The Best of the West. The strongest Western player during Soviet chess dominance. World Championship candidate for decades.
One-time purchase · Windows download · UCI compatible · works offline · instant download after purchase
The browser version lets you meet the personality before buying. The installed engine plays locally, in CZUBATRONIC 2400 and your own chess software, with the full personality model.
Timman plays for the full point with both colours. He complicates when a draw is near, takes calculated risks to keep the game alive and backs his creativity with world-class calculation.
Against him, safe moves do not guarantee a safe game. He finds imbalances in level positions and is happy to enter mutual time-trouble territory where fighting skill decides.
Regular games against Timman cure passivity. You learn to meet enterprise with enterprise, to evaluate unbalanced material and to keep playing chess when the position refuses to settle. The best of the West during the Soviet era remains, as an opponent, a model of the fighting game.
A single game shows part of the personality. Repeated games reveal more: you begin to recognise familiar structures, recurring plans and the kinds of positions this opponent prefers. That is where the collection becomes interesting, because different personalities put different questions to your chess.
Jan Timman was the best Western player during the era of Soviet chess dominance, a period when the world's top ten were almost exclusively from the USSR. He reached the Candidates Final in 1983 and was runner-up for the FIDE title in 1993. A prolific chess author, his books on endgames and attacking play are considered classics. His sharp, creative style, always willing to complicate and take risks, made his games some of the most entertaining of his generation. He passed away in 2025 and is remembered as one of the great ambassadors of Western chess.
Notable: His 1982 game against Kasparov is considered one of the most complex ever played. Remained active in chess journalism and writing until the end of his life.
| Era | Modern |
| Years | 1951–2025 |
| Peak rating | 2680 |
| Born | Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1951 |
| Title | World Championship Candidate (1983, 1993) |
| Style | Sharp tactical play, creative middlegames, fighting spirit |
The ChessGate personality of Timman, reconstructed from the historical player's games, with their own style, their own plans and their own idea of chess. A chess partner with real character, at any level, whenever you like. Play it inside CZUBATRONIC 2400 and the built-in Coach can flag weak moves and show a stronger one. The engine runs offline on your machine, in CZUBATRONIC 2400 and any UCI chess interface.
| File | ChessGate_Timman.exe · 55 MB |
| Runs in | CZUBATRONIC 2400 (as an external engine) and any UCI chess interface |
| Requirements | Windows 10 / 11, 64-bit; any UCI chess interface; CZUBATRONIC 2400 lists it as an external engine |
| Delivery | Instant download after purchase. Installer, no administrator rights; if CZUBATRONIC 2400 is installed, the personality registers itself there as an engine. |
| Works offline | Yes. No account, no server. |
| Packs | – |
| Collection | Complete Personality Collection |
| In the browser | A lighter version of ChessGate Timman plays on ChessGate. |