Staunton 7-9: Timman Triumphant
Submitted by
FM FM_Eric_Schiller on Fri, 08/21/2009 at 2:37pm.
Veteran Jan Timman dominated the Staunton Memorial tournament, streaking to the finish. His only stumble was his seventh round encounter with a great Viktor Korchnoi.
Perhaps inspired by Korchnoi, Tim on rebounded in the next round by using the French defense. It took him a while to put his opponent down, but he succeeded.
In the final round Timman had to face off against Nigel Davies who was having one of his best tournaments. Once again the middle game didn't lead to any advantage and Timman had to try to squeeze out a win in the end game. Although he really didn't have any advantage he managed to make something out of nothing. This and some of the other games from the event showed that just because you have an even endgame, that's no excuse to lay down weapons and call it a draw.
With this victory the Dutchman cemented his first place result. Timman and Victor Korchnoi demonstrated that veterans can still be a powerful force in modern chess.
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