is a question only
a Waldheim-Austrian could ask," he replied. "This is all Holland!"
The last part of his remark drew loud protest from the other visitors from Maastricht.
They said they thought the idea of requiring the Dutch to get visas for their
part of the country quite a good one. The score was 1:1 and Jan and I shook
hands cordially for the beginning of the game.
The word Apartheid, which is part of international vocabulary, was not invented
by the South African boors but was imported from their Dutch mother tongue.
Unfortunately on its long trip it lost the Dutch element of tolerance. Although
we tried hard enough my wife Anni and I spent some time in relative isolation
in Holland, "apart" from the others, one could say. Until one day
Coby and Jan Louwman invited us to coffee with bread and butter in their home.
We really only got coffee, bread and butter. But it was the most beautiful invitation
we had ever received. The band was broken, Jan and Coby gave us the feeling
that we now belonged here.
Jan's house was packed from top to bottom with chess computers. All over the
sets were humming and blinking. He spent his days and nights playing test games
for chess programmers. Jan had no idea how they worked, internally, but he often
had a better feeling for their strengths and weaknesses than the programmers
themselves. Jan proudly showed me a present he had received from the Dutch computer
chess organisation. This was a bit surprising since Jan was at the time conducting
a "ruzie" (feud) with the organisation. But that was the way he was,
not always easy to deal with, but if you did not take everything he said too
seriously, he was a helpful, humorous human being who wanted love and appreciation.
Since that time Jan always supported me, and a number of times he operated
Nimzo at Dutch computer championships. As a genuine Dutchman he always explained
to me patiently how much his presence at these events was costing him. In the
last few years Jan had a numer of serious illnesses. The most important therapy
he used was his passion for computer chess. So I gave him a bill for the Nimzo
"medicine" he was receiving from me. We decided we were even. During
the computer chess world championship in 1991 in Vancouver Jan suffered a massive
heart attack. Ironically it was his "mortal enemy" Ossi Weiner who
acted quickly and saved his life.
Early this year Jan's wife Coby died. At her funeral I told Jan that he had
better hang on for a while since I couldn't afford a trip to Holland every two
weeks. Jan said he understood very well and shook my hand warmly. But Coby's
death had hit him badly. On December 4th he resigned the game that we will all
loose in the end.
Thank you Coby and Jan for the bread and butter.