Leo Dijksman (WBEC) deceased

[tmokonen]

I never really knew him (I guess I'm relatively late to the scene), but the many links that point back to his website still show the impact he has had. Condolences to his family and friends.

Regarding the website: is anyone archiving it? It seems odd that you can build up something like that, but then once you die, with one press of a button, it's gone forever. I suppose there's always archive.org, but it's just not the same...

I sure hope Leo's site is being archived, as it is still a useful resource, and an important piece of computer chess history. RIP Leo, you will be missed by our computer chess community.

[jd1]

My condolences to his family and friends. Leo's contribution was immense.

Jerry

[Will Singleton]

Leo was a big inspiration for computerchess. We certainly had some fun years in what seemed the golden times of computerchess in hindsight.

I agree. He provided one of the best and most popular sites in computer chess, and inspired many programmers to compete. And he was always a gentleman in online discussions and correspondence.

Will

[Engin]

RIP my friend

[Edsel Apostol]

This is very sad news! Leo's tournament has been my main motivation in working with the early versions of my engine. I've watched my engine rise through the ranks in his tournaments and that has help me keep going with the development. He used to send me logs when he found out some bugs in my engine.

Like some of us here, we wouldn't be in this hobby without him. Thank you Leo and farewell.

[laoliveirajr]

RIP Leo ...

[kranium]

His love of chess, tolerance, and fair-mindedness will long be remembered.
Never had an unkind word for anyone...

Thanks Leo, for so many years of promoting computer chess at the highest level!

[Tom Likens]

I'm so sorry to hear this news. Leo was such a wonderful guy. I never met him personally, but I corresponded with him often during the hay day of his Winboard tournaments. I'm especially fond of a memory I had of him when Djinn was striving to win Leo's 3rd division championship. We were travelling from New Hampshire to Austin TX, and I would keep logging into his site to find out the results, while simultaneously corresponding with Leo. He was so supportive and you could tell he had a genuine love of what he did. I'm really going to miss him.

R.I.P. Leo, you'll be missed and remembered.

--tom

[Robert Flesher]

I just read a very sad message on WinBoard forum, and I did not notice it was mentioned here. (Sorry if I somehow missed it.)

Leo Dijksman, former organizer of one of the highest quality engine competitions ever for many years, (WBEC Ridderkerk, or "WinBoard Engine Competition"), has finally succumbed to the terminal disease he was suffering from these past years.

Very sad news! I followed Leo's website for many years.

[tmokonen]

The main page of http://wbec-ridderkerk.nl is back, with all the links pointing to archive.org archived versions of the WBEC pages. A nice gesture from the person that registered the domain.