Adolf Olland

Adolf Olland (The Netherlands, * 13.4.1867 -† 22.7.1933)                                                                                                            Dr. Adolf Olland studied and worked as a medical doctor in Utrecht. The subject of his thesis was the influence of weather on mortality. A main finding was the increased infant mortality during hot summers. Botany was his hobby. He was three times unofficial and once official champion of the Netherlands, and the second Dutchman who played at master level. He ran several chess columns. Despite a heart desease, he participated in the Dutch championship in 1933, and died during the last round.   Source: Website arves.org (editor Peter Boll)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia    

Adolf Georg Olland (13 April 1867 – 22 July 1933) was the leading Dutch chess master in the time before Max Euwe. Born in Utrecht, he was a medical doctor.   Olland took 3rd at Amsterdam 1887 (Dirk van Foreest won); shared 1st at Amsterdam 1889 (Hauptturnier); took 2nd, behind Rudolf Loman, at Utrecht 1891; took 5th at Groningen 1893 (Loman won); took 2nd, behind Loman, at Rotterdam 1894; shared 1st at Arnheim 1895; took 2nd at Amsterdam 1899 behind Henry Ernest Atkins; took 2nd, behind Rudolf Swiderski, at Munich 1900 (12th DSB–Congress, Hauptturnier).   Olland won at Haarlem 1901; took 8th at Hannover 1902 (13th DSB–Congress, Dawid Janowski won); took 19th at Carlsbad 1907 (Akiba Rubinstein won). He shared 1st with Abraham Speijer at Leiden 1909 (1st NED-ch); took 4th at Stockholm 1912 (8th Nordic-ch, Alexander Alekhine won); took 3rd at Scheveningen 1913 (Alekhine won).   He tied for 7-8th at Hastings 1919 (Victory Congress, José Raúl Capablanca won); tied for 14-15th at Göteborg (B tournament, Paul Johner won); took 3rd at Utrecht 1920 (Quadrangular, Géza Maróczy won); tied for 3rd-4th at Nijmegen 1921 (5th NED-ch, Max Euwe won); took 18th at Scheveningen 1923 (Paul Johner and Rudolf Spielmann won); took 3rd at Utrecht 1927 (Quadrangular, Euwe won); took 7th at Amsterdam 1929 (8th NED-ch, Euwe won); took 8th at The Hague–Leiden 1933 (9th NED-ch, Euwe won).   Olland was very active in match play, competing in 29 matches, all except one in his home town Utrecht. He defeated most Dutch players except Euwe who beat him twice, but lost to foreign masters such as Géza Maróczy, Richard Réti, and Edgar Colle. Olland died of a heart attack playing in the 1933 Dutch Championship at The Hague.

"Olland, a doctor by profession, learned to play chess from his father as a child. He was the founder and long-time chairman of the Utrecht Chess Club, whose members also included the Dutch writer Multatuli. In 1890 he published a chess book for beginners: Theorie en Practijk. At the beginning of the 20th century, Olland reached his sporting peak. In 1899 he came second in Amsterdam, in 1901 he won in Haarlem, in 1912 he came fourth in Stockholm, in 1913 third in Scheveningen and seventh in Hastings in 1919. In 1909 Olland won the first Dutch national championship in Leiden, ahead of Abraham Speijer.

Olland played a number of competitions in his home town of Utrecht, including: against Richard Réti in 1920 4-6 (+3 =2 −5) and 1928 0-5, against Max Euwe in 1921 1.5-5.5 (+1 =1 −5) and 1922 3.5-6.5 (+2 =3 −5), and against Géza Maróczy in 1922 0-4. Olland was friends with the Belgian chess master Edgard Colle, with whom he spent many hours of analysis. In 1933 he died of a heart attack during the 8th Dutch National Championship in The Hague.

A variation in the MacCutcheon Variation of the French Defence is named after Olland: 1. e2–e4 e7–e6 2. d2–d4 d7–d5 3. Nb1–c3 Ng8–f6 4. Bc1–g5 Bf8–b4 5. e4–e5 h7–h6 6. Bg5–c1, the Olland Continuation."

Others: 4 endgame studies composed by him with solution are selected on Dutch Website ARVES.

Source: arves.org