The eldest of Hendrik Baelen’s grandsons, Robert (Rob) Baelen and the author of this book are friends and members of a same chess club. Rob, after selling and emptying his parents’ house in Edegem near Antwerp, found a photo album and a godforsaken red-cover map. It turned out that this map contained his grandfather’s notes about the organization of the 1955 Junior World Championship in Antwerp, while the photo album contained many photos of this tournament, among other things. When Rob showed me the map and photo album, I resolved to write a book on this Junior World Championship based on such a wealth of unknown data.
I am extremely grateful to Rob for allowing me to use this information fully and without time limitations. Initially, the corona pandemic prevented me from consulting in libraries another important source of information, namely the newspapers and magazines of that time. As my research progressed, it became more and more clear to me what an enormous role Mr. Hendrik Baelen – in addition to the organization of this World Championship – has played in the development of youth chess in Belgium. That is why this book, in addition to a rather atypical tournament book, also aspires to be a posthumous tribute to this tireless organizer, the kind of people who often remain under the radar screen in every sport.