Jan Timman is one of the greatest chess players never to win the world title. For many years ‘the Best of the West’ belonged to the chess elite, collecting quite a few super tournament victories. Three times Timman was a Candidate for the World Championship and his peak in the world rankings was second place, in 1982.
For this definitive collection, Timman has revisited his career and subjected his finest efforts to fresh analysis supported by modern technology. The result is startling and fascinating. From the games that he chose for his Timman’s Selected Games (1994, also published as Chess the Adventurous Way), only 10(!) made the cut. Some games that he had been proud of turned out to be flawed, others that he remembered as messy were actually well played.
Timman’s Triumphs includes wins against great players such as Karpov, Kasparov, Kortchnoi, Smyslov, Tal, Spassky, Bronstein, Larsen and Topalov. The annotations are in the author’s trademark lucid style, a happy mix of colourful background information and sharp, crystal-clear explanations.
Once again Jan Timman shows that he is not only one of the best players the game has seen, but also as one of the best chess analysts and writers.
Jan Timman is the author of highly acclaimed books such as Curacao 1962 and The Art of the Endgame. His best-selling Timman’s Titans won the 2017 English Chess Federation Book of the Year Award. His previous book, The Longest Game, is a riveting account of the epic rivalry between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov.
"I have always been a fan of Timman's way of annotating games. He makes what happens on the board very easily accessible, so much so that you feel yourself fully immersed in the secrets of the game." -- Uwe Bekemann, German Correspondence Chess Federation, on Timman’s Titans
“A compelling read: you know the outcome, yet you are still glued to your seat, turning the pages, going through the games, almost as if you are watching the players in real time.” -- Carsten Hansen, American Chess Magazine, on The Longest Game
“I really like Timman’s annotations. Clear and concise, pointing out all the key moments in the game as well as some excellent positional instruction.” -- Grandmaster Matthew Sadler, former British Champion, on The Longest Game
