In order to have another challenger for World Champion Garry Kasparov, this match was played at the Teatro Real Coliseo Carlos III in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain, 10-30 January 1993. It was best of 14 games, and the first to get 7½ points would be the victor. Sponsored by the billionaire Luis Rentero Suarez, the ML company, FIDE and others, the match was organized by Rentero, Santiago Donday and the San Lorenzo de El Escorial municipality. Short had qualified for it from the Short - Karpov Candidates Semifinal (1992), and Timman had qualified from the Timman - Yusupov Candidates Semifinal (1992).

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgl...

In the presence of Florencio Campomanes, the inaugural ceremony and drawing of colors took place on 9 January. Upon Timman's request the ceremony ended around 10 pm, and not past midnight as in the semifinal. Short was seconded by Lubomir Kavalek, and after some days, also Michael Stean. Timman was seconded by his wife Ilse, and by Jeroen Piket until he left for Hoogovens (1993) (after Game 3). The two players agreed to have no timeouts during the match. Games started at 3 pm. Time control: 2 hours to complete 40 moves and 3 hours to complete 60 moves. Prize fund: 300,000 Swiss francs (about $200,000), of which the winner received about $124,000, and the loser about $76,000. Chief arbiter: Gudmundur Arnlaugsson.

San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain, 10-30 January 1993

       Age Elo   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3
Short   27 2655  ½ 0 1 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 0 1 ½  7½
Timman  41 2635  ½ 1 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 0 1 0 ½  5½

"0n 10 January Nigel Short commences the most momentous match of his career. He plays the Dutch Grandmaster Jan Timman in the final of the world championship qualifying tournament which will decide who challenges Gary Kasparov for his crown next summer. Short-Timman will take place in El Escorial just outside Madrid. I predict a win for Nigel by a two-point margin, with the match probably going the full distance. When I last gazed into my crystal ball for this cycle it transpired that I was the only commentator to predict accurately the score and results of the semi-final matches between Short and Karpov and Timman and Yusupov. The overall career score between Nigel and Jan is 9 wins to Short and 11 to Timman with 15 draws, but the Dutchman pulled slightly ahead by winning a couple of games when Nigel was a relatively inexperienced teenager. Their clashes have been characterised by extreme violence and bloodthirstiness, and I expect their match to be loaded with cut-and-thrust games. Timman's style is difficult to pin down. He reminds me rather of a lumbering Indian war elephant, heavily armed and extremely dangerous but with a tendency to lurch out of control and impale himself unintentionally. Nigel was originally more classical in his approach, but is no longer averse, as he has been in the past, to the occasional rough-and-tumble. He has superb nerves for such occasions." (Keene)

"Nigel Short has entered chess history as the first British player this century to contest a world chess championship match. After eight games of his final world eliminator against Jan Timman in Spain, the score was neck and neck. In the final phase, though, the British Grandmaster demonstrated what a mercilessly tough and resilient mental warrior he has now become. Game 9 was a hair-raising, crazy battle. Nigel's nerves proved the stronger and he emerged from the crisis with a win, which shattered the Dutchman's morale. Thereafter, Nigel turned in a smooth performance for game 10, succumbed after a long ending in game 11, but more or less clinched the match in his favour by a cliff-hanger in game 12. For what turned out to be the final bout, Timman's attack for game 13 fizzled out to a draw. Nigel Short thus became the recipient of £87,000 in prize money, was declared match victor by the score of 7½ to 5½, and can now look forward to a historic challenge against Gary Kasparov later in the year." (Keene)

Sources

Mark Weeks' website (https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/91...)
FIDE rating list January 1993 (https://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/Elo19...)
Amigoe, 11 January 1993, p. 7 (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
Trouw, 18 January 1993, p. 13 (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
Jaque 345 (January 1993), pp. 25-27 (http://www.bartelski.pl/olimpbase/l...)
Jaque 346 (February 1993), pp. 44-50 (http://www.bartelski.pl/olimpbase/l...)
Tidskrift för Schack, 2/1993, pp. 50-56 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1993...)
Sakkélet, 10 July 1993, pp. 126-131 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Sak...)
Larry Parr in Chess Life, May 1993, p. 9 (https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/C...)
Algemeen Dagblad, 9 January 1993, p. 19 (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
Paul Boersma in Chess Life, April 1993, pp. 42-44 (https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/C...)
Hans Ree in NRC Handelsblad, 14 January 1993, p. 24 (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
Gert Ligterink in De Volkskrant, 11 January 1993, p. 13 (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
Raymond Keene in The Spectator, 2 January 1993, p. 36 (https://archive.spectator.co.uk/art...)
Raymond Keene in The Spectator, 6 February 1993, p. 48 (https://archive.spectator.co.uk/art...)
Dominic Lawson in The Spectator, 6 February 1993, p. 16 (https://archive.spectator.co.uk/art...)
Leontxo Garcia in Jaque 347 (February 1993), pp. 18-37 (http://www.bartelski.pl/olimpbase/l...)
Robert Byrne in The New York Times, 24 January 1993 (https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/24/...)
Robert Byrne in The New York Times, 31 January 1993 (https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/31/...)

Original collection: Game Collection: Short - Timman Candidates Final by User: Tabanus. Games dates (January 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30) are from Dutch newspapers at https://www.delpher.nl/.