Jan Hendrik Timman (December 14, 1951, Amsterdam) Dutch chess Grandmaster, ninefold Dutch champion, has won the silver medal in team and the individual gold medal in the Olympiad. He was World Championship Candidate several times and a European Champion. He is a chess puzzle writer and a chess writer.

He was one of the best worldwide at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s. He was also considered to be the best among the non-Soviet chess players. He was called ‘the Best of the West’. His highest rating according to Chessmetrics historical rating system is 2768, he was ranked third as his best and had this fine position between August 1984 and October 1989 in 13 different months.

He won the Dutch Junior Championship at the age of 12 and won third place in the the World Junior Chess Championship at the age of 15.

He received the International Master title in 1971 and became an International Grandmaster in 1974. Only two other compatriots of his received this title, Max Euwe and Jan Hein Donner. He won the Dutch Chess Championship in 1974 and came first on another eight occasions (1975, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1987 and 1996).

He entered the World Chess Championship in 1972 for the first time and was ranked 8th in the Interzonal. In the following World Championship in 1975 he was ranked 7th.

In the 1979/1981 World Championship cycle he tied for the first place in the Amsterdam Interzonal and qualified for the Rio de Janeiro Interzonal where he was ranked 4th.

In the Las Palmas Interzonal in 1984 he only achieved 6th place.

He could enter the Candidates in 1987 and advanced to the eight-player Candidates in Montpellier during the round robin tournament. However, during the first pairing based match Artur Yusupov beat him 6-3.

In the 1990 World Championship cycle he got to the Candidates Final but was beaten by Anatoly Karpov 6,5-2,5.

During the 1993 World Championship cycle he beat the Candidate Robert Hübner 4,5-2,5 then he won the quarter-final against Viktor Korchnoi with the same result of 4,5-2,5. In the semi final he beat Artur Yusupov by 6-4  but he lost the final 7,5-5,5 against the British Nigel Short. However, as Short and Garry Kasparov fought the World Championship Final outside FIDE World Chess Federation, FIDE decided that Timman and Anatoly Karpov would fight for the World Champion title. Timman lost the game 12,5-8,5.

In the 1994/96, 1998 and 1999 World Championship cycles he could not advance to the Final and could not enter for the World Champion title anymore.

Between 1972 and 2004 he represented the Netherlands in 13 Chess Olympiads, 12 times on the first board. In the Haifa Chess Olympiad in 1976 he received a team silver medal and an individual gold medal according to his board results.

In the 1999 World Team Chess Championship he was in the Dutch National Team ranked 9th, individual ranking 4th place.

He participated in European Team Chess Championships as a member of the Dutch National Team three times in 1983, 1997 and 2005. In 1983, the team received 5th place and Timman won the championship. In 2005, the Netherlands won the European Team Chess Championship. Timman contributed to this success with the 5th place on Board 4.

In the past few years he has won several tournaments and received second place as well. For example, in 2014, he tied for 2nd place with Baadur Jobava in a tournament in Wijk aan Zee. He still competes in tournaments.

He is a famous chess puzzle writer and some of his puzzles have even won awards. His professional work is appreciated so much that a chess puzzle competition was organized for his 60th birthday (J. Timman-60 Jubilee Tourney 2012) as a sign of respect.

Timman is also considered to be one of the best Chess Analysts and he provides a lot of practical advice in his book, the Art of Chess Analysis. He was the founder of the “New in Chess” periodical and publishing company and is the Honorary Editor of it.

Sources: https://hu.wikipedia.org; http://www.chessmetrics.com