Key Points
- Dutch chess Grandmaster Jan Timman, known as "the best of the West', passed away at the age of 74.
- Timman was a World Championship contender and the strongest non-Soviet player of his generation.
- He won his last Dutch national championship in 1996.
Dutch chess Grandmaster Jan Timman, known as "the best of the West" in a time when chess was dominated by players from the Soviet Union, has died at the age of 74, the Dutch Chess Federation said on Thursday.
Nine-time Dutch champion Timman reached second place on the world ranking in 1982, behind Soviet great Anatoly Karpov, and won several prestigious tournaments throughout the 1980s.
He got a shot at the title of world champion in 1993 when he was invited to play the final of the Candidates Tournament against Karpov, after defending world champion Garry Kasparov had broken away from the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
Timman lost the final by 12.5 to 8.5, and saw his career slowly fade after that. He won his last Dutch national championship in 1996, and later in his life published various books on chess including one on the only Dutch world champion, Max Euwe.
In a 2023 interview, Timman said he regretted never reaching the top spot in chess, but admitted he had never wanted to change his bohemian lifestyle for it.
"I would not choose chess as my profession these days," Timman told Dutch newspaper NRC.
"They just sit behind computers all day. It's not just traveling around and having a fun life, like I did. It was a hippie life, but with a purpose."
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