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Yasser Seirawan
Seirawan 
 
Number of games in database: 1,423
Years covered: 1973 to 2015
Last FIDE rating: 2620 (2647 rapid, 2523 blitz)
Highest rating achieved in database: 2658

Overall record: +430 -234 =583 (57.9%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 176 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 King's Indian (85) 
    E77 E73 E81 E75 E70
 English, 1 c4 c5 (66) 
    A36 A30 A34 A31 A35
 English (66) 
    A10 A16 A13 A19 A17
 Queen's Indian (61) 
    E12 E15 E17 E19 E13
 English, 1 c4 e5 (55) 
    A28 A25 A20 A21 A22
 Queen's Gambit Declined (55) 
    D37 D31 D30 D35 D38
With the Black pieces:
 Caro-Kann (172) 
    B12 B18 B10 B13 B14
 Queen's Pawn Game (69) 
    A41 D02 E00 A40 A46
 French Defense (63) 
    C16 C10 C07 C14 C02
 Queen's Indian (61) 
    E12 E15 E16 E17 E14
 Queen's Gambit Accepted (47) 
    D21 D20 D26 D27 D29
 Pirc (32) 
    B08 B09 B07
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Seirawan vs Timman, 1990 1-0
   V Kovacevic vs Seirawan, 1980 0-1
   Seirawan vs Karpov, 1982 1-0
   Seirawan vs Ivanchuk, 1997 1-0
   Seirawan vs Spassky, 1990 1-0
   Seirawan vs Z Kozul, 1991 1-0
   Sax vs Seirawan, 1988 1/2-1/2
   Seirawan vs Kasparov, 1986 1-0
   Hort vs Seirawan, 1981 0-1
   Seirawan vs B M Kogan, 1986 1-0

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   USA-ch / Zonal (1986)
   Hoogovens (1980)
   Lugano Open (1987)
   Nis (1979)
   Zagreb Interzonal (1987)
   Biel Interzonal (1985)
   United States Championship (1994)
   United States Championship (1984)
   Phillips & Drew Kings (1982)
   5th Lloyds Bank Masters Open (1981)
   First Lady's Cup (1983)
   Toluca Interzonal (1982)
   Moscow Olympiad (1994)
   Valletta Olympiad (1980)
   Dubai Olympiad (1986)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Seirawan's Excellent Games by Everett
   Seirawan's Excellent Games by rpn4
   Seirawan's Excellent Games by wvb933
   Some S-upermen Post WWII by fredthebear
   Seirawan! by larrewl
   Melody Amber 1992 (Rapid DRR) by amadeus
   Melody Amber 1993 by amadeus

GAMES ANNOTATED BY SEIRAWAN: [what is this?]
   Kramnik vs Deep Fritz, 2006

RECENT GAMES:
   🏆 World Blitz Championship
   Seirawan vs V Kovalev (Oct-14-15) 0-1, blitz
   D Hausrath vs Seirawan (Oct-14-15) 1-0, blitz
   Seirawan vs Ladva (Oct-14-15) 1-0, blitz
   G Guseinov vs Seirawan (Oct-14-15) 1-0, blitz
   Seirawan vs D Abel (Oct-14-15) 0-1, blitz

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Yasser Seirawan
Search Google for Yasser Seirawan
FIDE player card for Yasser Seirawan


YASSER SEIRAWAN
(born Mar-24-1960, 63 years old) Syria (federation/nationality United States of America)

[what is this?]
Grandmaster (1980) and FIDE Senior Trainer (2004) Yasser Seirawan was born in Damascus, Syria. When he was seven, his family emigrated to Seattle, Washington, USA, where he learned the game at the age of twelve. He is a four-time United States Champion 1981 http://graeme.50webs.com/chesschamp... 1986 http://graeme.50webs.com/chesschamp... 1989 http://graeme.50webs.com/chesschamp... and 2000 http://graeme.50webs.com/chesschamp... , won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979, and played in the Candidates events at Montpelier 1985 and Saint John 1988. In July, 1990, he was #10 on the FIDE rating list at 2635.

Seirawan is a notable author of instructional and historical works, and was the editor of Inside Chess.

In 2001 he released a plan to reunite the chess world; Ruslan Ponomariov had gained the FIDE championship in 2003, while Vladimir Kramnik had beaten Garry Kasparov for the Braingames title. Seirawan's plan called for one match between Ruslan Ponomariov and Garry Kasparov, and another between Vladimir Kramnik and the winner of the 2002 Einstein tournament in Dortmund, Peter Leko. The winners of these matches would then play each other to become undisputed World Champion. This plan became the Prague Agreement and was signed by all parties in question. Four years later the unification process was completed, although not under the exact terms dictated by the agreement. He is married to Yvette Nagel.

Interview with IM Ana Matnadze on 28 October 2011: http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp...

Wikipedia article: Yasser Seirawan


 page 1 of 58; games 1-25 of 1,428  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Seirawan vs R Karch  1-0411973Seirawan - Karch MatchC55 Two Knights Defense
2. R Karch vs Seirawan  0-1291973Seirawan - Karch MatchE18 Queen's Indian, Old Main line, 7.Nc3
3. Seirawan vs R Karch  0-1281973Seirawan - Karch MatchC56 Two Knights
4. R Karch vs Seirawan  0-1431973Seirawan - Karch MatchD18 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Dutch
5. R Karch vs Seirawan 0-1671973Seirawan - Karch MatchD46 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
6. Seirawan vs R Karch 0-1461973Seirawan - Karch MatchC11 French
7. Seirawan vs Suttles 0-125197374th US OpenA42 Modern Defense, Averbakh System
8. Seirawan vs K Fitzgerald  0-1341974EugeneB94 Sicilian, Najdorf
9. A Mengarini vs Seirawan 0-123197475th US OpenB07 Pirc
10. D Saxton vs Seirawan  0-166197576th US OpenA40 Queen's Pawn Game
11. Seirawan vs Bisguier 1-053197576th US OpenA28 English
12. J Peters vs Seirawan ½-½47197576th US OpenB18 Caro-Kann, Classical
13. Benko vs Seirawan 1-056197576th US OpenB08 Pirc, Classical
14. Miles vs Seirawan 1-0601976Lone PineB08 Pirc, Classical
15. Seirawan vs J Meyers ½-½1001976Lone PineA34 English, Symmetrical
16. F Street vs Seirawan ½-½251976Lone PineA42 Modern Defense, Averbakh System
17. Seirawan vs D Berry  0-1391976Lone PineA07 King's Indian Attack
18. de Firmian vs Seirawan  ½-½281976Lone PineA41 Queen's Pawn Game (with ...d6)
19. D Fritzinger vs Seirawan  ½-½291976Lone PineB12 Caro-Kann Defense
20. Seirawan vs C Barnes  0-1301976Lone PineA25 English
21. Seirawan vs M Diesen  ½-½231976United States Championship (Juniors)A28 English
22. de Firmian vs Seirawan 1-0441976United States Championship (Juniors)B01 Scandinavian
23. Seirawan vs K Regan  1-0461976United States Championship (Juniors)A10 English
24. M Rohde vs Seirawan 1-0581976United States Championship (Juniors)B01 Scandinavian
25. Seirawan vs R Henley 1-0411976United States Championship (Juniors)A28 English
 page 1 of 58; games 1-25 of 1,428  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Seirawan wins | Seirawan loses  
 

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 22 OF 22 ·  Later Kibitzing>
May-01-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  Joshka: Yasser also has a resume any chess player would be able to boast about!! Scalps from Spassky, Karpov and Kasparov!! You can also throw in Korchnoi! In fact Korchnoi thought so much of Yasser he hired him to be his second in a Championship Match against Karpov. Any other American GM's who can claim these same scalps!??
May-01-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  Joshka: He also must have played some blitz games with Bobby as well. Has anyone ever asked him if he was able to beat Bobby a game or two? If he did that would be 4 World Chess Champions plus Korchnoi , who most agree was the strongest NON World Champ!! Let's give Yasser some props!!
May-02-19  JustAnotherMaster: Didn’t V Pupols, just another master as myself beat this wimp down like clown?
May-02-19  JustAnotherMaster: Korchnoi said Aronian had infinite more chess talent than Carlsen...lmao
May-02-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  saffuna: <Korchnoi said Aronian had infinite more chess talent than Carlsen...lmao>

The player with more talent is not necessarily the better player.

May-02-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: The world is rife with examples of those--and by no means is this true only in chess--with the harder-working of a pair making the most of themselves.
May-02-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  saffuna: Not just that--there's mental strength, ability to concentrate, deal with off-the-board factors, etc.
May-02-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  beatgiant: <Joshka>
<Any other American GM's who can claim these same scalps!??>

Kamsky has scalps from Tal, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand, Carlsen, and Korchnoi.

May-02-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <saffuna>, in one of the Baseball Abstracts, James quotes a manager discussing talent in what I considered an incisive way--do not believe he even mentioned the manager's name, but it went something to the effect of 'What the hell is talent? Talent is just doing what you're supposed to do' or some such words.
May-02-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  moronovich: <saffuna: Not just that--there's mental strength, ability to concentrate, deal with off-the-board factors, etc.>

Things which also can be improved by hard work.

May-02-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: People think of talent as something you’re born with and hard work, gumption, strong nerves etc as something you do for yourself, but in fact all psychological traits are substantially heritable (see Robert Plomim, Blueprint).

It’s not particularly relevant here anyway. I think MC has better nerves and probably superior physical endurance than Aronian, but is that enough to explain his superiority over him? I doubt it. Korchnoi was talking rot.

May-02-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  saffuna: Of course the ability to concentrate and hold your nerve during a game could be considered a talent.
May-05-19  Helios727: Too bad Bobby chose to belittle him on the radio shows that came later.
Jul-23-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  PawnSac: < In July, 1990, he was #10 on the FIDE rating list at 2635. >

and today #10 is almost 130 pts higher.
talk about rating inflation!

But the Yaz is a very fine positional player. I enjoy his live commentary very much, and my pet peeve is when lesser players talk over him. He is very reserved but usually has some excellent observations.

Nov-05-19  WorstPlayerEver: Chessbrah uploaded some masterclasses with Seirawan:

https://m.youtube.com/user/chessbra...

Mar-24-20  edbermac: Happy 60th Birthday Yaz!
https://en.chessbase.com/post/congr...
Mar-24-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  hansj: Happy Birthday Yasser!
Aug-12-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  Dionysius1: I yield to no-one in my respect for the impact Yasser has had, with his negotiating as well as his playing skills. But my goodness, I can't think of anyone who can speak such a high proportion of logically superfluous words! They feel comfortable enough until I begin to catch on and then counting the superfluous to the useful gets obsessive. His books don't have the same drawback - they've quite a strong narrative/analytical thrust.
Aug-12-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  harrylime: Gotta say I really warmed to him handling that 9 year old today ... chess youtube chat was toxic with all kinds of sewer garbage ...

Respects Yasser x

Aug-12-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  Dionysius1: Hear! hear!
Sep-07-20  Everett: <memberMay-02-19 beatgiant: <Joshka> <Any other American GM's who can claim these same scalps!??> Kamsky has scalps from Tal, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand, Carlsen, and Korchnoi.>

Kamsky certainly didn’t become great from his time as a US citizen.

Nov-02-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Here is a poem by James Joyce. He wasn't a very good poet.

<Frail the white rose and frail are
Her hands that gave
Whose soul is sere and paler
Than time's wan wave.>

See the last two lines?:

<Whose soul is <sere> and paler
Than time's <wan> wave.>

Oct-12-21  suenteus po 147: <offramp> Did you actually read all of Chamber Music, or just that one poem?
May-26-23  Mathematicar: Seirewan is the modern-day Capablanca.
May-26-23  Mathematicar: <saffuna> Exatcly. I doubt Carlsen is the most talented player out there. Nakamura is more talented and more intelligent, but that is not entirely what is chess about.
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