Timman’s Titans by GM Jan Timman May 29, 2024

Test Your Tactics and Creativity with a Fascinating Trip through Chess History

Over the course of his career, GM Jan Timman went toe to toe with the best players in history – even playing a match for the FIDE World Championship against Anatoly Karpov. This course features his deeply personal experiences competing against the very greatest chess players.

Based on the 2017 award-winning New In Chess book, Timman’s Titans is packed full of fascinating episodes and his favorite games by the World Champions, along with his own battles against them.

“Timman’s Titans is the most informative, interesting and revealing book on the world champions covered, both as people and chess players. A disparate group of men whose only common characteristic was their chess genius (even that was not identical, they all played in different ways), matched only by their love of the game. Timman shows himself as a great player, only just short of world champion class, but equally in love with chess as the subjects of this book.
What lifts this book is Timman’s affectionate, intimate descriptions of the personalities of the world champions. “From the ECF judge’s panel for the 2017 Book of the Year

The course weaves GM Timman’s lucid and illustrative annotations of the games with his personal anecdotes. His insightful annotations on the games themselves make this must-read content on their own, but his personal opinions of the players & their personalities are where this book really shines. It’s a look behind the curtain at chess history over several decades.

Read the stories and then train the puzzles

This course is also the perfect opportunity to improve your own skills. Timman’s instructive annotations are of the very highest quality, giving you an accessible way to understand why the best players play their moves and how you can do the same.

As an aggressive, tactical player, Timman’s games feature many attacking masterpieces. You’ll learn a lot by working through these tough training exercises – each chapter is packed full of tricky puzzles to help you improve your tactical prowess.

Timman’s battles with Tal were real slugfests

Throughout the course, you’ll get an insider’s look at:

🏆His first encounter with Mikhail Tal and a solemn visit to his grave
🏆Timman’s 1993 World Championship match against Anatoly Karpov
🏆His surprise meeting with , long after Fischer had left the public eye
🏆Over-the-board battles with everyone from Max Euwe through to Garry Kasparov
🏆Over 250 trainable puzzles from elite level chess games

Kasparov-Topalov, 1999 – do you know the famous move that Kasparov played here? Could you calculate it to the end?

This course is mandatory reading for anyone with an interest in chess history, it’s the perfect opportunity to read some fantastic stories and improve your chess along the way. As a former world #2, Timman’s unique perspective and lucid writing style will be an eye-opening experience for the reader, allowing you to see what it was really like to compete against the best chess players of all time.