I am Erik van den Dikkenberg, I’m 36 years old.

I first touched the chess pieces only at the age of fifteen, in 1986, at that moment I also became a member of the chess club in Veenendaal. Earlier I was always busy playing football and tennis and I also liked cycling.

Through a lot of games at home with Vincent Diepeveen en Jef Verwoert, both also living in Veenendaal, I rose rapidly to a decent level.

After a few good results in tournaments, which I usually attended with my chessfriend Mike van Niel, such as in Berlin 1996 and 1997, I finally got the FM title. In this period I played quite a lot of chess and studied a lot.

I have learned a lot in a long period of seven years when I was playing for Wageningen, the probably most cosy chess club in the Netherlands.

At the moment, after a quieter period in my chess career, I regained full enthousiasm for chess. It is a honour to be invited for the Euwe Stimulus tournament, I could not resist the invitation and I really look forward to the tournament!

I hope that together with the other somewhat older players we still can put the youth a leg.