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Yasser Seirawan
Seirawan 
 

Number of games in database: 1,485
Years covered: 1973 to 2015
Last FIDE rating: 2620 (2647 rapid, 2523 blitz)
Highest rating achieved in database: 2658
Overall record: +453 -239 =602 (58.3%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 191 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 King's Indian (86) 
    E77 E73 E81 E75 E70
 English, 1 c4 c5 (71) 
    A36 A30 A34 A31 A35
 English (69) 
    A10 A16 A13 A19 A17
 Queen's Indian (62) 
    E12 E15 E17 E19 E13
 English, 1 c4 e5 (58) 
    A28 A25 A20 A21 A22
 Queen's Gambit Declined (55) 
    D37 D31 D30 D35 D38
With the Black pieces:
 Caro-Kann (175) 
    B12 B18 B10 B13 B17
 Queen's Pawn Game (72) 
    A41 E00 D02 A40 A46
 French Defense (65) 
    C16 C10 C07 C14 C02
 Queen's Indian (62) 
    E12 E15 E16 E17 E14
 Queen's Gambit Accepted (47) 
    D21 D20 D26 D27 D29
 Pirc (34) 
    B08 B09 B07
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   V Kovacevic vs Seirawan, 1980 0-1
   Seirawan vs Timman, 1990 1-0
   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
   Seirawan vs B M Kogan, 1986 1-0
   Hort vs Seirawan, 1981 0-1

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Nis (1979)
   Lugano Open (1987)
   United States Championship (1986)
   Haninge (1990)
   World Junior Championship (1979)
   Hoogovens (1980)
   Biel Interzonal (1985)
   5th Lloyds Bank Masters Open (1981)
   Phillips & Drew Kings (1982)
   Zagreb Interzonal (1987)
   United States Championship (1984)
   Vancouver Open (1981)
   First Lady's Cup (1983)
   Valletta Olympiad (1980)
   Moscow Olympiad (1994)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   0ZeR0's collected games volume 58 by 0ZeR0
   Seirawan's Excellent Games by rpn4
   Seirawan's Excellent Games by Everett
   Seirawan's Excellent Games by wvb933
   Seirawan's Excellent Games by nmorbust
   0ZeR0's collected games volume 57 by 0ZeR0
   Some S-upermen Post WWII Bet Euw 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
   D Hausrath vs Seirawan (Oct-14-15) 1-0, blitz
   G Guseinov vs Seirawan (Oct-14-15) 1-0, blitz
   Seirawan vs O Ladva (Oct-14-15) 1-0, blitz
   Seirawan vs D Abel (Oct-14-15) 0-1, blitz
   Seirawan vs V Kovalev (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, 65 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 magazine. In September 1983 he was Cosmopolitan Magazine's "Bachelor of the Month."

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 Ann Matnadze Bujiashvili on 28 October 2011: http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp...

Wikipedia article: Yasser Seirawan

Last updated: 2025-03-24 09:03:31

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 60; games 1-25 of 1,485  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Seirawan vs R Karch  1-0411973Seirawan - KarchC55 Two Knights Defense
2. R Karch vs Seirawan  0-1291973Seirawan - KarchE18 Queen's Indian, Old Main line, 7.Nc3
3. Seirawan vs R Karch 0-1461973Seirawan - KarchC11 French
4. R Karch vs Seirawan 0-1671973Seirawan - KarchD46 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
5. R Karch vs Seirawan  0-1431973Seirawan - KarchD18 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Dutch
6. Seirawan vs R Karch  0-1281973Seirawan - KarchC56 Two Knights
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. C Madsen vs Seirawan  1-0641974American OpenA40 Queen's Pawn Game
11. D Saxton vs Seirawan  0-166197576th US OpenA40 Queen's Pawn Game
12. Seirawan vs A Bisguier 1-053197576th US OpenA28 English
13. J Peters vs Seirawan ½-½47197576th US OpenB18 Caro-Kann, Classical
14. Benko vs Seirawan 1-056197576th US OpenB08 Pirc, Classical
15. Miles vs Seirawan 1-0601976Lone PineB08 Pirc, Classical
16. Seirawan vs J Meyers ½-½1001976Lone PineA34 English, Symmetrical
17. F Street vs Seirawan ½-½251976Lone PineA42 Modern Defense, Averbakh System
18. Seirawan vs D Berry  0-1391976Lone PineA07 King's Indian Attack
19. de Firmian vs Seirawan  ½-½281976Lone PineA41 Queen's Pawn Game (with ...d6)
20. D Fritzinger vs Seirawan  ½-½291976Lone PineB12 Caro-Kann Defense
21. Seirawan vs C Barnes  0-1301976Lone PineA25 English
22. Seirawan vs M Diesen  ½-½231976United States Championship (Juniors)A28 English
23. de Firmian vs Seirawan 1-0441976United States Championship (Juniors)B01 Scandinavian
24. Seirawan vs K Regan  1-0461976United States Championship (Juniors)A10 English
25. M Rohde vs Seirawan 1-0581976United States Championship (Juniors)B01 Scandinavian
 page 1 of 60; games 1-25 of 1,485  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 15 OF 23 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Mar-24-11  OneArmedScissor: <Penguincw: This guy looks familiar to me.Is he the guy on http://www.amberchess20.com/index.h... giving live anaylsis?>

Yes he's the same grandmaster who announces his name as yasser seirawan at the beginning of the videos

Mar-24-11  TheFocus: Yaz and Larry Christiansen will be in the US Championship this year.

Nice to see them playing for the US title.

I am rooting for Seirawan.

His book <No Regrets> about the 1992 Fischer - Spassky match is a great treasure.

Mar-24-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: There's a book about R + P endings where seriwan writes the forward. He mentions that in an apartment complex he lived in, there was a Russian emigre grandmaster. They would oftne analyze games together.

Except Friday nights. That was boxing night. Apparently HBO or some other station always had primo boxing wherever Yaz was living at the time, and the Russian guy was a boxing fanatic too. They probably slammed a few beers too, maybe something stronger.

Mar-26-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: < OneArmedScissor: <Penguincw: This guy looks familiar to me.Is he the guy on http://www.amberchess20.com/index... giving live anaylsis?>

Yes he's the same grandmaster who announces his name as yasser seirawan at the beginning of the videos >

Thanks for the info.Just making sure.I'm never there at the beginning of the round because I'm on chessgames.com (or somewhere else).

Apr-02-11  Everett: Yaz plays in the US Championship starting later this month.

http://saintlouischessclub.org/2011...

Apr-09-11  sergeidave: Anyone in the Seattle area, come and pay a visit to the Seattle chess club tomorrow! GM Yasser Seirawan will be giving a lecture and will be signing books!
Apr-10-11  sergeidave: Cool, coming back from having a great time at Seattle Chess Club, GM Yasser Seirawan shared many cool anecdotes, Karpov, Kasparov, Fischer, it was a very cool experience! And, of course, I got my signed book!
Apr-11-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: Did he give a simul/speech? Is he back living in the northwest?
Apr-11-11  sergeidave: No simul, it was a lecture and he shared tons of very interesting stories, showed some interesting and even funny games of his, and even talked a little about his strategy for this US Championship in which he will be playing! There was also an interesting auction (all this was part of a fund raiser for the Seattle Chess Club) of one of his personal chess sets. The bidding started at $200, but there were a couple of guys who battled for the set until it was sold at $1900!! We had a very nice 4+ hours with Yasser.
Apr-11-11  Everett: <sergeidave> Great for you! Wish I was there. Seirawan is really the man who introduced me fully to the game with his "Winning Chess Strategies." I learned about Bronstein, Karpov, Petrosian, Rubinstein, Nimzowitch and the rest through him. An astute email from a friend to Yasser resulted in me reading "The Luzhin Defense" by Nabokov.

Hope he does well in the tourney. I'll be following his games. To root for Yasser is as easy as drinking water.

Apr-16-11  rapidcitychess: Go Seirawan for US Championship!
Apr-20-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  Check It Out: Way to go yaz, nice win against Finegold!
Jul-08-11  polarmis: Seirawan has a long first blog entry on blitz and how he first got started in chess at WhyChess:

http://www.whychess.org/node/634

Jul-08-11  I play the Fred: He ought to call his blog posts "Why Seirawan".
Jul-24-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  ketchuplover: Down goes Polgar! Down goes Shak!
Jul-24-11  wordfunph: who's next after Judith and Shakh?

go Yasser, go USA!

Jul-26-11  bronkenstein: Performance of Mr Yasser ˝the giant killer˝ Seirawan with white: 2999 (!!!). BRAVO!

BTW performance with black 2630 , to make it ˝only˝ 2773 on average =)

Aug-31-11  Everett: His wins vs Polgar and Mamedyarov were sweet to see, especially the latter: such a straightforward crush from the White side.
Sep-25-11  Everett: Just realized that Seirawan was the second to Timman in his '93 match vs Karpov. Combined with his time with Korchnoi in '81, is there any other second who has the distinction of being on the losing team of two different WC finalists? For the sake of this conversation Timman-Karpov is considered a WC :-)

Also, was Seirawan Korchnoi's second when he played Kasparov in '83?

Sep-27-11  skcin: I do not know why his rating here is 2600+, when for years in chess life was 2700+. ?????
Sep-27-11  I play the Fred: US Chess ratings were modeled after FIDEs, but about 100 points higher, and at that time his US rating was in the 2700s. The peak rating shown above is his FIDE rating.

BTW wouldn't it be cool if Yaz made a push into the 2700 club at this point in his career? He's not all that far away - play a strong open or two in Europe, then a rated match against a favorable opponent and presto, 2700!

Sep-27-11  GBKnight: What would that prove? Seirawan was a great player and is a very good one now, but I don't think he would consider himself in the 2700 club
Sep-27-11  I play the Fred: <What would that prove?>

Um...nothing. It would just mean he made it for the first time in his 50's, which would be a neat addition to his career accomplishments. Just a cherry on the sundae.

<I don't think he would consider himself in the 2700 club>

By definition, if you earn the rating, you're in the club. It might make him the weakest member in the club, but I wouldn't mind being the world's poorest billionaire.

Sep-27-11  diceman: <GBKnight: What would that prove?>

What does anything prove, that it could be done.

Oct-12-11  Everett: <fochal> this is a bit of a repeat and a continuation from Bilbao. In short, Seirawan recommends the King's Indian from both sides (which is a Pirc vs e4), which is also suggested by Bronstein and Dvoretsky as good beginner's openings. This makes things easy to start off, but once you start to get your hang of the game, you may find yourself curious and interested in other set-ups and systems. Where this curiosity takes you is where you'll discover your own preferences and sensibilities. Then you find certain players aesthetically interesting... You start studying their games, and then you are doomed.. Ahhh, I mean "hooked", just like the rest of us here.

By the way Seirawan rarely played KID systems, and much preferred the modern move order.

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