The third Max Euwe Memorial Chess Tournament was organized by the Verenigde Spaarbank (VSB) and held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands from March 16th to the 23rd, 1989. Following the pre-established format, four of the world's best grandmasters were invited to complete in the double round robin event. This year's participants included (in order of ELO): British grandmaster and winner of the previous year's memorial tournament Nigel Short (2650); Soviet grandmaster and former Soviet champion Valery Salov (2630); Icelandic grandmaster Johann Hjartarson (2615); and Dutch grandmaster and co-winner of the inaugural memorial tournament Jan Timman (2610). The average of the combined ratings of the four players made this year's event category XVI. Despite the top competition, Timman won this tournament beautifully due in large part to a three game winning streak begun in the second round. Salov fought desperately to upset the sole leader in the final round, but Timman held him off. It was vindication for the Dutch grandmaster after his abyssmal showing at the previous year's event. The final standings and crosstable are as follows:

1 Timman 4.5/6 ** ½1 1½ 1½

2 Short 4/6 ½0 ** ½1 11

3 Salov 3/6 0½ ½0 ** 11

4 Hjartarson .5/6 0½ 00 00 **