Govert Westerveld

It’s true that our (till now) fourth man in Spain is of Dutch descent but he prefers to research in old Spanish chess and draughts sceneries. In his monumental work published two years ago (in collaboration with José A. Garzón) he summarizes the results of a twenty-year research – it deals with the early history of draughts and its connection to modern chess as well as with the very important part the Queen Isabella of Castile played as a projection figure for these board games. José Garzón (in an online "reprinted" article in Spanish) even considers this book as one of the most valuable works for the Spanish culture! But meanwhile Govert Westerveld is already busy with new book projects, a multi-volume work on the Lucena family is in preparation ...

(R.B.)