In order to finally have a challenger for World Champion Garry Kasparov, this match was played in the auditorium of the Bandaya Hall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 8-26 March 1990. It was best of 12 games, and the first to get 6½ points would be the victor. In case of 6-6, two more games with normal time control would be played, and if 7-7, a series of "sudden death" games at ever increasing speeds (1 hour, ½ hour, 15 minutes) would begin. Sponsored by TDC (Tourist Development Corporation), Petronas, Malaysia Airlines and others the match was organized by the Ministry of Culture & Tourism and the Malaysian Chess Federation. Karpov had qualified for it from the Karpov - Yusupov Candidates Semifinal (1989), and Timman had qualified from the Timman - Speelman Candidates Semifinal (1989).
Photo: https://web.archive.org/web/2016122.... Video: https://reuters.screenocean.com/rec...
In the presence of FIDE president Florencio Campomanes and others, the inaugural ceremony took place in Pan Pacific Hotel on 7 March. Karpov was seconded by Igor Zaitsev, Mikhail Podgaets, Oleg Romanishin and Ron Henley, and he also had his own chef and doctor. Timman arrived 10 days before the match and was seconded by Gyula Sax and Ulf Andersson. He was also hoping for help from Vlastimil Hort, but he never turned up. During the match, each player could request two 2-day timeouts. All the games started at 4 pm. Time controls: 2 hours to complete 40 moves, and 3 hours to complete 60 moves. The winner received 187,500 Swiss francs (about $124,000), and the loser 112,500 francs (about $74,000). Chief arbiter Gudmundur Arnlaugsson was assisted by Manuel Aaron.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 8-26 March 1990
Age Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Karpov 38 2730 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 6½
Timman 38 2680 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 2½
Karpov went on to the Kasparov - Karpov World Championship Match (1990) — his 7th WC match, and the 5th against Kasparov. The next cycle had then already started: Manila Interzonal (1990)."The final Candidates Match, which begins in Kuala Lumpur early next month, will decide the challenger to Garry Kasparov in the World Championship match later this year. Given the recent form of the two candidates, Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman, probably not even Kasparov would be prepared to stick his neck out and pick a winner. On statistics alone one could hardly tip against Karpov, who has a higher rating, more match experience and a massive personal score against Timman. However, the Karpov of 1990 is not the player who dominated world chess between 1975 and 1985 and drew 12-12 with Kasparov in the last world title match in 1987. Karpov has struggled to reach the Candidates Final, finished only third behind two young Soviet pretenders at the recent elite tournament in Reggio Emilia, and even managed to lose three consecutive games for the first time in his career at the Rotterdam World Cup tournament last year. On the other hand Timman has gradually been gaining respect from those who thought the "Tinman" tag would stay with him forever. By winning all three of his Candidates matches on a sudden death final game, the Dutch Grandmaster has shown a great deal of heart and his nervelessness should stand him in good stead if the KL match is close. As an added incentive, a win against Karpov would earn Timman a DM1million prize offered by the West German chess computer firm Mephisto for being the first Western player since Bobby Fischer to challenge for the world title. Of course winning for either player entails the disadvantage of being obliged to play a 24 game match with the World Champion in New York and Lyons in September, with defeat a near certainty. Since Karpov is still unwilling to admit to himself that Kasparov is the better player, and therefore does not fear such a match, I predict that he will be the unlucky victor in Malaysia." (Ian Rogers)
"Jan Timman put up a brave fight against Anatoly Karpov in the final of the qualifying series to decide who will meet Kasparov for the world title later this year. Sadly, though, for those who wanted to see some variation in the seemingly interminable K-K struggle for global supremacy Timman was outclassed in every department. As could be seen from the hopeless tangle of his preparation from game one (see Spectator, 17 March) Timman's openings were clearly inadequate at such a level. In middle game complications, as we shall observe in the two games which follow, the Dutchman kept missing his way, while in game four he even lost after he had achieved a favourable endgame. Karpov was hardly stretched at all and I am sure that he has revealed none of the secrets which he would prefer to keep back for his decider against Kasparov." (Keene)
Sources
Mark Weeks' website (https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/88...)
FIDE rating list January 1990 (https://web.archive.org/web/2022100...)
Sakkélet, 20 July 1990, pp. 170-172 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Sak...)
Algemeen Dagblad, 8 March 1990, p. 17 (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
ANP report in Trouw, 8 March 1990, p. 14 (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
Tidskrift för Schack, April 1990, pp. 129-135, 139 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1990...)
Ian Rogers in Financial Review, 23 February 1990 (https://www.afr.com/politics/chess-...)
Raymond Keene in The Spectator, 31 March 1990, p. 52 (http://archive.spectator.co.uk/arti...)
Leontxo Garcia in Jaque 281, 1 April 1990, pp. 201-213 (https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/...)
Ron Henley in Chess Life, July 1990, pp. 12-14, 16, 65 (https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/C...)
Robert Byrne in The New York Times, 13 March 1990 (https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/13/...)
Robert Byrne in The New York Times, 20 March 1990 (https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/20/...)
Original collections: Game Collection: WCC Index (Karpov-Timman 1990) by User: Hesam7 and Game Collection: Karpov - Timman Candidates Final by User: Tabanus. Game dates (March 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 18, 21, 23, 26) are from Jaque 281.
Previous: Karpov - Sokolov Candidates Superfinal (1987) and Sokolov - Yusupov Candidates Final (1986). Next: Short - Timman Candidates Final (1993)
Kibitzing
