René C. H. Raijmaekers from the Netherlands (born in 1950) is the tournament's doyen and also one of the most active correspondence chess players from the very beginning.

Before retiring a few years ago, he worked as an accountant with specialisation in non-profit organisations. Besides chess René likes cultural sciences (history, philosophy, arts and literature) and also walking around in cities and nature.

René also played chess in a club, but stopped doing so around 1990, although he continued to participate in open tournaments for several years. The simple reason for giving up OTB chess was that he had started studying cultural studies and had to do this in the evenings and at weekends alongside his work. Combining chess and work (with the exception of correspondence chess) and studies would have been too much of a burden for him. Besides, he also needed to have a social life.

René achieved most of his successes as a team player. Among others, he represented the Netherlands in the Final of the 20th Olympiad on board 2 (in 2016-2018) and in the Final of the 21st Olympiad on board 4 (in 2020-2021). 

He quickly recovered from a temporary slump in his correspondence chess rating between 2001 and 2006 to 2294, returning to 2420 within a year and finally breaking the 2500 mark in 2017.  In 2007, he was awarded the title Correspondence Chess Senior International Master (SIM).

In 2024, he achieved his first GM norm in a category 11 norm tournament (WS/GMN/A).