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    Entries in Yasser Seirawan (8)

    Wednesday
    Jun012016

    A Short Review of Karolyi's *Legendary Chess Careers: Yasser Seirawan*

    Tibor Karolyi, Legendary Chess Careers: Yasser Seirawan (Chess Evolution, 2016). Pp. 123, €19.99.

    This slim volume on American legend Yasser Seirawan is one in a series of books by Hungarian IM Tibor Karolyi on relatively older, elite players who never quite reached the game's greatest height. The books (previous volumes featured Lajos Portisch and Jan Timman) take the form of extended interviews, with well-annotated games interspersed at the appropriate point in the conversation. Neither a traditional biography nor a straight best-games collection, the books help readers get a sense of the player himself as a human being, of his contributions to and achievements in the game, and to see some of the player's best and most significant games.

    Seirawan was born in Syria (in 1960) but came to the U.S. as a child, and though he learned the game at the relatively late age of 12 he was a strong master by 15 and went on to become the World Junior Champion and a grandmaster just a few years later. He was for years the top player in the U.S. and looked for some years like a player who might be able to challenge for the World Championship. As things worked out Seirawan never really got close, but he had an impressive career and performed very well against elite players, world champions in particular. (Especially freakish was his 4.5-.5 score against Mikhail Tal.)

    The volume begins with short tributes from IMs Nikolay Minev and Jeremy Silman, both long-time friends of Seirawan's, and then the interview begins. Seirawan briefly discusses his family and their move to the U.S., his early years and learning the game (and how he might have been one game away from quitting before he started getting good!), and from there it's on to his career.

    As anyone who has read Seirawan's books or heard him do live commentary will know, he is an inveterate story-teller, and some of that shines through this book as well as he recalls some of his adventures in chess, his interactions with world champions (including Bobby Fischer), his work on the magazine he founded (Inside Chess) and on other topics as well.

    As for the games, there are 13 complete games and five game fragments (plus a few more of each in the notes), most against world champions and other elite grandmasters. The games are thoroughly annotated; it is by no means a so-called database dump; Karolyi has put in some real effort.

    Overall, it's a nice little book, one I would recommend especially to American readers who should know that we had real chess players between Bobby Fischer and Gata Kamsky (and not just Seirawan, either; there's Walter Browne and especially Robert Byrne, who was a Candidate in 1974 and very nearly qualified for the 1977 Candidates matches). Seirawan's style is so unusual that he's not "just" another elite GM whose best games could have been played by another half a dozen or more of his peers; his games are very much his games.

    There are some critical points worth making, both in case the publishers revise this work, or for the sake of subsequent books in the series. First, the Preface was a mess, with at least five obvious typographical errors in less than a page of text. Fortunately, whatever went wrong there didn't go wrong in the rest of the book.

    Second, there were a few places where Karolyi repeated questions (sometimes implicitly) that had been asked (and answered) earlier. I think this was because the interview was conducted by email, but maybe this could have been smoothed out in the editing process. It's something the reader will notice, but it's not such a big deal.

    Third and very surprisingly, this book seems to exist in a universe where Seirawan's great 2010 book, Chess Duels, was never written. Seirawan mentions practically every other book he wrote (and of course Inside Chess), but not Chess Duels, while Karolyi oddly seems unaware of it as well. To take just one example: when annotating the game Seirawan-Karpov, London 1982, Karolyi gives most of Karpov's famous revenge win from a game in Hamburg later that year, and then astutely notes the following: "Despite this disaster Seirawan was ready to play this line against Geller[,] so he had an improvement in his mind" (p. 62). That's correct, he did, and he gives it on p. 226 of Chess Duels:

    After the game my attention was drawn to 14.Qc2! [DM: After Karpov's improvement in the Hamburg game, 13...b5], which I wrongly thought favored White. The idea is to prevent ...c7-c5, quickly complete my development, and then to take advantage of Black's chronic queenside weaknesses as well as the offside a6-knight. It all sounds good, but concrete analysis doesn't show an advantage. Black plays 14...c5! anyway, the very move I had hoped to prevent. The line seems pretty straightforward: 15.dxc5 Nb4 16.Qd2 (16.Qd1 and 16.Qb1 look less trustworthy) 16...Qe4! 17.a3!? Qb1+ 18.Qd1 (18.Rc1? Nd3+! is Black's trick) 18...Qxb2 19.Qb3 Qxb3 20.Rxb3 Nc6, with an equal game.

    Finally, the 20 Euro price tag seems a little steep to me, but maybe this is me showing my age and being used to full-size books costing between $15 and $25, not to mention e-books going for $10. For that matter, New in Chess magazine is larger, has color photography and much higher overhead, and still costs considerably less than this book. (Of course they have a larger print run - probably much, much larger. I get it. Even so, there may well be a vicious circle at work here.)

    Criticisms notwithstanding, it's a nice little book suitable for a wide range of audiences. Everyone can enjoy the stories, while (as usual with Karolyi's books) stronger players will benefit the most from the analysis.

    Friday
    Feb052016

    This Week's World Chess Column: Learn From Your Victories

    It's easy to learn from our losses (though some plucky individuals manage to avoid doing so), but learning from our wins comes much less naturally. In my column this week I start with a couple of autobiographical stories: one where I failed to learn from a game I won and one where I got it right. Then it's time to look at the pros, and we see that even the world's best can make this mistake, as Yasser Seirawan did in a famous pair of games against Anatoly Karpov in 1982. This was not the first or the last time someone has committed this error, and hopefully we can all learn from their errors and not follow in their footsteps.

    Saturday
    Oct202012

    Seirawan Lecture

    Since the end of the European Club Cup, the chess world has been relatively quiet when it comes to major activity. Nevertheless, there are things to report and blog, and I'll begin here with a note about something that isn't so serious but is enjoyable. Thanks to Chess Today, I learned about a lecture on openings by GM Yasser Seirawan, given a couple of weeks ago at the St. Louis Chess Center, where he's the new grandmaster in residence. The material is relatively introductory in nature, but even those who find the chess content simple will enjoy some of the cute stories he relates, especially early in the video.

    Wednesday
    Jun132012

    Karpov Defeats Seirawan in Blitz 6-4, Wins Overall Match By Two Points

    The blitz portion of the three-part match between the former world champion Anatoly Karpov and 4-time U.S. champion Yasser Seirawan was entertaining and well-played. Neither player had much to offer by way of opening prep, and that mutual lack helped make the match. Neither player got much out of the opening, so that meant they had to play chess: no quick wins and no quick forced or semi-forced draws. Neither player is what he once was, but as if by mutual agreement they reached positions where they could both show some glimpses of their old greatness.

    Anyway, after four draws in the first four games - the classical games on Sunday and Monday and the two rapid games on Tuesday - they had only two draws in ten blitz games today. Karpov never trailed, and by running off three wins in a row in games 6-8 he clinched victory in the match.

    Question for my readers: do you think chess bloggers will write about the Carlsen-Nakamura nostalgia match in 2050?

    Tuesday
    Jun122012

    Karpov-Seirawan, Two Rapid Games, Two More Draws

    Today Mssrs. Anatoly Karpov and Yasser Seirawan sped things up a bit in their St. Louis match, following the previous days' classical games with a pair of rapid contests today. All the same, the play was similar, as were the results. So far, defense has triumphed in the match, but tomorrow they'll finish things up with 10 blitz games.

    Sunday
    Jun102012

    Other Events: Vallejo Wins Rapid Match vs. Topalov; Karpov-Seirawan Game 1 is Drawn

    The 6-game rapid match between Francisco Vallejo Pons and former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov finished today in a 3.5-2.5 victory for the Spaniard. Vallejo won game 5 with the white pieces to clinch overall victory. Topalov won the last game after Vallejo blundered at the end of a long defense, but it wasn't enough to save the match. Vallejo certainly isn't a bad player, but whatever Topalov had going for him in the mid-2000s still seems to be gone, long gone. I haven't rooted for Topalov since "Toiletgate", but while I admit to feelings of schadenfreude it's still a pity to see such a great player become a mere shadow of his former self.

    Meanwhile, as one match featuring a former world champion (of sorts) finishes, another match with a former world champion begins. The tripartite classical/rapid/blitz match between Anatoly Karpov (he's the former world champion, for the younger internet crowd) and Yasser Seirawan started earlier today in St. Louis, and game 1 was a long and hard-fought draw. Karpov had White in a 4...Bg4 Slav, and for a while had a very slight edge. At a certain point he was a bit careless, however, and then it was Seirawan's turn to torture him for a few hours. Karpov eventually lost a pawn, but defended well despite a permanent time shortage. They'll play a second classical game tomorrow, and the next day things will start speeding up.

    Friday
    May252012

    Karpov-Seirawan Coming in June

    Perhaps this is so Yasser Seirawan can justify a second edition of Chess Duels? (Kidding.) Unfortunately, Anatoly Karpov and Yasser Seirawan are going to play a three-stage match in St. Louis from June 9-13.

    First, a pair of classical games (40/90, SD/30+30") worth three points apiece. Second, two rapid games (25' + 5") worth two points apiece. Finally, ten blitz games (5' + 2") worth a point apiece. The winner (probably Seirawan, given that Karpov has been pretty much retired from serious chess for around a decade) gets $10k, the loser $7k. It's a nice payday for Seirawan, win or lose, but wholly unnecessary for Karpov, whose wealth is reportedly equivalent to at least hundreds of millions of US dollars and possibly in the BILLIONS.

    As someone who grew up in the era of Karpov reign, it's painful for me to watch him playing at least 200 points below his peak, playing worse than he did as a teenager. It reminds me of watching Larry Holmes beat the snot out of a slow, aging, overweight, Muhammad Ali who had already gone through several hard fights too many. Watching Karpov play badly doesn't add to the luster of the game and tarnishes his legacy, especially with newer fans who don't know any better. (Note: It wouldn't bother me at all if he still worked at the game, like Korchnoi or - to mention a closer age peer - Beliavsky. But he isn't; he is very busy doing lots of other things, with the result that when he does pop out every once in a while the result is generally a disaster.)

    Friday
    May182012

    This Week's ChessVideos Show: Kamsky-Seirawan, 2012 US Championship

    His chances of winning a third straight U.S. Championship took a big hit tonight when he lost to Hikaru Nakamura, but overall it has been a pretty good event for Gata Kamsky. Coming into today's round he was in clear first, and his previous game was an impressive win over Yasser Seirawan on the white side of a Classical Caro-Kann. Kamsky had prepared a nasty surprise that had probably been intended some time earlier for Veselin Topalov, but it was Seirawan who wound up the victim.

    The winning combination was very attractive, and the game is also valuable for us to follow in White's theoretical footsteps, both in that precise position but also in a more general way. The g4 idea Kamsky used has become popular across a range of Classical Caro-Kann positions, and so it's important for players on both sides of the dispute to be familiar with them.

    So there's both an aesthetic and an educational component to this week's show, which as always can be viewed free of charge (free registration required) and will be available on demand for the next month or so.