Timman's Triumphs

Jan Timman is one of the greatest chess players who never won the world title. For many years, "the best of the West" belonged to the chess elite, obtaining quite a few victories in super tournaments. 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 best efforts to a new analysis supported by modern technology. The result is surprising and fascinating. Of the games he chose for his Timman's Selected Games (1994, also published as Chess the Adventurous Way), only 10 (!) made the cut. Some games he had been proud of turned out to be flawed, others he remembered as messy were actually well played.

Timman's Triumphs includes victories against big players such as Karpov, Kasparov, Kortchnoi, Smyslov, Tal, Spassky, Bronstein, Larsen and Topalov. The annotations are in the author's characteristic lucid style, a joyful blend of colorful background information and clear, sharp explanations.

Once again, Jan Timman proves that he is not only one of the best players to ever watch the game, but also one of the best chess analysts and writers.

Jan Timman he's the author of highly acclaimed books like Curacao 1962 and The Art of the Endgame. What. His bestselling Timman’s Titans won the English Chess Federation Book of the Year award in 2017. His previous book, The Longest Game, is a fascinating account of the epic rivalry between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov.

"I've always been a fan of the way Timman scores games. He makes what happens on the board so accessible that you feel completely immersed in the secrets of the game". - Uwe Bekemann, German Chess Federation by Correspondence, about Timman's Titans.

"A compelling read: you know the result, but you're still glued to your seat, flipping through the pages, going through the games, almost as if you're watching the players in real time". - Carsten Hansen, American chess magazine, on the longest game

I really like Timman's notes. Clear and concise, pointing out all the key moments of the game as well as excellent positional instruction". - Grandmaster Matthew Sadler, former British champion, in The Longest Game