In its regulations FIDE had provision for replacing players under such case. Timman, 34th on the last Elo list, was chosen because he was the last beaten Candidates and the former world champion Karpov topped Yusupov because he had a highest Elo rating and was listed second just behind Kasparov (before he was stripped out of the list) .
Both aged of 42, the score before the match was 42,5 -24,5 in favor of the Russian.
Before the match, FIDE announced a prize fund of US$ 2,000,000 shared between Holland and the Sultanate of Oman, which was supposed to organize the second part of the event. However during the traditional press conference before the start of the match, the Dutch organizer Mr. Van Buren announced that he have been unable to contribute his share to any money for the prize fund…
The match began September 6, just one day before Kasparov and Short started their match in London. For the non-chess players, the world chess situation and the validity of the match was rather confuse. Kasparov: “This is a fake event and I think it is destroying the professional pride of the player. Maybe they have a different opinion…if they can make a few pennies out of this match why not take it”.
The first part of World Championship began in Zwolle, Netherlands, The Dutch Crown Prince Johan Friso and FIDE President Campomanes opened the match: “The 1993 match has a historical value. FIDE and its members keep its tradition if organizing the world chess championship since 1948 and show his democratic system of selection…”
The Chief Arbiters was Dr. K. A. Lim from Singapore assisted by H. Metzing of Germany. Players had to accomplish 40 moves in 2 hours and 30 minutes the 16 moves per hour. Twenty four games were scheduled and if at the end the score was leveled at 12-12 then four mini-rapid matches will be played at the rate of 40 moves per hour then 20 moves in 15 minutes.
Game 1
Game 1
Caro-Kann
Karpov chooses one of his favorite defenses, the classical Caro-Kann with 4. ..Nd7. Timman went with a new idea 14. Nd2 but after 16…Qb6 17. Nc4 Qc6 18. Qf3 Nd5 19.g3 Nc5 White had to recognize that his position was getting worse. To get some active play Timman sacrificed the exchange but could not find enough of counter-play and finally Karpov conducted the endgame like…a world champion to score his first point.
Game 2
Game 2
Queen Indian Defense
Karpov opted for a line in which he was very familiar with. The first 14 moves were played very fast then came the novelty with 15. c5 instead of the usual Be4 which looks equal after bxc4 16. bxc4 c5. Timman refuted the move with 15…f5! 16.f3 b4! and White became in trouble. After few exchange White was one exchange down with only little hope to survive.
Game 3
Game 3
Caro Kann
Timman improved his disappointing first game with 17. Kc1 and got a much better game. However Karpov could have still claim a bit more if he had played 19…Na4 but his passive 19…Bd7 which only gave a good advantage to White after 21. a4 followed by 22. Ra3. A plus that White kept till move 41 when they missed the strong 41.h4! with probably a clear point.
Game 4
Game 4
As per schedule, the fourth game moved to the city of Arnhem. A very passive play by both players and inevitably a short draw was quickly agreed.
Game 5
Game 5
English Opening
Timman went for the English opening. The surprised move showed some lack of preparation and passive play by Karpov with 8…a6 and 14…Ne8. After 20.Nc4 Karpov position was on the verge of collapse. Timman could kill his opponent with a sharp 28 Nd2 but with less than one minute for Black and seven moves to play, Timman was in hurry to score his second point. Over-confident Timman played 32. Bd7 which was answered immediately with Re6 and let Karpov to escape to a lucky draw ending.
Game 6
Game 6
Queen’s Gambit Declined
Karpov opted to sharp variation of the QGD and according his seconds, Epishin and Podgaets, everything went according the preparation until Timman switched to 10…Fd7 instead of the usual 10…a6. A strange move which gave to the White a strong center and a later good and decisive advantage after the weaker 19…Qg4. Thirty three moves were enough to give to Karpov a lead of 2-1.
Game 7
Game 7
After another quick draw in 21 moves the players moved to Amsterdam.
Game 8
Game 8
Queen’s Gambit Declined
I was of course not a surprise for this game if Karpov decided to repeat the opening used in game 6. But this time Timman’s team-mates (U. Andersson, Y. Seirawan and J. Piket) had time to find the strong improvement with the move 10…Ne4 which gave to Timman something completely different. After a couple of exchanges White had to be very careful to avoid Black to build some dangerous attack. Draw was concluded after 28 moves but it was clear that Timman was the most disappointed.
Game 9
Game 9
Torre attack
A very complicated position aroused on the board after Timman chose to go for a unsual Torre attack, an opening probably not ever used in a world championship match before it. At least Timman knew that Karpov will spend a lot of time and was probably also gambling on some weaker moves in time trouble. Once more Karpov showed that he had iron-nerves and in contrary it was Timman who once more went into trouble water spoiling a probably winning position with 43.Qh6 instead of 43.axb6!
Game 10
Game 10
Grünfeld Defense
Before the start of the tenth game, Campomanes announced that Oman will not be the venue of the next part match. More than Karpov, Timman was really devastated… Timman opened with the Grünfeld defense and Karpov very well prepared had a better position. Probably at some stage Timman noticed that his opponent mishandling somewhere the position and without any hesitation he decided to play for …a win. Then came the usual time trouble with a lot of mutual blunder. Finally both players reach the time control with a balanced position. None could explain why then Timman played some amazing moves like 41…Ra4 and more 43.. .Ba1 which made him loose the game immediately
