Meet the Fritztrainer - Merijn van Delft

by Arne Kaehler
1/7/2021 – Hundreds of different Fritztrainers have been teaching us chess on ChessBase for more than a decade. Maybe you sometimes wonder what else the authors of these Fritztrainers do? "Meet the Fritztrainer" takes a look behind the scenes, telling us more about the private life of your favourite chess trainer. We already had the pleasure to talk to GM Chris Ward, and in this second episode we turn our attention to IM Merijn van Delft. The Dutch IM talks a bit about his weekly show "Game of the week", his first Fritztrainer and what "chess" means to him. | Photos: Merijn van Delft
When it comes to strategy, one of the key things that chess professionals understand much better than amateur players is the role of the bishop which is the key theme on this video course.

Meet the Fritztrainer - Merijn van Delft

Merijn van Delft is an International Master from the Netherlands who lived in Hamburg for many years and is currently based in Amsterdam. After scoring a GM norm in 2017 he is eager for more. His ChessBase show on Wednesday evenings has been running for over ten years now. Merijn’s activities as a full-time chess professional include training both top juniors and ambitious amateurs, coaching at tournaments, writing articles and books, doing live commentary, organizing tournaments and other chess events.

At the end of last year van Delft's first Fritztrainer came out on ChessBase - Practical Chess Strategy: The Bishop. He has selected 12 instructive games on the subject of the bishop. Most of these games are from absolute elite players, while some are from his own tournament practice, and thus contain first hand explanations.

  • 0:50 - Who are you? 
  • 2:52 - How long do you prepare for your "Game of the week" shows?
  • 6:04 - How come you chose the bishop for your first Fritztrainer?
  • 9:07 - What is the more beautiful city? Hamburg or Amsterdam?
  • 10:29 - What does "chess" mean to you?
  • 13:23 - Who is your favourite chess player?
  • 13:51 - What is your favourite chess book?
  • 14:27 - What is your favourite chess film or series?
  • 14:44 - What is your favourite opening as White and Black?
  • 15:07 - Carlsen or Nakamura?
  • 15:52 - Knight or Bishop?

When it comes to strategy, one of the key things that chess professionals understand much better than amateur players is the role of the bishop which is the key theme on this video course.

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Arne Kaehler, a creative mind who is passionate about board games in general, was born in Hamburg and learned to play chess at a young age. By teaching chess to youth teams and creating chess-related videos on YouTube, Arne was able to expand this passion and has even created an online course for anyone who wants to learn how to play chess. Arne writes for the English and German news sites, but focuses mainly on content for the ChessBase media channels.

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