Jan Timman
Dutch chess grandmaster (1951–2026)
Why this is trending
Interest in “Jan Timman” spiked on Wikipedia on 2026-02-25.
Categorised under Sports, this article fits a familiar pattern. In the sports world, trending articles usually correspond to recent match results, draft picks, or athlete milestones.
GlyphSignal tracks these patterns daily, turning raw Wikipedia traffic data into a curated feed of what the world is curious about. Every spike tells a story.
Key Takeaways
- Jan Hendrik Timman (14 December 1951 – 18 February 2026) was a Dutch chess grandmaster who was one of the world's leading players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.
- He won the Dutch Chess Championship nine times and was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship several times.
- Early career Jan Timman was born on 14 December 1951 in Amsterdam.
- His older brother, Ton (1948–2014), held the chess title of FIDE Master.
- Timman received the International Master title in 1971, and in 1974 attained Grandmaster status, making him the Netherlands' third after Max Euwe and Jan Hein Donner.
Jan Hendrik Timman (14 December 1951 – 18 February 2026) was a Dutch chess grandmaster who was one of the world's leading players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career, he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known as "The Best of the West". He won the Dutch Chess Championship nine times and was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship several times. He lost the title match of the 1993 FIDE World Championship against Anatoly Karpov.
Early career
Jan Timman was born on 14 December 1951 in Amsterdam. He was the son of mathematics professor Reinier Timman and his wife Anneke, who as a schoolgirl was a mathematics student of former world champion Max Euwe. His older brother, Ton (1948–2014), held the chess title of FIDE Master. Jan Timman was already an outstanding prospect in his early teens, and at Jerusalem 1967 played in the World Junior Championship, aged fifteen, finishing third.
Timman received the International Master title in 1971, and in 1974 attained Grandmaster status, making him the Netherlands' third after Max Euwe and Jan Hein Donner. In the same year he won the Dutch Championship for the first time. He was to win it again on many more occasions through 1996. His first notable international success was at Hastings 1973/74, where he shared victory with Tal, Kuzmin, and Szabó. A string of victories quickly followed at Sombor 1974 (with Boris Gulko), Netanya 1975, Reykjavík 1976 (with Fridrik Olafsson), Amsterdam IBM 1978, Nikšić 1978, and Bled/Portorož 1979.
Content sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0
