Kamran Shirazi ( fa, کامران شیرازی; born 21 November 1952) is an

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

, who won the

Iranian Chess Championship The Iranian Chess Championship is the yearly national chess championship of Iran. Below is the gallery of champions, notice the gap between 1980 and 1990 (1359 and 1369 according to the Iranian calendar), when chess was forbidden in Iran. There is a ...

in 1972. Born in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, he has represented

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He moved to the United States in the late 1970s and quickly became one of the most active players in the country, winning many tournaments, including the Southern California Open (five times), the World Open (tied for first in 1983), the National Open (tied for first in 1985), and the Memorial Day Classic (tied for first in 1986). He was known for playing strange and unorthodox openings. Shirazi's

rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of quality, quantity, or some combination of both. Rating or ratings may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness of an individual, c ...

rose rapidly and he became one of the highest rated players in the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating s ...

. However, when invited to play in the 1984 U.S. Chess Championship, Shirazi managed only one draw from 17 games, finishing last. In that championship, Shirazi also achieved the dubious distinction of losing the shortest decisive game in the history of the U.S. Championship: his game as White against John Peters, which went 1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.axb4?? Qe5+ 0-1. He subsequently made an appearance in the movie ''

Searching for Bobby Fischer ''Searching for Bobby Fischer'', released in the United Kingdom as ''Innocent Moves'', is a 1993 American drama film written and directed by Steven Zaillian in his directorial debut. Starring Max Pomeranc in his film debut, Joe Mantegna, Joan A ...

''. He is introduced as " Grandmaster Shirazi" but his actual title is

, awarded in 1978. As of 2006, Shirazi had been living in France for several years. He is still an active tournament player and also gives lessons. He changed his FIDE federation from the US to

in 2006. On the September 2009

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

list, he has an

Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor. The Elo system was invented as an improved ch ...

of 2410.

Notable games

In this game, Kamran Shirazi boldly plays an extremely sharp line regarded as dubious for Black (White has won many brilliancies in this line), and beats a computer with it: Fidelity S2 computer-Shirazi, 1986 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Qg4 Qf6?! 5.Nd5! Qxf2+ 6.Kd1 Nf6 7.Qxg7 Nxd5 8.Qxh8+ Bf8 9.exd5 Qxg2 10.dxc6 d6 11.cxb7 Bg4+ 12.Ke1 Qe4+ 13.Kf2 Qf4+ 14.Nf3 Qxf3+ 15.Kg1 Rb8 16.Qxh7 d5 17.Bb5+ c6 18.Bxc6+ Kd8 19.Qh4+ Kc7 20.Qf2 Kxc6 21.c3 Bc5 22.d4 exd4 23.cxd4 Qd1+ 24.Kg2 Bh3+ 25.Kxh3 Rh8+ 26.Kg3 Rg8+ 27.Bg5 Rxg5+ 28.Kf4 Qg4+ 29.Ke3 Qxd4+ 30.Ke2 Qxf2+ 31.Kd3 Qd4+ 32.Kc2 Rg2+ 33.Kc1 Qe3+ 34.Kb1 Qd3+ 35.Kc1 Be3# 0-1 Silman-Shirazi, Lone Pine 1979 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Qb6 4.Nc3 e6 5.O-O a6 6.Bc4 Qa5 7.Re1 b5 8.Bd5 Nge7 9.d3 Qc7 10.Bxc6 Nxc6 11.e5 Bb7 12.Bf4 f5 13.a4 b4 14.Nb1 Ne7 15.h4 h6 16.Nbd2 g5 17.Nc4 Ng6 18.Bg3 g4 19.h5 gxf3 20.hxg6 Rg8 21.Re3 Rxg6 22.Rxf3 Bxf3 23.Qxf3 Qc6 24.Qh5 Kf7 25.f3 Be7 26.Kh1 Kg7 27.Bh4 Rg5! 0-1 If 28.Bxg5 hxg5, White is helpless against the threat of 29...Rh8 trapping his queen.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shirazi, Kamran 1952 births Living people Chess International Masters Iranian chess players American chess players French chess players American people of Iranian descent French people of Iranian descent