“And that brings us to our next guest… Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan…
Born in Damascus, Syria, he already lives more than five years in Hilversum (with his wife Yvette).
Yasser moved to the US when he was seven and learned to play chess relatively late when he was 12 years old during the Fischer-Spassky world championship match in Reykjavik. But he was talented, obtaining the GM-title during the famous Wijk aan Zee tournament (Hoogovens tournament) in 1981 at the age of 20.
Yasser didn’t only play chess, he started his own company with the bi-weekly magazine Inside Chess in 1988 and published many chess books. He also wrote many books himself including the “Winning Chess” series originally published by Microsoft Press “. Recently he recorded many of his books in video format for the company Chessable.
Yasser played for the HSG-team when the team was being sponsored by Joop van Oosterom leading the team – with Jan Stomphorst being team captain – to national success in the KNSB competition. How many times might be a pub quiz question later tonight but in 2008 HSG became national champion for the first time with Friso Nijboer, Predrag Nikolic, Jan Smeets, Jop Delemarre, Herman van Engen and Magnus Carlsen to name a few.
After retiring from active tournament play nearly 20 years ago (in 2003), Yasser has now established himself as an expert commentator in live broadcasts on the internet during major events, many related to the World Championship cycle and the Grand Chess Tour.
Just back from doing a commentating job in Saint Louis I’m very pleased to welcome four-time US chess champion and former HSG-club member Yasser Seirawan.”
Inleiding door voorzitter Mirko Lukacs bij de Jubileumavond
Tijdens de jubileumviering vertelde Yasser over zijn ervaringen bij HSG 1 en toonde een minder bekende partij, gespeeld zonder publiek in het Max Euwe Centrum in Amsterdam. Yasser vond dit een van zijn betere partijen en ook een goed voorbeeld van zijn provocatieve, door Bent Larsen geïnspireerde, speelstijl.
Deze partij is door Wim van der Wijk nader geanalyseerd en hieronder na te spelen.
Een andere partij waar Yasser aan refereerde, zonder deze te tonen, was zijn overwinning op Kasparov (Dubai, 1983). Deze is hier na te spelen
Analyse partij: Wim van der Wijk
Inleiding: Mirko Lukacs
Samenstelling: Pascal Losekoot
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