Ceibrands, Tone

1961-1973

At age 11, Ton Seybrands began attending the Leen de Rooij Drafts Club. The following year, he won his first junior championship in the Netherlands . At an international tournament in Amsterdam, Ton was a second in the Senegalese Grandmaster Bab Si .

In 1965, Seybrands defeated the current world champion Vyacheslav Shchegolev in an international tournament in Hogezand-Sappemer . In 1967, he wins his first Dutch championship, finishing five points ahead of silver medalist, former world champion Pete Rosenburg . In the same year, he became the European champion, sharing first place with Schegolev and Andris Andreiko in the tournament according to the Swiss system. After that, Seybrands wins three more European Championships in a row (in 1968 , 1969 and 1971 ) and four Dutch Championships (in 1969-1971 and 1973 ; in 1968 and 1972 he did not participate in the national championship).

In the world championships, Seybrands did not start so quickly. In 1966, he shares the second place in the tournament of applicants with Schegolev, skipping ahead Andreiko. At his first world championship in Bolzano in 1968, he will finish below the prize winners, then in 1970 in Monaco he shares the first place in the tournament of applicants with Iser Cooperman , who gets the right to participate in the match for the world crown with reigning champion Andreiko. And only at the 1972 World Championships in Hengelo Seybrands submits the first step of the podium: he will finish two points ahead of Andreiko and his compatriot Harm Virsma . The following year, he successfully defends his title in a match with Andreiko, scoring two wins with eighteen draws.

1974-1987

Seybrands refused the next match with Kuperman in 1974 and for a long time stopped participating in major tournaments, such as individual championships of the Netherlands, Europe and the world. After that, they began to call him “checker Fischer, ” to which, according to the memoirs of Vyacheslav Shchegolev, he replied that this was Fischer - Cheybrands chess. ^[1] Another former world champion, Anatoly Gantvarg , believed that Seybrands’s act was caused by a contradiction between the creative and sports sides of the game:

He dreamed not just of becoming a world champion, but of showing everything he was capable of. He won the Olympic tournament in 1972 brilliantly, but in the match with Andreiko, the aesthetic side lost to the sports one. This depressed the discerning artist. Depression has come, which I would describe as self-poisoning by success. In drafts, Ton achieved everything: with exceptionally good results he won the championships of Holland, Europe, and the world. Repeating all this was no longer any desire. ^[2]

In the Soviet weekly “64”, citing the Dutch magazine “In the World of Drafts”, it was reported that one of the reasons for the refusal was the decision of the Dutch Drafts Federation, according to which Seybrands was not allowed to enter the final of the national championship, but was forced to play in the semifinals before. As stated in the message, this decision does not correspond to the ideas of Seybrands about the rights of a world champion ^[3] . In a television interview with commentator Felix Geising, Saybrands stated that he had decided to end the fight for world championship after his match with Andreiko “was most offensively covered by journalists” (due to the large number of draws), as a result of which “the drafts lost part its popularity. ” ^[4] . Former Cooperman coach Yuri Barsky believes that one of the reasons for Seybrands to abandon the fight for world championship was the conspiracy between Andreiko and Kuperman, in which they began to intentionally lose each other in tournaments in tournaments. Barsky writes that in 1972, during the USSR-Netherlands match , Seybrands, already being the world champion, defiantly played on the fifth board so as not to meet Andreiko or Kuperman at the board ^[5] .

Ceibrands, however, continued to participate in team tournaments and commercial events during these years. In particular, he won the Netherlands team championship in 1977 and 1978 , respectively with the clubs RDG ( The Hague ) and IJmunden ( Aimeiden ). In 1978, he and Wirsma and Rob Clerk also won the European Team Championship. ^[6] In addition, Ceibrands has been an active participant in record-breaking concurrent blindfold tournaments since 1982 .

1988-2006

In 1988, Tone Saybrands returned to the big sport. He marked his return with another, sixth victory in the individual championship of the Netherlands. At the World Championships in Paramaribo, he shares second place with Anatoly Gantvarg and defeats the Soviet grandmaster with a score of 7: 5 in the candidates' match, winning the right to a match with world champion Chizhov . In the match for the world crown in 1990, Seybrands already won the second game against Chizhov and held the lead until the eighteenth game, when the world champion equalized. The match ended in a draw, and Chizhov retained his title. At the end of the same year, he again shared the second place at the World Championships in Groningen , this time with Guntis Valneris , and two years later in Toulon with three rivals at once (ranking fifth). In the 1999 European Championships , Saybrands also shared second place, losing first to Wirsme. In 2003, he was below the medalists at the World Championships in Zvartslois (Netherlands). In an interview with the newspaper Sport-Express in 2003, Alexander Georgiev said:

Seybrands is known to everyone who is engaged in checkers. He attracted general attention with his colorful appearance, and a very active manner of playing. After all, in checkers you can change back and forth, and no one knows for sure where it is better. So, Seybrands almost always changed and is still changing only forward. He professes an extremely active playing style, which brought him such fame. Seybrands twice became the world champion, and then for a long time refused the fight for world championship. Perhaps he was not satisfied with the prize. He played mainly in club competitions and only when he was paid big "starting". But recently, he decided to shake the old days and even specially lost weight before the championship. But years, alas, you won’t lose it, as extra pounds ... And the 52-year-old Seybrands, apparently, did not have enough strength to score as many points as our trio, who subsequently played the title, scored. ^[7]

All the years after returning to the big sport, Saybrands continued to set records in the simultaneous blind game.

After 2006

In 2006, Saybrands refused to participate in the World Cup, scheduled for next year in Hardenberg (Netherlands), which, apparently, meant his new departure from the central drafts tournaments. Among the reasons for the refusal were named age (he was already 57 years old), a desire to devote more time to his autobiography and changes in the rules of the games, in particular, shortened time control, new rules for scoring and problems with doping control . ^[eight]

Having abandoned major tournaments, Saybrands returns to team competition. In 2007, he again won the Netherlands team championship with the Heijmans Excelsior club, and the next year with the Bart Smit club from Volendam . In 2007, in a session held at Tilburg University, he also set a new record in a simultaneous blind game, winning 21 games out of 25 and drawing the rest in a draw. In 2009, at the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium, Saybrands held a session on 28 boards, won 18 games and lost three with seven draws. Nevertheless, having gained about 77% of the points, he regained the record, a year earlier taken away from him by compatriot Erno Prosman , who had scored 70% of his points on 27 boards. ^[9]

Despite the limited amount of participation in drafts competitions, on January 1, 2010, Seybrands took first place in the ranking of the World Drafts Federation (FMJD) . ^[ten]

• Ton Sijbrands, Topprestaties op het dambord. 1968, Ten Have, Amsterdam; Analyses van veertig partijen uit het wereldkampioenschap 1968
• Ton Sijbrands / Jules Welling, Ton Sijbrands Dammer. ' 1973, Prisma, Utrecht / Antwerpen
• Ton Sijbrands / Alexander Münninghoff, Sijbrands - Andreiko. 1973, Keesing, Amsterdam; Tweekamp om het wereldkampioenschap dammen 1973
• Ton Sijbrands, Tweekamp Wiersma - Clerc. 1978
• Ton Sijbrands / H. Kiers, Gantwarg - Wiersma. 1979; Volmacmatch om het WK 1979
• Ton Sijbrands / Philip de Schaap, Beter dammen. 1979 Amsterdam / Antwerpen
• Ton Sijbrands / Philip de Schaap, Dammen. 1985 Luitingh, Utrecht; Een praktische handleiding voor beginnende en geoefende dammers
• Ton Sijbrands / Herman Fokkink, De 20 partijen van de tweekamp om het wereldkampioenschap 1985. 1986, Dordrecht
• Ton Sijbrands, Baba Sy. 1989, Dammen, Voorst; Het grote Baba Sy boek, Tweetalig (ned.en Frans)
• Ton Sijbrands, Andries Andreiko. 1990, Dammen, Voorst
• Ton Sijbrands, Wereldkampioenschap dammen Groningen 1990.1992 Dammen, Voorst
• Ton Sijbrands, De 15 blindpartijen van Middelburg 1991.1993 , Middelburgse Damclub; Wereldrecord blindsimultaan Middelburg 1991. Analyses
• Ton Sijbrands, Les Croniques de Ton Sijbrands Nr 1 t / m Nr 18 Amsterdam - Voorst; Verzamelde rubrieken.

• J. Schaus. The paradox of Sabers (neopr.) . 64 - Chess Review No. 8, p. 30-31 (April 1983). Date of treatment January 22, 2012. Archived April 14, 2012.

• Tone Seybrands in the database of the Netherlands Drafts Federation (English) (nid.)
• Profile on the FMJD website
• Checkers Champion Ton Sijbrands