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Yasser Seirawan
Title: Grandmaster
Residence: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Age: 53
Chess Highlights: Silver Medal - 2011 World Team Championship, U.S. Champion 1981, 1986, 1989, 2000; World Junior Chess Champion: 1979, 10-time U.S. Olympiad Team Member
Bio: Few names in U.S. Chess are more recognizable than Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan. A four-time U.S. Champion and former world Championship contender, Seirawan was the dominant force in American chess in the 1980s.
Born in Damascus, Syria, in 1960, Seirawan’s family immigrated to the United States when he was 7 and settled in Seattle. He picked up the game of chess when he was 12 years old and honed his skills playing against the top players in the area including Latvian-born master Viktors Pupols and six-time Washington State Champion James Harley McCormick.
When he was just 13, he became the Washington State Junior Champion, and in 1979 he won the World Junior Championship.
Seirawan went on to dominate the American chess scene, winning the U.S. Championship title in 1981, 1986 and 1989. He claimed the U.S. Championship title once again in 2000 and continued to play in major world-class events until he announced his retirement in 2003.
Seirawan was lured out of retirement in 2011 to once again play in the U.S. Championship, which was held in Saint Louis. He cited the exciting developments of the Saint Louis chess scene as a contributing factor for his renewed interest in competitive chess.
Seirawan followed the 2011 U.S. Championship with a stunning performance at the 2011 World Team Championship, where he earned an individual silver medal for his performance on board four throughout the event.
He is a highly respected teacher, commentator and author and has written several books including Chess Duels, the 2010 Chesscafe.com's book of the year. He currently serves as the featured grandmaster in the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis' Resident Grandmaster Rotation.
