One of the very nicest of his generation

[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]

I'm a little late with the column this week because I was at the Bundesliga over the weekend. My team, Munich 1836, came second in the second division South and will now have a playoff with the second team in the North division, Erkenschwick, for a spot in next year's top flight.

I was very sad to hear the news of Jan Timman's death, though I had been forewarned by the (then) editor of New in Chess Dirk Jan ten Gauzendam that Jan had terminal cancer. Over the years, Jan and I did battle many times, bashing each other to a pulp. He had a small plus score, something like 8-6 in decisive games, including the odd rapid and blitz. Interestingly, although he was a renowned theoretician, we both did much better with black. Of those fourteen decisive games, nine were black wins and in our Candidates' match in London 1989 it was three-nil to Black.

Away from the board, Jan was always excellent company and I always thought that he was one of the very nicest of the generation just a few years older than me. I thought that it would be nice if I showed some of our games here, the first of which has definitely never been published. Before I get into the analysis, which is quite minimal in places, here are a few diagrams with some context surrounding them.

This is from the decisive final game in our Candidates' match (game six in the pgn). Jan now played 23...Nxa2+, which was a good move and I think probably a shock to me at the time, though it doesn't really promise Black that much even though he did win later.

A year or two afterwards I visited Jan in his flat in Amsterdam, and he told me how his neighbour had had a label made for a bottle of wine with the position in the diagram on it. He may even have shown me the bottle - but we definitely didn't drink it!

Master Class Vol.17 - Boris Spassky

In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.

This is from Linares (game eight in the pgn). A couple of moves earlier I'd missed a chance to force a draw, but now I had to suffer with the knight against two bishops. In those far-off days, easy access to tablebases was far in the future, but Jan got a printout of the main lines faxed from Holland and did manage to win it.

Jan Timman at the 1982 Hoogovens Tournament in Wijk aan Zee | Photo: Rob Croes / Anefo

In two of the games which I won with black, the decisive move was "PN4" on different sides of the board. Of course, I remembered the one above from the Candidates' match (game five in the database). But I had forgotten the next diagram from the Phillips and Drew tournament in London 1982 (game two).

Select an entry from the list to switch between games

Understanding Middlegame Strategy Vol 12: Reversed Colour Systems – King’s Indian/Pirc Defence

In this video course, Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov explores the fascinating world of King’s Indian and Pirc structures with colours reversed, often arising from the French or Sicilian.
The King’s Indian Defence is one of the most dynamic openings in chess - and Pirc structures share much of the same DNA. With colours reversed (the King’s Indian Attack), these setups can be just as powerful. What may look modest at first often transforms into highly complex middlegames, where timing, precision, and a deep feel for dynamics make all the difference.
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: Misplaced Pieces

Links

• Previous column: Attack and defence - hidden ideas
• All Speelman's Agony columns