In order to select a challenger for World Champion Garry Kasparov, this match was played in Sadler's Wells Theatre in Islington, London, England, 2-17 October 1989. It was best of eight games, and the first to achieve 4½ points would go to the final. In case of 4-4, two more games with normal time control would be played, and if 5-5, a series of "sudden death" games at ever increasing speeds would begin. The other semifinal was held at the same time and on the same stage: Karpov - Yusupov Candidates Semifinal (1989). The pairings had been known since early February 1989 when the quarterfinal matches were decided.
Sponsored by Pilkington Glass, the match was organized by William Hartston, Yvette Nagel and others. The opening ceremony in Frederick's Restaurant on 1 October saw a large delegation from FIDE, including president Florencio Campomanes, his secretary Kok Ann Lim, and Roman Toran, the president of the Western European zone. Timman had qualified for the match from the Timman - Portisch Candidates Quarterfinal (1989), and Speelman had qualified from the Speelman - Short Candidates Quarterfinal (1988). Timman was seconded by Gyula Sax and Ulf Andersson, whilst Speelman was seconded by Jonathan Tisdall, and in addition helped by almost all British top players. Time controls: 2 hours to complete 40 moves and 3 hours to complete 60 moves. During the match, each player could request a 2-day timeout. The match winner would receive $77,000, and the loser $46,000. Chief arbiter: Svetozar Gligoric.
London, England, 2-17 October 1989
Age Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Timman 37 2635 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 4½
Speelman 33 2615 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 3½
Timman went on to the Karpov - Timman Candidates Final (1990)."The matches now in London are organized by the Pilkington Glass company, a new sponsor in the chess world. The company has been generous with a prize fund of 200,000 Swiss francs per match, but has not yet managed to please everyone. All players and seconds are housed in an apartment building. It is quiet and close to the games room, but the temporary residents of these beautiful apartments are not satisfied. A quick survey yielded a litany of complaints. The fire alarm howled in the middle of the night. The phone didn't work. A merciless daylight shone through the wafer-thin curtains, which woke chess players from their sleep, which would normally last until lunch hour. The towels were not changed. Timman has now moved into a nice hotel at his own expense. His second-in-command Andersson was left lonely in the apartment building. Karpov also seemed inclined to move, but was comforted by the organizers with a car and driver. Speelman is not bothered by all these concerns. He is just sitting at home in the London suburb of West Hampstead. The English newspapers don't seem very used to the fact that he is now the big man of English chess. They're a bit giggly about him. He was described in The Independent as a 'boozy chess bum'. Speelman doesn't mind that. He likes it when he is not taken completely seriously. That's when he's most dangerous." (Hans Ree, transl. from Dutch)
"Dutch fans must be asking themselves why Timman has not already clinched the contest in his favour. In the first two games, Speelman played with uncharacteristic pusillanimity, drawing game one, though only after shedding two pawns, and losing game two after a series of horrid blunders. For game three Speelman reverted to type, which, in my opinion, he should have done right from the start. In games three, four and five, Speelman was probably objectively lost at some point, but at least these were all red-blooded battles, with Speelman giving as good as he got, and coming close to victory himself at various stages. The fifth game was particularly fascinating, a truly Speelmanic effort." ... "I left the semi-finals last week with Karpov and Timman enjoying the lead, albeit a narrow one. Then, at the weekend, both Yusupov and Speelman struck back in dramatic games to level the scores. ... Thus, when the final round commenced on Tuesday all the players had 3½ points. It was at this moment that the two pre-match favourites, both more experienced in match play than their opponents, finally reasserted their authority. ... Speelman eventually lost his nerve and a couple of pawns and had to concede after a long endgame." (Keene)
Sources
Mark Weeks' website (https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/88...)
FIDE rating list July 1989 (https://web.archive.org/web/2022100...)
Deseret News, 20 October 1989 (https://www.deseret.com/1989/10/20/...)
Sakkélet, 10 March 1990, pp. 18-19 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Sak...)
Tidskrift för Schack, November 1989, pp. 372-377 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1989...)
Jonathan Tisdall in Norsk Sjakkblad, 7/89, pp. 16-23 (https://dnkjuhc6if10z.cloudfront.ne...)
Hans Ree in NRC Handelsblad, 2 October 1989, p. 18 (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
Eric Horsboll in Chess Life, January 1990, pp. 26-29 (https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/C...)
Raymond Keene in The Spectator, 14 October 1989, p. 51 (http://archive.spectator.co.uk/arti...)
Raymond Keene in The Spectator, 21 October 1989, p. 52 (http://archive.spectator.co.uk/arti...)
Robert Byrne in The New York Times, 10 October 1989 (https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/10/...)
Robert Byrne in The New York Times, 17 October 1989 (https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/17/...)
Robert Byrne in The New York Times, 24 October 1989 (https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/24/...)
Leontxo Garcia in Jaque 272, 1 November 1989, pp. 690-697 (https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/...)
Original collections: Game Collection: WCC Index (Timman-Speelman 1989) by User: Hesam7 and Game Collection: Timman - Speelman Candidates Semifinal by User: Tabanus. Game dates (October 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 14, 17) are from the Dutch newspapers at https://www.delpher.nl/.
Kibitzing
