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Yasser Seirawan
March 24, 2020
Today, Yasser celebrates his 60th birthday.
ChessBase has a tribute to him at:
https://en.chessbase.com/post/congra...rawan-turns-60
by Johannes Fischer.
Two extracts:
He was born on March 24, 1960 in Damascus as the son of a Syrian father and an English mother. Due to political unrest, the family left Syria in March 1964 to go first to England and then three years later to the USA, where Seirawan's father worked for Boeing in Seattle.
"The first truly world-class chess player I ever saw was Paul Keres. It was in 1975. Vancouver, a beautiful city just across the border from Seattle, hosted a large open tournament. ... With the event about to begin, friends were driving up for the day to watch the opening round. I caught a ride as well. Our eyes were all glued on Paul Keres as we watched his every move. He was a well-dressed, dignified man with what might be called a noble bearing. He deeply impressed our whole party. ... It was a thrill to watch a world-class player in action. His manner, his bearing, his unhurried approach to the position, the accuracy of his moves, and the precision and manner in which he physically played his moves all made a deep impression. I was especially drawn to observing his physical movement of the pieces, as he carefully put them correctly in the middle of the square so as not to annoy his opponent. In fact, I went home to practice so that I could mimic his movements as well and to endeavor, as best I could, to play chess 'properly' at the board; ... In short, I wanted to be world class and to behave like a world-class player. I wanted to be, at least in manner, like Paul Keres." (Chess Duels, p. 56-57)
March 24, 2020
Today, Yasser celebrates his 60th birthday.
ChessBase has a tribute to him at:
https://en.chessbase.com/post/congra...rawan-turns-60
by Johannes Fischer.
Two extracts:
He was born on March 24, 1960 in Damascus as the son of a Syrian father and an English mother. Due to political unrest, the family left Syria in March 1964 to go first to England and then three years later to the USA, where Seirawan's father worked for Boeing in Seattle.
"The first truly world-class chess player I ever saw was Paul Keres. It was in 1975. Vancouver, a beautiful city just across the border from Seattle, hosted a large open tournament. ... With the event about to begin, friends were driving up for the day to watch the opening round. I caught a ride as well. Our eyes were all glued on Paul Keres as we watched his every move. He was a well-dressed, dignified man with what might be called a noble bearing. He deeply impressed our whole party. ... It was a thrill to watch a world-class player in action. His manner, his bearing, his unhurried approach to the position, the accuracy of his moves, and the precision and manner in which he physically played his moves all made a deep impression. I was especially drawn to observing his physical movement of the pieces, as he carefully put them correctly in the middle of the square so as not to annoy his opponent. In fact, I went home to practice so that I could mimic his movements as well and to endeavor, as best I could, to play chess 'properly' at the board; ... In short, I wanted to be world class and to behave like a world-class player. I wanted to be, at least in manner, like Paul Keres." (Chess Duels, p. 56-57)
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