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It started in 2014 with one pub crawl tournament in Apeldoorn. These are the two brothers behind it, and what happened since.
The founders
Stefan Kuipers
Co-founder · chess International Master
Stefan came up with the idea for StickChess. He is an International Master in chess, works as a data scientist and regularly commentates at major chess events.
Rick Kuipers
Co-founder · developer
Rick built StickChess and runs its infrastructure. He is a team lead at a SaaS platform and was previously CTO of a web agency.
The story since 2014.
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2014
The first tournament in Apeldoorn
Still called Chess Reporter, and all it did was publish the pairings and collect the results. Nobody had to cycle past every pub any more to tell the teams about the next round and pick up the results.
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2015
Tilburg, Delft and Leiden
Three new cities start running their pub crawl tournament on Chess Reporter.
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2016
Our own pairing algorithm
The first version of our own pairing algorithm, with the pubs built in. Santpoort joins, and Delft plays with 100 teams.
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2017
From Hoorn to Roosendaal
Hoorn, Almelo, Alkmaar and Roosendaal join. Leiden is the first to pass 120 teams, and organisers can now import their participants.
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2018
Groningen and Oisterwijk
Two new cities play their first pub crawl tournament on the platform.
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2019
Chess Reporter becomes StickChess
Dieren plays its first pub crawl tournament and the first school tournament runs on the platform. In December we found StickChess V.O.F., the platform gets its new name and players can sign up online.
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2020
Covid brings everything to a halt
The year starts with Tata Steel on Tour in Eindhoven, Wijk aan Zee and the first pub crawl tournament in Deventer. After that, every pub crawl tournament is postponed or cancelled.
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2021
Farewell to the V.O.F.
In August Apeldoorn and Almelo play again, on a completely rewritten pairing system, and organisers can now sign up themselves. But sadly, over the past year we saw our dream of turning StickChess into a business fall apart. We dissolve StickChess V.O.F., and StickChess carries on as a trade name of LevelUp IT B.V., Rick's holding company.
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2022
The first draughts tournament
Kroegdammen Leiden is the first draughts tournament on the platform. Organisers can now also pair a round by hand.
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2023
Haarlem and a new look
Haarlem plays its first pub crawl tournament. The platform gets a new design, works better on mobile, and organisers can post announcements.
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2024
Barneveld and Dordrecht
Two new cities, and Dordrecht starts with 60 teams straight away.
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2025
Amsterdam and Utrecht
The Amsterdam pub crawl tournament, already in its 31st edition, moves over with 123 teams, and Utrecht starts with more than 100. Vlissingen and Middelburg join too. A new pairing algorithm of our own becomes the default, and at the end of the year check-in on the day arrives.
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2026
StickDraughts and a record
StickDraughts goes live for draughts tournaments, and participants now pay their entry fee online. With 148 teams and 296 participants, the 2nd Utrecht pub crawl tournament becomes the largest tournament so far. Also new: Uden, Leeuwarden and Putten, and the ChessQueens girls' tournament.
Questions? You e-mail the makers.
No help desk or ticket system: your e-mail goes straight to the people who build StickDraughts. Missing something for your tournament? Let us know.
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