Author: Ed Schröder
Date: 13:39:23 12/04/02
In memorandum - Jan Louwman Today december the 4th 2002 a remarkable man died regarded by many as the no.1 expert of the computer chess community. I had the pleasure to have known Jan Louwman quite well. I remember our first talks, it was in the university of Utrecht, the Netherlands in 1981 where the first official Dutch championship computer chess took place, Jan being one of the main organizers of the event. The tournament was a big success, about 1500-2000 people came on one day, the event was shortly reported on Dutch television. All was new, the first personal computers hit the shelves, little were sold yet. A computer that could play chess? That was impossible, the Dutch press had to see it with their own eyes. Although already active in computer chess in the late 70's, Utrecht 1981 was Jan's breakthrough, after a few years he was widely respected as the Dutch oracle of computer chess. Have a question? -> call Jan, he would take all the time to tell you the latest developments in computer chess, after hours (and a red ear) you needed all your diplomacy to end the conversation, it was that kind of compassion for computer chess Jan was known for. It was Jan who decided that my first version of Rebel was not allowed to play in Utrecht 1981, his reason -> it was too weak, one year later Rebel was allowed to participate into the second Dutch Championship, Rebel became 3th, during the years after, we have laughed on many occasions about this curiosity. The years after when computer chess became more and more international Jan's star rose further, being present on any computer chess tournament of importance anywhere in the world, his excellent communication skills, his expertise on computer chess did not remain unknown among the commercials of that time. He was invited and consulted by almost all of them, the most notable Hegener & Glaser from the Mephisto series. Besides Utrecht 1981 there was another main pillar in Jan's history, the role played in 1984/85. Hegener & Glaser in search for new talent asked Jan for help. Jan advised to Hegener & Glaser the programmers "Richard Lang", "Frans Morsch" and "Ed Schröder", as history has proven that was not such a bad choice. It's about Jan's main strength, his fine nose for talent, he also discovered "Johan de Koning" and contacted Johan with TASC, the producers of the famous Chess Machine. I remember the panic phone call I got from Jan in 1984, "Ed, be here in my home next Sunday, Mr. Hegener and his staff are coming and they want to meet you, also take your computer and chess program with you". I remember this meeting quite well as it became the trigger of a new life, a life fully dedicated to computer chess as a living. Crucial was the demand of Mr. Hegener Rebel to play 2 games against their top model, the Mephisto BP BLITZ. Rebel with great luck won the mini-match with 1.5 - 0.5. Jan radiated of joy. Jan offered me his services as counselor, I took the offer, a long cooperation was the result ending somewhere in the 90's when I moved to the PC and our almost daily contacts became less frequent. Jan & his Rebel, at times he almost felt as if it was his own child, testing the latest versions day and night with inexhaustible energy and compassion, writing long playing strength improvement reports, traveling the world to play with his Rebel in any tournament. In 1986 he convinced me to play the world championship in Cologne, Germany. He pushed me into it, he said that Rebel would do well while I saw only those big mainframes and respectable names compared to that little Apple 2E and thought Cologne would become a disaster. But Jan was right, his claim, "your chess knowledge versus their brute force will outweigh", Rebel almost became world champion if it hadn't thrown away a complete won position in the last round. His statement became an eye opener to me. 1991 - Jan in Vancouver with Rebel became world champion in the Software Group. Jan swollen of pride came home with the trophies. 1992 - According to Jan his absolute highlight, his Rebel became world champion all classes. Later, I believe it was 1994/95 a new revolution took place in his computer chess life. It started with the birth of the auto232 software, suddenly Jan wasn't limited any longer to 4-5 tournament games a day (playing manually) but now all was automatic. Wall Street peaked as his house instantly was filled with 15-20 new PC's playing ten's of thousands autoplayer games during the years. Always, literal always Jan had the latest and fastest hardware, this until his dying day, today December the 4th 2002. Jan during his last 7-8 years suffered from all kind of age related diseases, he had to take his body going taking pills in massive proportions having all kind of nasty side effects. But his body wasn't boss, his spirit kept him going. He often said, "if there hasn't been computer chess I would have been dead long time ago". Not so long ago Jan's wife Coby passed away, Jan's help and stay. Although he did not say this has hit Jan as a sledgehammer blow, those who have known him knew, it certainly might have speed up his - still - unexpected death. Today an important man to computer chess passed away, he has influenced many lives in the computer chess community. His unbridled energy, his passion for computer chess, his great sense of humor, it all will be missed in the next computer chess tournament. Jan - you will be missed. May you rest in peace next to your Coby. Ed Schröder and Family.
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