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Perpetual Chess Podcast

EP 336- GM Jan Timman: The Legendary Author and Dutch Champion discusses his new book on Max Euwe, How his Generation Compares to the Current One, and Magnus and the Modern Chess Landscape

Perpetual Chess Podcast

Perpetual Chess LLC

Sports, Leisure, Hobbies

4.8678 Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2023

⏱️ 67 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week we are re-joined by a legend of the game, 9 time Dutch champion and award winning author, GM Jan Timman. GM Timman has just released his latest book, Max Euwe’s Best Games, which puts the games of his fellow Dutch legend under a modern microscope. We discuss Jan’s personal relationship with Euwe, and Jan answers some questions about the World Champion’s legacy. Is it fair to say that Euwe only beat Alekhine in 1935 due to Alekhine’s drinking problem? What were Euwe’s best games? How did he develop his tactical flair? Why did he blunder more often than other elite players? We also discuss other news from the chess world, as GM Timman shares thoughts and stories on Magnus Carlsen, Hans Niemann, Garry Kasparov, and the state of Dutch chess. It is always an honor to speak with GM Jan Timman!  Please read on for timestamps of topics discussed. Prior GM Jan Timman appearances:  Episode 196 2021 Discussion of the Carlsen-Nepo match  0:02- GM Jan Timman shares his personal recollections of former World Champion Max Euwe, who Jan played in a simul as an 11 year old boy.  0:07- Jan took a trip for a chess training camp to the Soviet Union as a 19-year-old in 1970. What was that trip like? 10:00- Jan has described one of Max Euwe’s books as formative for him as a child, what does he remember about the “book with a blue cover?”  14:00- Does Jan consider quantitative analyses of players’ ability, such as that done by Chessmetrics to be useful?  Mentioned: Euwe-Pirc 1949, Boguljubow 15:00- Patreon mailbag question: Is the perception that Max Euwe was a weaker world champion an accurate one?  18:00- Is it true that Euwe beat Alekhine because Alekhine was drunk the entire match? 20:00- How does Jan think Euwe developed such a creative style, as evidenced in his games against Alekhine and Geller? Mentioned: Euwe-Alekhine 1934, Euwe-Geller 1953 21:45- GM Timman discusses the approaches to chess of Karpov, Kasparov and Tal.  23:00- Why did Euwe blunder so often? 26:30- What are Jan’s favorite games of Euwe’s?  Mentioned: Euwe-Geller 1953 Euwe-Pirc 1949 Euwe-Alekhine 1935 (Pearl of Zandvoort)  29:30- Jan discusses the Max Euwe center in Amsterdam.  Mentioned: More information on the center here: https://maxeuwe.nl/en/home-english/ 31:30- Jan shares his thoughts on the World Championship match.  35:00- What does Jan think of Magnus Carlsen’s slump? He also shares his thoughts on the World Championship cycle format.  Mentioned: Caruana-Nakamura Norway Chess 2023  41:00- Patreon mailbag question: Is there any facet of chess where Timman’s generation of GMs are better than modern GMs?  44:00- What would be the best way to study endgames today?  Mentioned: GM John Nunn’s Secrets of Rook Endings, Levinfish and Smyslov’s Rook Endings  48:00- Patreon mailbag question: Any chance GM Timman would do a 21st century update to The Art of Chess Analysis? 50:00- Patreon mailbag question: Does Jan have a good GM Ljubomir Ljubojević story?  51:00- Which players in the younger generation does Jan admire? Mentioned: GM D Gukesh, GM Hans Nieman 52:00- Jan’s thoughts on the Niemann-Carlsen controversy  Mentioned: 2023 Samford Fellowship Winners  56:00- Jan discusses his upcoming tournament plans.  58:00- Jan shares his memories of a television interview he did with Kasparov in 1997 as well as some of their games  Mentioned: Timman-Kasparov 1985 , Kasparov-Timman 1992 1:00:00- Does Jan ever look at his old games with engines?  Mentioned: Stockfish 14  1:04:00- Jan discusses the state of Dutch chess.  Mentioned: GM Anish Giri, IM Eline Roebers, GM Jorden van Foreest  1:06:00- Thanks to GM Timman for sharing his wisdom and stories, you can order his new book here:  From New in Chess: https://www.newinchess.com/max-euwe-best-chess-games Free Sample here:  https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9180.pdf You can also read it on Forward Chess:  https://forwardchess.com/product/max-euwes-best-games?section=New%20Arrival Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to perpetual chess listeners.

0:08.0

We've got one of my favorite all-time guests returning this week.

0:11.1

It is the Dutch chess legend, Grandmaster Jan Timmon.

0:14.5

Of course, he was an elite player in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

0:19.2

He played Anatoly Carpaw for the Fide World Championship in 1993,

0:24.2

nine-time Dutch champion. He's also a prolific and renowned author. His 2017 book, Timons,

0:31.2

Titans, won ECF Book of the Year. It's also a personal favorite of mine. His new book,

0:36.9

The Best Games of Max Uwe, is

0:38.9

fairly self-explanatory in terms of what it covers. He reviews the games of his Dutch

0:44.4

compatriot and mentor, fellow Dutch chess legend. There's some beautiful games in it. It is a

0:51.2

highly worthwhile book that you will hear us discuss momentarily. We also

0:55.4

discuss the modern chess scene and Magnus Carlson and Hans Neiman, and he tells some great

1:00.5

stories, as always. So it's always such an honor to get to hear Grandmaster Jan Timmon

1:05.4

talk chess. And we will get you to that momentarily, but I wanted to give a shout out to our

1:09.8

presenting chess education sponsors, chescible.com.

1:12.6

They continue to roll out new courses, including Simplified the Carol Khan by I Am Alex Banzaya.

1:18.2

I also wanted to give a shout out to Maurice Ashley's highly regarded course, Secrets of Chess Geometry.

1:24.0

And you can check out my own recommended courses courses which I will link to in the show

1:27.8

description did want to mention uh as again YouTube listeners probably have figured out but

1:33.8

or YouTube viewers but this one is audio only when I do interviews with Grandmaster Yant

1:37.6

Tim and we usually do it with me calling him on the phone so we will be back to the video

1:41.9

format next week but in the meantime, please enjoy this.

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