Great Players of the Past: Jan Hein Donner

[@xwngdrvr]

Donner, not only a GM but had a remarkable side hustle as a Reindeer.

[@spiderchopproductions8172]

And he invented the kebab. Incredible.

[@xwngdrvr]

@@spiderchopproductions8172 You have got to be Shishing me.

[@EqSlay]

I donner bout you, but I found this lecture to be very interesting

[@xwngdrvr]

@@EqSlay Another veteran of the Punic wars, I see. Well met.

[@mikehartl8665]

😁

[@pommedemer1922]

You know ben's story gonna be fire when he starts saying "when i was living in belgium... "

[@Rubrickety]

I knew Donner well. He was actually only 3 inches tall but weighed over 4000 pounds.

[@donsimons9810]

what? cm please

[@EgorTensin]

Donner wrote a great book. One of my favorite stories is how he came up to somebody who lost to a player from China (it was in the second half of the last century, so China wasn't nearly as strong as it is today), and asked "How do you feel losing to a Chinaman?". Needless to say, he lost the next game to a Chinese player in the very next round. A legend of Dutch chess.

[@redmardamsma7917]

One of my favorite stories in the book (actually it is a collection of his articles) is when he wrote in a feminist’s magazine that women can’t play chess. As you might imagine, he got a lot of backlash. One woman wrote, ‘next he is going to state that black men can’t play chess’. His reply was ‘This woman has not understood my point. Black men can play chess, black women can’t.’

[@donsimons9810]

I guess Ben is concern trolling. I was surprised to learn of the concept of woman gms. Like, here we’ll just lower the expectations so women can get gm titles? The fact that any woman could say “sure, that works” is surprising. Like, don’t you have pride or expectations for yourself? This comment will probably gwt flagged. That’s how sad this world is, and how much I wish people like Donner didn’t have to struggle so much.

[@ennerz-hq8pq]

​@@donsimons9810Donner was wrong so no one listened to him. That's probably also why no one listens to you

[@vigilante8374]

@@ennerz-hq8pq He's literally saying the exact same thing that Judit Polgar said, but in the 2020s black is white, up is down, egalitarianism is misogyny, and 50-IQ YT comments are voted up to +10 in response to +1 comments saying sensible, sane, egalitarian things.

[@donsimons9810]

@@ennerz-hq8pq oh, lots of people agree. don't worry. women aren't going to be evolving that quickly anytime soon - you've noticed people aren't getting smarter right?

[@patrickdaly1088]

I'm so excited for the Ben Finegold story about how what I play with white got its name. I've played the Chinese variation with 5. g4 for years, mostly from a 1.d4 2. Nc3 transposition, and score about 70% in blitz online because it's so rare and so brutal.

[@paulpowelljr1092]

Club-level players, take note. When Ben says the position with the isolated pawn can occur "from," he proceeds to rattle off several openings. That clarity of understanding is a pure gold lesson; experts and masters don't always realize that in their games.

[@cecilasen]

I am not dutch but according to my research a donner gets to about 75lbs and goes well with pita bread source: nutritionfacts

[@charliepenguingaming]

Always love a good donner and some chips after a night out

[@f.d.3289]

i am not dutch but a donner is an italian woman and a german thunder 😂

[@MrBonified66]

Donner knew that guy's name was the Lord when he played Qxg6. Bam.

[@jeffreyfisher3115]

“When Bobby was about to make his 30th move, in a slightly inferior position for Donner, he touched a piece and with a sickening feeling realized it was a mistake. It clinched a draw. As Donner described it, ‘After touching the Bishop, Fischer sat for seconds with his finger on the piece desperately looking for another move. he had seen the point at the last minute-as usual, there is no other move!’ Fischer was no less than furious.” - “Bobby Fischer Profile of a Prodigy” p101

[@f.d.3289]

1:48 "Donner was an oldschool person. Sooo... he was incredibly sexist, and... he was incredibly outspoken about things he didn't necessarily know about!? So he would have been perfect for Twitter." XD XD XD Ben, never change, you keep making my life better -- and my chess too :)

[@f.d.3289]

@@donsimons9810 i will always encourage Ben whatever he does dude 😊

[@donsimons9810]

was an expression, baby duck.

[@f.d.3289]

@@donsimons9810 quack quack, at least i don't delete my cringey comments 🤣

[@donsimons9810]

@@f.d.3289 at least i don't tell a random stranger they make my life better after quoting a cringey woke ATL bit of cliche metoo jargon. Get a working soul

[@joshuasteinke8537]

That last joke was hilarious!😂

[@midnightfox6378]

Donner's book The King is the best chessbook ever.

[@MrSupernova111]

Pretty cool! Never heard of this guy. Thanks!

[@jogzyg2036]

His take on computers is understandable. If I was told then how far computers would advance in just a few decades I would think that whoever was talking was... Frankly, ridiculous.

[@JerehmiaBoaz]

We're in almost the same position with AI now. If you want a good indication of where a technology is going don't focus on what it's capable of today, focus on how much money is being invested in its development.

[@wowyaywowyaywow]

Corrections: The last game is Liu Wenzhe vs Donner, not the other way around. The last move shown was not checkmate, still Qh4, then Rxh4 is mate.

[@JojenReed]

I hope the class doesn't shrink! Donner, class of 11.........wait, 10......9...8

[@carneades4409]

I assume he invented the very serious and important Donner Opening: a4 e5 Ra3

[@小胖-q8v]

Didn't know it had a name but Brandon Jacobson won against Naroditsky in a 70 game match only playing this

[@_nemo171]

Very suspicious!

[@zlatkofelic8820]

Oh, you mean the Viih Sou opening?

[@marcusevans2733]

Always sac the exchange!

[@sirarthurconandoyle421]

6:05 and that kid was Ben Finegold

[@danielolmo9]

in the last game he resigned two moves fron mate (Qh4)

[@keithwald5349]

I consider Jan Donner to be the Jan Timman of Dutch chess.

[@nikonyrh]

I didn't know Stephen Fry was a GM.

[@turtlesoup3624]

From wiki: Apparently Fischer declined to play in the 1st Piatigorsky Cup cuz his demand for an appearance fee of $2000 was not met. In the 2nd one, he lost 3 games straight, the last one of which was against Spassky! But then immediately won 4 straight .. eventually he finished 2nd to Spassky. Donner finished last in the tournament.

[@jackanderson719]

Not gonna forget that last game any time soon.

[@ericrobinson7184]

Damn Son, that was fun!

[@hamedmehrzad8814]

I agree.

[@paulgoogol2652]

only when you have absolutely no idea about something you may talk about that on Twitter/X

[@jaccocornelisschutter8895]

Leuk man 👍

[@nanying777]

Döner is to be eaten in Turkiye guys.. :)

[@jeffreyfisher3115]

He went to the Donner Party A free banquet that bore his name A chance to try new recipes And eat his way to fame But it’s all right now He learned his lesson well You see, you can’t feed everyone So you got to feed yourself

[@_nemo171]

Very suspicious lecture.

[@panpan-vz3om]

What happened to I'm Ben and you're not.

[@anosmianAcrimony]

I don't agree!! *shakes fist*

[@germanchris4440]

“Sexist” - I really don't understand what this modern expression is supposed to mean

[@FrankBatistaElJibaro]

Finegold is butthurt that Donner disagrees with him politically. Wahhhh.

[@willywonka7812]

Hopefully you grow up soon

[@FrankBatistaElJibaro]

@@willywonka7812 hopefully you stop boot licking, man up, and call it like it is.

[@MrManumona]

Troianescu, 5 times Romanian champion and the first Romanian to get an internacional Fide title

[@peace_in1move]

Don't believe him kids. The TRUTH LIBERATES !!🌟 Ignorance hurts ! ' If pain persists see a Dr'. 🪷

[@hamedmehrzad8814]

I agree.

[@hamedmehrzad8814]

I agree.