Chess: How does White win?

AFTER Bobby Fischer and before the current world No 1 Magnus Carlsen, one of the leading contenders, with Bent Larsen, for the title “Best in the West” was the redoubtable Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman.

Overshadowed by the long dominance of the Russian Ks – Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov – Timman was a Top 5 grandmaster with many Candidates appearances, and he nearly became the first Dutchman in over a half-century to play for a world title.

Thanks to his fine career and a host of Dutch chess sponsors over the years, Timman was invited to top-level events long after his skills had sadly declined – some have suggested that decline may have been hastened by his bohemian lifestyle in Amsterdam – leading to a string of poor finishes and the invites drying up.

Now 61 and considered a veteran of the game, he mainly plays in exhibition matches or theme tournaments. In recent years Timman has been relegated to playing in the B group at the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee; and in the current edition, he’s having a tough time among a field over half of whom weren’t born when he was at his peak.

It’s all a far cry from the dizzy heights of his first-place finish in the A group in 1985, where he was the highest rated player and finished undefeated with +5-0=8, a point ahead of John Nunn and Alexander Beliavsky.

S Tiviakov - J Timman

74th Tata Steel GM-B, (2)

Caro-Kann Defence

1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Bf5 5 Ng3 Bg6 6 Nh3 Nf6 7 Bc4 e6 8 Nf4 Nd5 9 Nxg6 hxg6 10 c3 Nd7 11 Bd2 Qc7 12 Qf3 N7f6 13 0–0–0 0–0–0 14 Bg5 Be7 15 h4 Nh7 16 Bd2 Nhf6 17 Kb1 c5 18 Bg5 cxd4 19 Rxd4 Nb6 20 Rxd8+ Bxd8 21 Bb3 Nfd5 22 Ne4 f6 23 Bc1 g5 24 g3 gxh4 25 gxh4 Qc6 26 Qg3 g5 27 f3 Bc7 28 Qe1 gxh4 29 Rxh4 Rd8 30 c4 Ne7 31 Nxf6 Nf5 32 c5 Nd5 33 Nxd5 exd5 34 Rg4 Re8 35 Qg1 Qe6 36 Re4! Qg8 37 Qxg8 Rxg8 38 Bxd5 1–0