Govert Westerveld

Govert Westerveld (Monnickendam (Netherlands), 1947) is a former Draughts player, official Historian of the village Blanca, Murcia, situated in the Ricote Valley in the Region of Murcia. He is Hispanist, Historian and Researcher of Alquerque, Chess, Draughts, La Celestina, Morisco and Spanish Civil War. In 1963, he beat Ton Sijbrands from Amsterdam and won thereafter with 15 years the Dutch Youth Championship of Draughts. In his daily work he is expert in Competitive Intelligence, Innovative Entrepreneur and Researcher of new foreign markets.
He established himself in 1974 in Spain and was a founder member of Zoster S.A., a Company of natural extracts. In 1989, the founders sold this firm to Carlos Ferrer Salat, ex-president from 1987-1998 of the Spanish Olympic Committee. Westerveld published in 1994 and 1997 his works on the influence of the Queen Isabella I of Castile on the new powerful Dama, breaking the myth of other international historians that the Draughts game was a French invention and that the new powerful Dama in Chess was an Italian or French achievement. Since then, his research focused on the history of the town of Blanca, Murcia. In 2002, the village Blanca, Murcia elected him as Official Chronicler, together with his friend, Angel Rios Martinez. In the same year, the Real Academia Alfonso X el Sabio at Murcia elected him as Fellow, taking into account the merits of his work in relation to the culture of the Region of Murcia.
In 2004, the Valencian Community released his book "Queen Isabella: her reflection on the powerful Dama of Valencia, the birthplace of Modern Chess and origin of Draughts”, a book in which the chess historian Jose Antonio Garzon Roger participated actively. The latter confirmed the hypothesis of Isabella I of Castile and the documentary evidence found in Scachs d'amor, with revelations of important national and global impacts. In 2005, the International Association of Hispanists, elected him as a member . Garzon's and Westerveld’s investigations deserved recognition at all levels, so that even Professor Luis Suárez Fernández, the top expert on Isabelle I of Castile (Isabella the Catholic Monarch), who had been studying her for over 50 years, wrote about these investigations.
In 2006, Westerveld (signed with the pseudonym Godofredo Valle de Ricote) definitively clarifies the real biography of the unknown chess player Juan Ramirez de Lucena, father of Lucena and Ambassador of the Catholic Monarchs. He is finally requiring with this work, which includes family trees, that Lucena is not Luis de Lucena as erroneously stated by almost all historians, but just Lucena as Ricardo Calvo accurately noted in (1997), because so it is recorded in the Chess Book of 1497. Westerveld published three books between 2007 and 2009 on La Celestina, weighing in them as essential thesis that Fernando Rojas did not write the book La Celestina, but Juan del Encina. Moreover, after considerable research he has the thesis that Francisco Delicado, Bartolomé de Torres Naharro and Hernando del Castillo are pseudonyms for Juan del Encina.
In 2006, Westerveld, delves into the realm of experts of the Morisco theme with a complex analysis, whose consequence is that the Morisco Ricote is not coming from Esquivias, neither from Albacete as historians say, but from the Ricote Valley. In 2010, the great specialist on the subject of the Morisco, Prof. Dr. Francisco Marquez Villanueva, confirmed in his new book of 2010 the idea of Westerveld. In 2008, Westerveld completed his thesis that the renaming of the village Negra, Murcia to Blanca, Murcia took place between 1353 and 1362, and that the new name was based on Queen Blanche of Bourbon, legitimate wife of Peter of Castile, sometimes called "the Cruel". Since the 1980s, he has the assumption that Antonio de Torquemada never wrote in 1547 the first Draughts book in the world, that is a common attribution among the historians. Again Jose Antonio Garzon Roger confirmed through extensive research and documents the accuracy of the ideas of Westerveld, locating the bibliographic error. On April 25, 2012, Garzon was awarded the 'Merit Prize of Valencia City Sports' for his important historical findings of chess.In September 2009, Westerveld participated in the International Symposium on Chess History and Culture: "Valencia, Cradle of Modern Chess", which was held during the Karpov-Kasparov match, and that could be among the contemporary scholars in the History of chess, establishing the origen of Modern Chess in Valencia.

Over the years, Westerveld has credited, as a researcher, an incorruptible independence, and a scrupulous respect for the work of other scholars. His works, full of references, represent the effort and determination that Westerveld applies in his research. It truly is worth mentioning two of his outstanding contributions. First, that the chess Dama is but the evidence in the small wooden board, of the magnificent Queen Over the years, Westerveld has credited, as a researcher, an incorruptible independence, and a scrupulous respect for the work of other scholars. His works, full of references, represent the effort and determination that Westerveld applies in his research. It truly is worth mentioning two of his outstanding contributions. First, that the chess Dama is but the evidence in the small wooden board, of the magnificent Queen Isabella I of Castile. Second, that the Draughts game derives from the Modern Chess game and that its origin has to be found in Valencia Valencia Spain.
Bibliography
# Lucena (1497). Repetición de amores, y Arte de ajedrez. Salamanca.
# Lucena (1500?). Tratado sobre la muerte de D. Diego de Acebedo, compuesto por Lucena.
# Westerveld, Govert (1994). Historia de la nueva dama poderosa en el juego de Ajedrez y Damas. (History of the new powerful Queen in the game of chess and draught), pages 103-225. Homo Ludens: Der spielende Mensch IV, Internationale Beiträge des Institutes für Spielforschung und Spielpädagogik an der Hochschule "Mozarteum" - Salzburg. Herausgegeben von Prof. Mag. Dr. Günther C. Bauer.
# Westerveld, Govert (1997). La influencia de la reina Isabel la Católica sobre la nueva dama poderosa en el origen del juego de las damas y el ajedrez moderno. The influence of the Queen "Isabel la Católica" on the new powerful dama in the origin of the draughts and modern chess game. En colaboración con Rob Jansen, Amsterdam. (Prólogo de Dr. Ricardo Calvo y Prof. Dr. Juan Torres Fontes). Editor Govert Westerveld, Beniel. ISBN 84-605-6372-3
# Westerveld, Govert (1997). Historia de Blanca, lugar más islamizado de la región murciana, años 711-1700. (Prólogo del Prof. Dr. Juan Torres Fontes - Universidad de Murcia) ISBN 84-923151-0-5
# Calvo, Ricardo (1997). Lucena. La evasión en ajedrez del converso Calisto. (Prólogo de Fernando Arrabal). Perea Ediciones, Pedro Muñoz (Ciudad Real). ISBN 84-7729-217-5
# Castellví, Francí de; Vinyols, Narcís; Fenollar, Bernat (1475-1999), (Scachs d'amor). El poema Scachs d'amor: (siglo XV): primer texto conservado sobre ajedrez moderno / análisis y comentarios por Ricardo Calvo. (Prólogo de José Antonio Garzón Roger). Editorial Jaque XXI, Madrid. ISBN 84-923279-3-6
# Westerveld, Govert (1997). Blanca, "El Ricote" de Don Quijote: expulsión y regreso de los moriscos del último enclave islámico más grande de España, años 1613-1654. (Prólogo del Prof. Dr. Francisco Márquez Villanueva - University of Harvard - USA). ISBN 84-923151-1-3
# Westerveld, Govert (2004), La reina Isabel la Católica, su reflejo en la dama poderosa de Valencia, cuna de ajedrez moderno y origen del juego de damas. En colaboración con José Antonio Garzón Roger, Valencia. (Prólogo de Prof. Dr. Juan Torres Fontes). Generalidad Valenciana, Secretaria Automòmica de Cultura. ISBN 84-482-3718-8
# Suárez Fernández, Luis (2006). Dama poderosa: Isabel la Católica y el Ajedrez. En: Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 2006tomo CCIII-cuaderno III septiembre-diciembre, págs. 381-383
# Valle de Ricote, Gofredo (2006), Los tres autores de la Celestina: el judeoconverso Juan Ramírez de Lucena, sus hijos Fernando de Rojas (Lucena) y Juan del Encina (alias Bartolomé Torres Naharro y Francisco Delicado). Tomo I: Biografía, estudio y documentos del antiguo autor de la Celestina, el ajedrecista Juan Ramírez de Lucena. (Prólogo Prof. Dr. Ángel Alcalá). Blanca. ISBN 84-923151-4-8
# Westerveld, Govert (2007). Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Ana Félix y el morisco Ricote del Valle de Ricote en "Don Quijote II" del año 1615. (capítulos 54, 55, 63, 64 y 65). ISBN 84-923151-5-6
# Valle de Ricote, Gofredo (2008), Los tres autores de la Celestina: el judeoconverso Juan Ramírez de Lucena, sus hijos Fernando de Rojas (Lucena) y Juan del Encina (alias Bartolomé Torres Naharro y Francisco Delicado). Tomo II: El libro perdido de Lucena. “Tractado sobre la muerte de Don Diego de Azevedo”. Blanca. ISBN 84-612604-0-9
# Westerveld, Govert (2008), Doña Blanca y Don Fadrique (1333-1361) y el cambio de Negra (Murcia) a Blanca. (Prólogo del Prof. Luis Molina Molina - Universidad de Murcia). ISBN 84-612-6039-3
# Valle de Ricote, Gofredo (2009), Los tres autores de La Celestina: El judeoconverso Juan Ramírez de Lucena, sus hijos Fernando de Rojas (Lucena) y Juan del Encina (alias Lucena, Bartolomé Torres Naharro y Francisco Delicado). Tomo III: El misterioso Juan del Encina. Blanca. ISBN 84-613-2191-9
# Valle de Ricote, Gofredo (2009), Los tres autores de La Celestina: El judeoconverso Juan Ramírez de Lucena, sus hijos Fernando de Rojas (Lucena) y Juan del Encina (alias Lucena, Bartolomé Torres Naharro y Francisco Delicado). Tomo IV: La Celestina: un señuelo, Fernando de Rojas, y un autor velado, Juan del Encina. Blanca. ISBN 84-613-2189-6

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