Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 to 1985, a three-time FIDE World Champion, twice World Chess champion as a member of the USSR team, and a six-time winner of Chess Olympiads as a member of the USSR team. The International Association of Chess Press awarded him nine Chess Oscars.
Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder was a Flemish-born Dutch still life painter and art dealer. He is recognised as one of the earliest painters who created floral still lifes as an independent genre. He founded a dynasty of painters who continued his style of floral and fruit painting and turned Middelburg into the leading centre for flower painting in the Dutch Republic.
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.
Jan Timman is a Dutch chess grandmaster who was one of the world's leading chess players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career, he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known as "The Best of the West". He has won the Dutch Chess Championship nine times and has been a Candidate for the World Chess Championship several times. He lost the title match of the 1993 FIDE World Championship against Anatoly Karpov.
Middelburg is a city and municipality in the south-western Netherlands serving as the capital of the province of Zeeland. Situated on the central peninsula of the Zeeland province, Midden-Zeeland, it has a population of about 48,000.
Machgielis "Max" Euwe was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. He served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978.
Hans Lipperhey, also known as Johann Lippershey or simply Lippershey, was a German-Dutch spectacle-maker. He is commonly associated with the invention of the telescope, because he was the first one who tried to obtain a patent for it. It is, however, unclear if he was the first one to build a telescope.
Jan Gossaert was a French-speaking painter from the Low Countries also known as Jan Mabuse or Jennyn van Hennegouwe (Hainaut), as he called himself when he matriculated in the Guild of Saint Luke, at Antwerp, in 1503. He was one of the first painters of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting to visit Italy and Rome, which he did in 1508–09, and a leader of the style known as Romanism, which brought elements of Italian Renaissance painting to the north, sometimes with a rather awkward effect. He achieved fame across at least northern Europe, and painted religious subjects, including large altarpieces, but also portraits and mythological subjects, including some nudity.
Lubomir (Lubosh) Kavalek was a Czech-American chess player. He was awarded both the International Master and International Grandmaster titles by FIDE in 1965. He won two Czechoslovak and three U.S. championships, and was ranked as the world's No. 10 player in 1974. He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 2001. Kavalek was also a chess coach, organizer, teacher, commentator, author and award-winning columnist.
Johannes Govertus de Man, was a Dutch biologist. He was assistant curator at the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in Leiden, where he specialised in free-living nematodes and decapod crustaceans, although he also wrote papers on flatworms, sipunculids and, in his dissertation only, vertebrates. His change away from vertebrates disappointed the director of the museum, and de Man left his job there after eleven years. For the rest of his life, de Man worked at his parents' house in Middelburg and later at a house near the shore at Yerseke in the Oosterschelde estuary, relying on his family's private income.
Klaas Bruinsma was a major Dutch drug lord. He was shot dead on 27 June 1991 by organized crime member and former police officer Martin Hoogland. He was known as "De Lange" and also as "De Dominee" because of his black clothing and his habit of lecturing others.
The Battle of the Scheldt also known as the Battle of Walcheren was a naval battle that took place on 29 January 1574 during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War. The battle was fought between a Dutch rebel Sea Beggar fleet under Lodewijk van Boisot and a Spanish fleet under Julián Romero. The Spanish fleet was attempting to relieve the Spanish held town of Middelburg which was under siege but the fleet under Boisot intercepted them and were victorious with the destruction or capture of nearly fifteen ships. Middelburg as a result then surrendered only nine days later along with Arnemuiden.
Jack Middelburg was a Dutch professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. Together with Wil Hartog and Boet van Dulmen, he was part of a contingent of Dutch riders who competed at the highest levels of Grand Prix racing in the late 1970s. Middelburg never earned a factory-sponsored race bike, yet managed to post some impressive results.
Francois (Frans) Verwilt was as a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter.
Albertus Anthonie (Albert) de Vries is a Dutch politician. As a member of the Labour Party he was a member of the House of Representatives between 20 September 2012 and 23 March 2017. Previously he was an alderman of the municipality of Middelburg from March 2002 to 1 October 2012.
The siege of Middelburg (1572–1574) lasted over a year during the Eighty Years' War. A Dutch rebel army with the support of the English laid siege to Middelburg, which was being held by Spanish forces under Cristóbal de Mondragón, on 4 November 1572. The Spanish held out and only capitulated on 18 February 1574, when news arrived that a relief effort to save Middelburg was defeated at Rimmerswiel.
University College Roosevelt (UCR), formerly known as Roosevelt Academy (RA), is a small, honors undergraduate liberal arts and science college located in Middelburg in the Netherlands and the sole university in Zeeland. It offers a residential setting, and is an international honors college of Utrecht University. It is named in honour of the Roosevelt family, which traces its ancestry to the province of Zeeland.
Jan de Voogd was a Dutch politician, he served as member of the House of Representatives for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy between 1977 and 1981. He was also active in politics in his native province of Zeeland, serving as member of the States of Zeeland between June 1974 and March 1991 and concurrently as member of the Provincial-Executive from 1982 to March 1991.
Hendricus Leopold was a Dutch diplomat. He helped prepare the opening of an embassy in Indonesia. He served as first ambassador of the Netherlands to Suriname, and as ambassador to India.
Chris Simons is a Dutch politician. He serves as a member of the House of Representatives since 22 March 2022. Simons is a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).
