[1] Werle continued to develop over the next years, combining a structured coaching regime with frequent tournament practice.

At Liverpool in 2008, he made only a last-minute decision to enter the EU Individual Open Chess Championship and won the event, ahead of many of Europe's leading players, including Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Étienne Bacrot and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

In the German Bundesliga, he was played for SG Aljechin Solingen, alongside compatriots Daniel Stellwagen, Jan Smeets and Sipke Ernst.

Although he is yet to play for the national team in formal competition, he has been a regular participant in the Howard Staunton Memorial Tournament in London (which occasionally doubles as an informal England vs Netherlands match).

He admits that he finds the mental rigours of two such analytical and memory-intensive disciplines extremely demanding and can see the benefits of combining academic study with a more physical sport.