Career
In 1993 he qualified for the Candidates Tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996, but was eliminated in the first round (+1 -3 =3) by Gata Kamsky. Van der Sterren represented the Netherlands in 10 consecutive Chess Olympiads from 1982 through 2000. He is the author of the one-volume opening encyclopedia Fundamental Chess Openings, which was published in 2009.