I would like to put an end to Yasser's frustration, and confirm that the user Seirawan is indeed Yasser Seirawan.
I, too, was sceptical to begin with - we have had our fair share of clowns in the past - but I asked Yasser for references, and I have followed them up and confirmed with <a href="http://www.af4c.org" target="_af4c">America's Foundation for Chess</a> that Yassar has been speaking to me. To have someone of Yassar’s stature on the site will be a big bonus for everyone, I am quite sure.
So what now?
Well, I will be speaking to Yassar about moving forward his project to help get kids online and playing chess. I will be adding in some features to assist with this (and to make it a safer environment for minors).
Yassar has also stated he will be available for any chess related questions you may have – so feel free to publicly ask questions. I am sure he will be available for games too, but probably unable to play everyone, of course!
-Russ
An interesting interview with Yassar can be found <a href=http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_interviews/052403_y_seirawan_interview.html target="_interview">here</a>.
Isn't it nice to get good news in the Forums sometimes!
It seems those prepared to trust (mainly 'cos they stood to loose nothing anyway) have come up smelling of roses.
The arguments about style / quality can now be seen in a different light: two (very) good chess players with differences in opinion. It's good to know that even at the extreme levels that some reach in chess, there is still no 'right move' as such (well, other than really really obvious ones).
- Joined
- 26 May 02
- Moves
- 72546
This is very interesting. I've met and competed against many grandmasters over the years, some pretty famous, such as Garry Kasparov, Tony Miles, Michael Adams, Nigel Short… The one thing they all had in common is they were not only incredibly good at chess, but extremely knowledgeable about it. I didn’t think it was possible for a grandmaster to play as badly as black in this game:-
Game 625461
Nor did I believe a grandmaster could play an opening that the whole world knows as a Petroff Defence, and mistakenly call it a “Queens Fianchetto Opening”!
If this guy really is Yasser, then he must want an awful lot of people to believe he isn’t.
Dave
I give up Dave. I am going to sit in the corner and leave it to people who actually know something about chess to solve this mystery. No one needs to apologize. Shouldnt have commented on something I know nothing about,was just going on what Russ said.
*Sitting in my corner with blanked covering head*
You know something? I actually sent Yasser a private message giving him the benefit of the doubt, but then I went through the game that David Tebb references above. He appears to have beaten me to the posting punch.
Move by move, there are some pretty obvious errors (at least to my limited perception) that he made against bbarr. Errors that perhaps I would make, but not someone who purports to play at 2000+. If I can see them, I figure any intermediate player can. All of a sudden I'm not so sure anymore. I'm going to run that game through Fritz 8 tomorrow/later today and see what that yields.
Here's hoping I'm wrong.
EDITS: Punctuation, typos, etc.
- Joined
- 26 May 02
- Moves
- 72546
We have to be careful what we say, because this is a game still in progress. I merely ask everyone to play through the game, look up it's opening in any reference book, such as ECO, MCO, NCO (which will confirm it's a Petroff). Or paste the moves into software like ChessMaster, WinBoard or Fritz. Then judge for yoursleves whether black plays like a 2600 rated grandmaster, or someone around 1200.
Dave
Originally posted by David TebbI'm no grandmaster, but I'm not blind.
We have to be careful what we say, because this is a game still in progress. I merely ask everyone to play through the game, look up it's opening in any reference book, such as ECO, MCO, NCO (which will confirm it's a Petoff). Or paste the moves into software like ChessMaster, Winboard or Fritz. Then judge for yoursleves whether black plays like a 2600 rated grandmaster, or someone around 1200.
Dave
I've given away two queens today and both times I realized what I was doing as I was lifting my finger from the click-button on the mouse. Milli-seconds too late.
By BBar's score, he looks very competent. So, maybe said player is having an off-game?
I wouldn't judge someone on the basis of a single game (I wouldn't judge anyone by any game they play on an internet chess site...).
I've already mentioned I find this all very embarrasing. So, either accept that said person is who he says he is or PM him about it.
Originally posted by David TebbI followed his game with bbarr from the beginning, but I'll save my comments until it's over. I will however say this - The gentlemen in question may be Yasser Seirawan, but he's not GM Yasser Seirawan. If he is then he's intentionally not playing well for whatever reason that only he knows. I'm not knocking bbarr's playing either. Bbarr is 10 times the chess player I'll ever be, but come on... Review the game for yourselves...
We have to be careful what we say, because this is a game still in progress. I merely ask everyone to play through the game, look up it's opening in any reference book, such as ECO, MCO, NCO (which will confirm it's a Petoff). Or paste the moves into software like ChessMaster, Winboard or Fritz. Then judge for yoursleves whether black plays like a 2600 rated grandmaster, or someone around 1200.
Dave