S2 E25 Yasser Seirawan v. B. Spassky (1990)

Blindfold Chess Podcast

This week, we are looking at one of the most influential names in chess - Yasser Sierawan.

Yasser was born in Damascus, Syria to his Syrian father and English mother. At the age of 7, his family immigrated to Seattle, Washington.

He didn’t start playing chess until the age of 12 - this was in 1972, right in the thick of the Fischer Boom that was happening in the United States. The next year, at the age of 13, he became the Washington Junior Champion.

In 1975, he participated in his first US Open where he defeated his first Grandmaster - Arthur Bisguier.

At the age of 19, he played in (and won) the World Junior Championship. At a separate event, he played (and won) a game against former World Championship Challenger - Viktor Korchnoi. Korchnoi was impressed with Sierewan’s play and invited Yasser to train in Switzerland for the 1981 World Championship match between Karpov and Korchnoi.

Yasser shares an interesting story about this where he was offered to sleep in Korchnoi’s master bedroom and Korchnoi would take the guest room. At the time, Korchnoi had just defected from the USSR so if there was an assassination attempt, they would shoot at the person in the master bedroom. I’ve left Yasser’s story in the show notes.

In 1981, Yasser won his first US Championship in a 2 way tie as well as earned his Grandmaster title.

Two years later, 1982, Yasser played Anatoly Karpov and defeated him. In a span of 10 years, Yasser went from no chess experience to defeating a reigning world champion.

He received his first taste of the Candidates tournament in 1985 scoring in the middle of the pack and he won his first US Open. The following year, he won his second US Championship - this time in sole ownership.

In 1988, he was in the Candidates again, eliminated in the first round, in 1989 he won the US Championship again.

1990, Yasser reached his peak world ranking list by placing 10th in the world. He won the US Open again. He was also invited to do the commentary for the World Championship between Kasparov and Karpov. Later in the year, he played in his final Candidates tournament - being eliminated in the round robin portion.

Around this point, there was a schism in the chess world between FIDE and the newly created Professional Chess Association. Starting in 1993, there were 2 simultaneous World Champions

In 2000, he returned to his winning ways by winning his 4th and final US Chess Championship.

In 2001, Yasser released a plan called “Fresh Start” to join the chess world back together. The plan was signed by all parties in 2002 called the “Prague Agreement”. Eventually in 2006, the world championship title was reunited.

The next year, Yasser was awarded the Chess Journalist of the Year award, and in 2006 he was entered in the Chess Hall of Fame.

Today, you can see him as a commentator and a streamer appearing at the St Louis Chess Club, Chessbrahs, and others - teaching, sharing stories, and talking about games.

This week, we are going to 1990 - Yasser Seirawan versus Boris Spassky.

1. d4 b5 2. e4 Bb7 3. Bd3 e6 4. Nf3 a6 5. O-O d6 6. c3 Nd7 7. a4 Ngf6 8. Re1 Be7 9. axb5 axb5 10. Rxa8 Qxa8 11. e5 dxe5 12. dxe5 Nd5 13. Bxb5 Bc6 14. Bxc6 Qxc6 15. Nd4 Qb7 16. Qg4 g6 17. Nd2 c5 18. N4f3 h5 19. Qe4 Qc7 20. Nc4 h4 21. Bg5 Bxg5 22. Nxg5 Rh5 23. Nxe6 1-0

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1129587

https://worldchesshof.org/hof-inductee/yasser-seirawan#

https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/

Assassination Story - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiexLWApQC8