Bessel Kok (born 13 December 1941 in Hilversum, Netherlands) is a Dutch businessman and chess organiser living in Prague. He has served in top management positions in telecommunications companies in Belgium (Belgacom) and in the Czech Republic. He was also President of the Belgian-based Banking communications company SWIFT and responsible for SWIFT's sponsorship of several major International chess events.
Kok was the Chairman of World Chess Grandmaster Association from 1985 until 1991, and helped to establish the 2002 Prague Agreement concerning the World Chess Championship.
Kok is also active in the arts. He was the producer of the film The Power of Good: Nicholas Winton about British businessman Nicholas Winton who rescued children from the Nazis. The film won an Emmy Award in 2002.
Kok ran a campaign for presidency of the World Chess Federation against the incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in 2006. [1] The election was held in June, 2006, in Torino, Italy during the World Chess Olympiad and Kok lost 54–96 to Ilyumzhinov.
As of 2013 [update] , Bessel Kok was an Executive Chairman of the pro cycling team Omega Pharma Quick-Step. [2] He is also Chairman of the related Bakala Academy, a center for sport development. [3]
In 2004, he organized the Cow Parade art exhibition in Prague. [4]
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE, is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the governing body of international chess competition. FIDE was founded in Paris, France, on July 20, 1924. Its motto is Gens una sumus, Latin for 'We are one Family'. In 1999, FIDE was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As of December 21, 2023, there are 201 member federations of FIDE.
Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov is a Russian oligarch, administrator and politician. He was President of the Republic of Kalmykia in the Russian Federation from 1993 to 2010, and was president of FIDE, the chess international governing body, from 1995 to 2018. He has also been in the forefront of promoting chess in schools in Russia and overseas. He is the founder of Novy Vzglyad publishing house.
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Champion.
Sir Nicholas George Winton was a British stockbroker and humanitarian who helped to rescue Jewish children who were at risk of being murdered by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. Born to German-Jewish parents who had immigrated to Britain at the beginning of the 20th century, Winton assisted in the rescue of 669 children, most of them Jewish, from Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II. On a brief visit to Czechoslovakia, he helped compile a list of children needing rescue and, returning to Britain, he worked to fulfill the legal requirements of bringing the children to Britain and finding homes and sponsors for them. This operation was later known as the Czech Kindertransport.
Soudal–Quick-Step is a Belgian UCI WorldTeam cycling team led by team manager Patrick Lefevere. The directeurs sportifs are Davide Bramati, Iljo Keisse, Klaas Lodewyck, Wilfried Peeters, Tom Steels and Geert Van Bondt.
The 37th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between May 20 and June 4, 2006, in Turin, Italy. There were 148 teams in the open event and 103 in the women's event. In total, 1307 players were registered.
Ignatius Leong is a professional chess organizer in Singapore and has been one of Asia's leading organizers for more than 20 years. He was awarded by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) as an International Arbiter in 1979, International Organiser in 1995 and FIDE Senior Trainer in 2004. He was also the president of the Singapore Chess Federation from 2007-2015, Founding President and president of ASEAN Chess Confederation from 2000 to 2015, FIDE Vice President from 2002 to 2006 and FIDE General Secretary from 2005 to 2014.
Patrick Lefevere is a Belgian former professional cyclist, who currently serves as the general manager of UCI WorldTeam Soudal–Quick-Step. According to the ranking site Cycling Ranking he is the most successful cycling manager in history.
František Raboň is a Czech mountain biker for the Specialized Racing Factory Mountain Bike Team. He was formerly a road racing cyclist for UCI ProTeams HTC–Highroad, and Omega Pharma–Quick-Step.
Marc Coucke is a Belgian businessman, multimillionaire and media figure. Founder of former BEL20 pharmaceutical company Omega Pharma, he has spread his business interests across several sectors including art, through his company Kamacoucka, and sports, through the co-ownership and sponsorship of the UCI ProTeam Soudal–Quick-Step cycling team, sponsorship of French Ligue 1 side Lille OSC and as major share holder of Belgian Pro League team Anderlecht.
Serge Pauwels is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2020, for Topsport Vlaanderen, the Cervélo TestTeam, Team Sky, Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, Team Dimension Data and the CCC Team.
Peter Velits is a Slovakian former professional road racing cyclist. His career highlights included third place overall and a stage win at the 2010 Vuelta a España, the 2007 World Under-23 Road Race Championships gold and the 2012 Tour of Oman overall victory. Velits was also known as strong time-trialist, winning three consecutive team time trials as a part of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step in 2012 and 2013 and riding on the BMC Racing Team in 2014 UCI Road World Championships. His twin brother, Martin Velits also competed professionally, having raced on the same teams every year until the end of the 2013 season.
Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich is a Russian politician and economist, currently serving as the president of the International Chess Federation, FIDE. He was Deputy Prime Minister in Dmitry Medvedev's Cabinet from 21 May 2012 until 7 May 2018. He was previously an Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation from May 2008 to May 2012. He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.
The 41st Chess Olympiad, organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess event that took place in Tromsø, Norway, between 1–14 August 2014. The organiser was Chess Olympiad Tromsø 2014 AS on behalf of FIDE.
Kristof Vandewalle is a Belgian former professional road cyclist, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2015 for the Topsport Vlaanderen–Mercator, Omega Pharma–Quick-Step and Trek Factory Racing teams. While a member of the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step squad, he won two successive World Team Time Trial Championships and two consecutive Belgian National Time Trial Championships.
The 2012 Tour de Pologne was the 69th running of the Tour de Pologne cycling stage race. It started on 10 July in Karpacz and ended on 16 July in Kraków, after seven stages. It was the 19th race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.
Klein Constantia was a UCI Continental cycling team based in the Czech Republic and a development squad for UCI World Tour team Etixx–Quick-Step. It was set up by Patrick Lefevere in 2013.
Petr Vakoč is a Czech cyclist, who rides for UCI Mountain Bike team Canyon Northwave.
The 43rd Chess Olympiad, organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising open and women's tournaments, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess event held in Batumi, Georgia, from 23 September to 6 October 2018. This was the first Chess Olympiad to take place in Georgia with the Georgian Chess Federation also hosting the Chess World Cup 2017 in Tbilisi.
Georgios Makropoulos is a Greek chess International Master (IM) (1979), seven-times Greek Chess Championship winner. His wife is chess player Marina Makropoulou.