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Yasser Seirawan ( ar, ياسر سيروان; born March 24, 1960) is a Syrian-born American
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 ...
grandmaster and four-time United States champion. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. Seirawan is also a published chess author and commentator.


Early life

Seirawan was born in
Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...
,
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. His father was Syrian and his mother an English nurse from
Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
, where he spent some time in his early childhood. When he was seven, his family immigrated to
Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
, where he attended Queen Anne Elementary School, Meany Middle School, and Garfield High School. He honed his game at a now-defunct coffeehouse, the
Last Exit on Brooklyn The Last Exit on Brooklyn was a Seattle University District coffeehouse established in 1967 by Irv Cisski. It is known for its part in the history of Seattle's counterculture, for its pioneering role in establishing Seattle's coffee culture, ...
, playing against the likes of
Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
n-born master
Viktors Pupols Viktors Pūpols (born July 31, 1934) is an American chess master. Known by many local players as "Uncle Vik," he frequently plays at the Tacoma Chess Club. He was the Club Champion in 1955, and some of his games can be viewed online at the club ...
and six-time
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
State Champion James Harley McCormick.


Career

Seirawan began playing chess at 12; at 13, he became Washington junior champion. At 19, he won the World Junior Chess Championship. He also won a game against
Viktor Korchnoi Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ( rus, Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, p=vʲiktər lʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He ...
, who had two years earlier narrowly lost a match for the world championship. Impressed, Viktor then invited Seirawan to Switzerland, where Korchnoi was training for his 1981 world title match against Anatoly Karpov. Seirawan qualified for the 1985 and 1988-1990
Candidates Tournament The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The wi ...
s. In the 1985 tournament in Montpellier he scored 7/15 placing joint 10th, and in the 1988–1990 tournament in St John, a knockout tournament, he was knocked out by
Jon Speelman Jonathan Simon Speelman (born 2 October 1956) is an English Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster chess player, mathematician and chess writer. Early life and education He was educated at Worcester College, Oxford, where he read Mathematics. Caree ...
in the preliminary round. In 1990, he won a match against Jan Timman sponsored by KRO by the score of +3-1=2. For 12 years, he was the chief editor of the ''Inside Chess'' magazine. The magazine was sold to the ChessCafe.com website, on which old articles were featured. In 1999, Seirawan played a ten-game match against Michael Adams in
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. The match was drawn +2–2=6. In 2001, Seirawan released a plan called "Fresh Start" to reunite the chess world, which at that time had two
world champions A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
: Ruslan Ponomariov had gained the title under the auspices of
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 ...
, while
Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Cha ...
had beaten Garry Kasparov to take the Classical title. It called for one match between Ponomariov and Kasparov (the world number one), and another between Kramnik and the winner of the 2002 Einstein tournament in
Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...
, who turned out to be Péter Lékó. The winners of these matches would then play each other to become undisputed World Champion. This plan was signed by all parties on May 6, 2002 in the so-called "Prague Agreement". The Kramnik-Leko match took place (the match was drawn, with Kramnik retaining his title); the Kasparov-Ponomariov match was canceled in 2003, and this particular plan became moot when Kasparov retired in 2005. In the end, the
FIDE World Chess Championship 2006 The World Chess Championship 2006 was a match between Classical World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik, and FIDE World Chess Champion Veselin Topalov. The title of World Chess Champion had been split for 13 years. This match, played between Septem ...
between Kramnik and Veselin Topalov reunited the world championship title. Following a series of events, such as Seirawan participating in the Beijing Chess Challenge in September 2003, there were reports that he would be retiring as a professional player. In the July 2007
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, Seirawan had 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 2634, placing him in the top 100 chess players in the world, and America's number four, behind Hikaru Nakamura, Gata Kamsky, and
Alexander Onischuk Alexander Onischuk (; born September 3, 1975) is a Ukrainian-American chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1994, and won the 2006 U.S. championship. Career In 1991 Onischuk finished second in the world under 16 cha ...
. He played six games in the July 2007 FIDE update. In 2007, Seirawan unveiled a
chess variant A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess. Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways. "International" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be co ...
created in collaboration with Bruce Harper, called
Seirawan chess Capablanca chess (or Capablanca's chess) is a chess variant invented in the 1920s by World Chess Champion José Raúl Capablanca. It incorporates two new pieces and is played on a 10×8 board. Capablanca believed that chess would be played out ...
or SHARPER chess. SHARPER chess introduces two additional pieces, a "hawk" and an "elephant"—a rook/knight and a bishop/knight combination that in other variants are called the
Empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
and Princess, respectively. The initial position is that of standard chess. Whenever the player moves a piece from its starting position, one of the extra pieces in hand may be placed immediately on the square just vacated. Likewise, pawns may promote to a hawk or an elephant in addition to the standard pieces. The first ever event was a 12-board simultaneous exhibition held on March 31, 2007 in
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, British Columbia, Canada. In May 2011, Seirawan returned from hiatus to competitive chess, playing for the U.S. team in the world team championship in China, where he won silver in first alternate. He had wins versus top GMs
Judit Polgar Judit is a feminine given name related to Judith. Notable people with the name include: *Judit Bar-Ilan (1958–2019), Israeli computer scientist *Judit Elek (born 1937), Hungarian film director and screenwriter *Judit Földing-Nagy (born 1965), ...
and
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Shahriyar Hamid oghlu Mammadyarov ( az, Şəhriyar Həmid oğlu Məmmədyarov; born 12 April 1985), known internationally as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. he is ranked No. 1 in Azerbaijan and No. 13 in the world. ...
. He only lost one game. Seirawan won the 2011 and 2012 Dutch Open Blitz championship. Seirawan is widely known for his expert commentary in live broadcasts on the Internet during important events. He has been named by the chess historian Edward Winter as one of the top five Internet broadcasters. In 2019, he joined the Chessbrahs and provided coverage for the 2019 World Cup.


Books

Seirawan has written several books. The "Winning Chess" series (with co-author IM
Jeremy Silman Jeremy Silman (born August 28, 1954) is an American International Master (IM) of chess and writer. Silman was born in Del Rio, Texas. He began playing chess at the age of 12. He has won the American Open, the National Open, and the U.S. Open, and ...
): *''Play Winning Chess'' - Introduction to chess and some basic strategies *''Winning Chess Tactics'' - Introduction to tactics with puzzles *''Winning Chess Strategies'' - How to use small advantages and use strategies to gain them *''Winning Chess Openings'' - Brief descriptions of the most popular openings, and opening strategies *''Winning Chess Endings'' - Introduction to the endgame *''Winning Chess Brilliancies'' - Notable games analyzed by the author *''Winning Chess Combinations'' - How to recognize the main combination patterns; somewhat of a follow up to ''Winning Chess Tactics'' The "Winning Chess" series was originally published by
Microsoft Press Microsoft Press is the publishing arm of Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the ...
; it is now published by Everyman Chess. *''Five Crowns: Kasparov-Karpov World Chess Championship 1990 New York - Lyon'' (with Jonathan Tisdall), International chess Enterprises, 1991. *''Take My Rooks'' (with Nikolay Minev), International Chess Enterprises, 1991. *''No Regrets • Fischer–Spassky 1992'' (with George Stefanovic), International Chess Enterprises, 1992, *''Chess on the Edge'' (with Bruce Harper) - collected games of Grandmaster Duncan Suttles, published by
Chess'n Math Association The Chess'n Math Association (or Chess and Math Association) is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing chess into Canadian schools. Founded in 1985 by Larry Bevand, who still serves as its executive director, it bills itself as "Canada's ...
in March 2008. * ''Chess Duels: My Games with the World Champions'', Everyman Chess, 2010,


Personal life

Seirawan is married to
Woman FIDE Master A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...
Yvette Nagel, daughter of Dutch politician
Jan Nagel Johan Georg "Jan" Nagel (born 20 June 1939) is a Dutch politician who was a member of the Labour Party, and later formed his own parties. He is currently in the Pensioners' Party 50PLUS. Nagel started his career in his twenties on VARA-Radi ...
.


Legacy

The famous chess opening
Seirawan attack The Neo-Indian Attack is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 e6 :3. Bg5 This opening is also known as the Seirawan Attack, after top 1980s player Yasser Seirawan. Description The pinning of the f6-knight lo ...
(1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Bg5) is named after this top 1980s player.


References


Further reading

* *


External links

* * * * * *
Seirawan Chess
Enhanced Chess Devised by Yasser Seirawan in 2007

by
Mikhail Golubev Mikhail Golubev (born 30 May 1970, Odessa) is a Ukrainian chess Grandmaster (1996), journalist and author. Chess career Golubev began playing chess at the age of six and played his first tournament a year later in 1977. He played several times ...
for GrandMaster Square
Lectures by GM Yasser Seirawan at the St. Louis Chess Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seirawan, Yasser 1960 births Living people Chess grandmasters American chess players American chess writers American male non-fiction writers World Junior Chess Champions Chess Olympiad competitors Chess variant inventors Garfield High School (Seattle) alumni People from Damascus American people of English descent Syrian emigrants to the United States Syrian people of English descent Sportspeople from Seattle