Govert Westerveld

Govert Westerveld, (Monnickendam - The Netherlands, 1947), is a former Draughtsplayer, official Historian of the village Blanca, situated in the Ricote Valley in the Region of Murcia. He is Hispanist, Historian and Researcher of Alquerque, Chess, Draughts, La Celestina, Moriscos and the Spanish Civil War. In 1962, he beated Ton Sijbrands from Amsterdam and won with 15 years the Dutch Youth Championship of Draughts. Before retiring in his daily work he was expert in Competitive Intelligence, Innovative Entrepreneur and Researcher of new foreign markets. He established himself in 1974 in Spain and was a founder member of Zoster S.A., a Company of natural extracts. Other shareholders were Francisco Sabater García (rector of the University of Murcia 1975-1980), José Antonio Lozano Teruel (rector of the University of Murcia 1980-1984), various chemists and some business men. In 1989, the founders sold this firm to Carlos Ferrer Salat, ex-president from 1987-1998 of the Spanish Olympic Committee.

Westerveld published in 1994 and 1997 his works on the influence of the Queen Isabella I of Castile on the new powerful Dama, breaking the myth of other international historians that the Draughts game was a French invention and that the new powerful Dama in Chess was an Italian or French achievement. Since then, his research focused on the history of the town of Blanca, Murcia. In 2002, the village Blanca, Murcia elected him as Official Chronicler, together with his friend, Angel Rios Martinez. In the same year, the Real Academia Alfonso X el Sabio at Murcia elected him as Fellow, taking into account the merits of his work in relation to the culture of the Region of Murcia.

In 2004, the Valencian Community released his book "Queen Isabella: her reflection on the powerful Dama of Valencia, the birthplace of Modern Chess and origin of Draughts”, a book in which the chess historian Jose Antonio Garzon Roger participated actively. The latter confirmed the hypothesis of Isabella I of Castile and found the documentary evidence in Scachs d'amor, with revelations of important national and global impacts. In 2005, the International Association of Hispanists, elected him as Hispanist. Garzon's and Westerveld’s investigations deserved recognition at all levels, so that even Professor Luis Suárez Fernández, the top expert on Isabelle I of Castile (Isabella the Catholic Monarch), who had been studying her for over 50 years, wrote about these investigations. In 2006, Westerveld (signed with the pseudonym Godofredo Valle de Ricote) definitively clarifies the real biography of the unknown chess player Juan Ramirez de Lucena, father of Lucena and Ambassador of the Catholic Monarchs. He is finally requiring with this work, which includes family trees, that Lucena is not Luis de Lucena as erroneously stated by almost all historians, but just Lucena as Ricardo Calvo accurately noted in (1997), because so it is recorded in the Chess Book of 1497. Westerveld published three books between 2007 and 2009 on La Celestina, weighing in them as essential thesis that Fernando Rojas did not write the book La Celestina, but Juan del Encina. Moreover, after considerable research he has the thesis that Francisco Delicado, Bartolomé de Torres Naharro and Hernando del Castillo are pseudonyms for Juan del Encina. In 2006, Westerveld, delves into the realm of experts of the Morisco theme with a complex analysis, whose consequence is that the Morisco Ricote is not coming from Esquivias, neither from Albacete as historians say, but from the Ricote Valley. In 2010, the great specialist on the subject of the Morisco, Prof. Dr. Francisco Marquez Villanueva, confirmed in his new book of 2010 the idea of Westerveld.

In 2008, Westerveld completed his thesis that the renaming of the village Negra (Murcia) to Blanca, (Murcia) took place between 1353 and 1362, and that the new name was based on Queen Blanche of Bourbon, legitimate wife of Peter of Castile, sometimes called "the Cruel". Since the eighties, he has the assumption that Antonio de Torquemadanever wrote in 1547 the first Draughts book in the world, that is a common attribution among the historians. Again Jose Antonio Garzon Roger confirmed through extensive research and documents the accuracy of the ideas of Westerveld, locating the bibliographic error. In September 2009, Westerveld participated in the International Symposium on Chess History and Culture: "Valencia, Cradle of Modern Chess", which was held during the Karpov-Kasparov match, and that could be among the contemporary scholars in the History of chess, establishing the origen of Modern Chess in Valencia.

Over the years, Westerveld has credited, as a researcher, an incorruptible independence, and a scrupulous respect for the work of other scholars. His works, full of references, represent the effort and determination that Westerveld applies in his research. It truly is worth mentioning two of his outstanding contributions. First, that the chess Dama is but the evidence in the small wooden board, of the magnificent Queen Isabella I of Castile. Second, that the Draughtsgame derives from the Modern Chessgame and that its origin has to be found in Valencia (Spain). Westerveld is an offical historian of the World Draughts Federation. Both Garzón, as Westerveld, are official members of the History Commission of the Spanish Chess Federation.