Jan Hein Donner

Hein Donner
Donner in 1978
Full nameJohannes Hendrikus (Hein) Donner
CountryNetherlands
Born(1927-07-06)July 6, 1927
The Hague, Netherlands
DiedNovember 27, 1988(1988-11-27) (aged 61)
TitleGrandmaster (1959)
Peak rating2500 (July 1971)
Peak rankingNo. 77 (July 1971)

Johannes Hendrikus (Hein) Donner (July 6, 1927 – November 27, 1988) was a Dutch chess grandmaster and writer. Donner was born in The Hague and won the Dutch Championship in 1954, 1957, and 1958. He took part in the International Chess Tournament (1956), Donner came third, behind Larsen and Darga.[1] FIDE, the World Chess Federation, awarded him the GM title in 1959. He played for the Netherlands in the Chess Olympiads 11 times (1950–1954, 1958–1962, 1968, 1972–1978).[2] He was the uncle of the former Dutch Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, Piet Hein Donner.

On August 24, 1983, Donner suffered a stroke, which he wrote happened "just in time, because when you are 56 you do not play chess as well as you did when you were 26".[3] After surviving the stroke, he went to live in Vreugdehof, which he described as "a kind of nursing-home". He was unable to walk, but had learned to type with one finger, and wrote for NRC Handelsblad and Schaaknieuws.[4]

The character Onno Quist in the novel (and film) The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch is based on Donner.

  1. ^ Mendez, Pedro; Mendez, Luis (2019). The Gijon International Chess Tournaments. McFarland. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-4766-7659-3.
  2. ^ "Men's Chess Olympiads: Jan Donner". OlimpBase. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  3. ^ Donner 2006, p. 5.
  4. ^ Donner 2006, p. 381 (originally published in Schaaknieuws, 20 September 1986).