Yasser Seirawan

Yasser Seirawan, Bonn 2008
Association	United States
Born	March 24, 1960 Damascus
title	International Master (1979) Grand Master (1980)
Current  Elo rating	2620 (August 2020)
Best Elo rating	2658 (November 2011)
Tab at the FIDE (English)

Yasser Seirawan (born March 24, 1960 in Damascus / Syria ) is an American chess grandmaster of Syrian descent; his father was Syrian, his mother English .

Life

Yasser Seirawan at the US Championship in Seattle , Washington , 2003

In 1964, Seirawan's family emigrated from Syria to Great Britain. In 1967 Seirawan's father got a job with Boeing and the family moved to the United States, first to Virginia Beach and 1972 to Seattle . The four-time champion of the USA (1981, 1986, 1989 and 2000), who learned to play chess at the age of 12, became Junior World Champion U20 in 1979 in Skien and was awarded the title of grandmaster in 1980 . He developed into one of the strongest players in the world in the 1980s. In 1980 he won together with Walter Browne in Wijk aan Zee . He was Viktor Korchnois' second in his 1981 world championship match against Anatoly Karpov .

1980 Chess Olympiad in Malta, USSR-USA: Anatoli Karpow , Michail Tal , Yasser Seirawan

Seirawan won a large number of tournaments in the 1980s , including twice (1983 and 1987) the major Lugano Open and the New York Open (1985 and 1987). In 1990 he won in Haninge before the ex-world champion Anatoli Karpow. At the Chess Olympiad in Dubai in 1986 he defeated the then reigning world champion Garry Kasparov .

Twice he succeeded for the Candidates Tournament to qualify: In 1985 he was in Interzonal of Biel Second, the 1987 Interzonal of Subotica also. At the Candidates Tournament in Montpellier in 1985 Seirawan was tenth, in the candidate fights in 1988 he was eliminated in the round of 16 against Jonathan Speelman (1-4). Seirawan defeated the Brazilian Henrique da Costa Mecking, who had surprisingly returned to active chess, in Sao Paulo in 1992 with 3.5: 2.5 (+1 = 5 −0). At the end of the 1980s he brought out a chess newspaper, Inside Chess magazine, which, however, ceased its publication in the late 1990s. In addition, Seirawan published a number of chess books . He is also a popular commentator at chess tournaments. In 2004 he received the title of FIDE Senior Trainer.

Yasser Seirawan in the press center of the Dortmund Chess Days 2004.

Seirawan was the initiator of the Prague Accord in 2002, a failed attempt to reunite the two competing world titles . In September 2003 Seirawan announced his retirement from chess, but attended the Dortmund Chess Days in 2004 and continued to take part in the Dutch team championship regularly until 2012 . Seirawan is married to the Dutch chess player Yvette Nagel ( FIDE female champion ), the daughter of the former Dutch politician Jan Nagel , and lives in Hilversum .

Seirawan was eighth in the United States' Elo list in February 2015 and ranked 186th in the world, but he is listed as inactive because he has not played a rated game since the Annual US Open in Vancouver (Washington) in August 2012 has played. He was last among the top 40 in the world in 2001.

Together with Bruce Harper , Yasser Seirawan released their own chess variant, Seirawan Chess , in 2007 .

National team

With the United States team, Seirawan took part in the 1980 , 1982 , 1986 , 1988 , 1990 , 1992 , 1994 , 1998 , 2000 and 2002 Chess Olympiads . With the team he reached two second (1990 and 1998) and two third (1982 and 1986) places, in the individual ranking he achieved the best result on the fourth board in 1994, and the second best result on the second board in 1980 and 2002. He also took part in the World Team Championships in 1989 and 2011.

societies

In the Dutch Meester class , Seirawan played from 2000 to 2012 for the Hilversums Schaakgenootschap , with which he was Dutch team champion in 2008 , 2009 , 2010 and 2011 .

Publications (selection)

• with Jeremy Silman : Play winning chess. An introduction to the moves, strategies, and philosophy of chess from the USA's ♯1-ranked chess player. Redmond Wash, Tempus 1990, ISBN 155615271X .
• with Jon Tisdall: Five crowns. Kasparov-Karpov 1990. International Chess Enterprises, Seattle 1991, ISBN 1-87947-902-8 .
• with George Stefanović: No Regrets. Fischer-Spassky 1992. International Chess Enterprises, Seattle 1992, ISBN 1-879479-09-5 .
• with Nikolay Minev : Take my rooks. International Chess Enterprises, Seattle 1992, ISBN 1-87947-901-X .
• Winning Chess Brilliancies. Everyman Verlag, 2003, ISBN 1-85744-347-0 .
• My best games (DVD). Chessbase, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-86681-158-4 .
• Chess duels. My games with the world champions. Gloucester Publishers, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-85744-587-9 .

literature

• Vincent McCambridge: The games of Yasser Seirawan. Players Press, Los Angeles 1984, ISBN 0-941426-12-2 .

Web links

Commons : Yasser Seirawan  - Collection of Images

• Replayable chess games by Yasser Seirawan on 365Chess.com (English)
• Seirawan Chess

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Yasser Seirawan: My best games, Chessbase-DVD, Hamburg 2010
2. ^ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002 . Euroadria, Slovenia, 2002, p. 77.
3. ^ Jan C. Roosendaal: Browne and Seirawan victorious in Wijk aan Zee . Schach-Echo 1980, No. 4, title page (with cross table).
4. ^ Dortmunder Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2004, visit to the press center on July 24, 2004 on TeleSchach
5. ↑ Yasser Seirawan's results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
6. ↑ Yasser Seirawan's results at the World Team Championships on olimpbase.org (English)