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31-461: The Pirc Defence is usually defined by the opening sequence This is the most commonly played line after Black responds to 1.e4 with 1...d6. It has been claimed to give rise to somewhat interesting and exciting games, where Black will have counterplay but has to be cautious about playing too passively. According to Garry Kasparov , the Pirc Defence is "hardly worth using in the tournaments of

62-525: A dangerous gambit with 5...0-0 6.Qd2 e5. The Argentines feared the sally ...Ng4, though some British players (especially Mark Hebden , Paul Motwani , Gary Lane , later also Michael Adams ) came to realise that this was mainly dangerous for Black, therefore playing Be3 and Qd2 in all sorts of move orders, while omitting f2–f3. They called this the 150 Attack , because players of this strength (150 ECF ) can easily play this position and get strong play without any theory . The original Argentine idea probably

93-505: A distinct formal definition, 1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6, permuting White's first two moves, although they qualified the definition by remarking that 1.e4 d6 could also transpose to the Pirc. The presence or absence of Black's third move in the Pirc is reported differently, according to the source; with the pawn move 3...g6, Black prepares to fianchetto the king's bishop to g7. Paul van der Sterren therefore described 3...g6 as "the defining move of

124-455: A list of unorthodox chess pieces, see Fairy chess piece ; for a list of terms specific to chess problems , see Glossary of chess problems ; for a list of named opening lines , see List of chess openings ; for a list of chess-related games, see List of chess variants ; for a list of terms general to board games , see Glossary of board games . Yasser Seirawan Yasser Seirawan ( Arabic : ياسر سيروان ; born March 24, 1960)

155-503: A match for the world championship. Impressed, Viktor then invited Seirawan to Switzerland, where Korchnoi was training for his 1981 world title match against Anatoly Karpov . Seirawan qualified for the 1985 and 1988-1990 Candidates Tournaments . In the 1985 tournament in Montpellier he scored 7/15 placing joint 10th, and in the 1988–1990 tournament in St John , a knockout tournament, he

186-535: A now-defunct coffeehouse, the Last Exit on Brooklyn , playing against the likes of Latvian -born master Viktors Pupols and six-time Washington State Champion James Harley McCormick. Seirawan began playing chess at 12; at 13, he became Washington junior champion. At 19, he won the World Junior Chess Championship . He also won a game against Viktor Korchnoi , who had two years earlier narrowly lost

217-583: Is 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6, which can transpose to the Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defence after 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bb5+ c6 6.Be2 0-0 7.Be3 c5 8.0-0 cxd4 9.Nxd4. An unusual but quite reasonable deviation for White is 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.f3. At the 1989 Barcelona World Cup event, former world champion Garry Kasparov surprised American grandmaster Yasser Seirawan with this move. After 3...g6 4.c4, an unhappy Seirawan found himself defending

248-603: Is a Syrian-born American chess grandmaster and four-time United States champion . He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. Seirawan is also a published chess author and commentator. Seirawan was born in Damascus , Syria . His father was Syrian and his mother an English nurse from Nottingham , where he spent some time in his early childhood. When he was seven, his family immigrated to Seattle, Washington , where he attended Queen Anne Elementary School, Meany Middle School , and Garfield High School . He honed his game at

279-480: Is commonly used against the King's Indian Defence and Dragon Sicilian, and can also be used against the Pirc; indeed, this system is as old as the Pirc itself. The system 4.f3 was introduced by Argentine players c. 1930 and again in 1950. It was never considered dangerous for Black because of 4.f3 Bg7 5.Be3 c6 6.Qd2 b5. It received a severe blow in about 1985, when Gennady Zaichik showed that Black could castle anyway and play

310-569: Is only viable after 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 0-0 6.0-0-0 c6 (or Nc6) 7.f3 b5 8.h4. Black usually does not castle, though, and prefers 5...c6 or even 4...c6. The question of whether and when to insert Nf3 remains unclear. After 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3, Black has an alternative to 3...g6 (Main line) known as the Pribyl System or Czech Defence , beginning 3...c6. The lines often transpose to the Pirc if Black later plays ...g6; alternatively, Black can play ...Qa5 and ...e5 to challenge White's centre, or expand on

341-493: The queenside with ...b5. A common deviation by Black in recent practice is 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5. This has been tried by many GMs over the years, including Zurab Azmaiparashvili and Christian Bauer . White's 4.dxe5 is known to be equal, and play normally continues 4...dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Bc4 Be6 7.Bxe6 fxe6. Instead, White normally transposes to the Philidor Defence with 4.Nf3. An unusual deviation for Black

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372-636: The Empress and Princess , respectively. The initial position is that of standard chess. Whenever the player moves a piece from its starting position, one of the extra pieces in hand may be placed immediately on the square just vacated. Likewise, pawns may promote to a hawk or an elephant in addition to the standard pieces. The first ever event was a 12-board simultaneous exhibition held on March 31, 2007, in Vancouver , British Columbia, Canada. In May 2011, Seirawan returned from hiatus to competitive chess, playing for

403-795: The French Defence after 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 e6 6.Nf3, to the Tarrasch Variation of the French Defence after 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 e6 6.c3 c5 7.Nd2 Nc6 8.Ndf3, or even to the Blackmar–Diemer Gambit with an extra tempo for White after 4.Nc3 dxe4 5.Bg5 exf3 6.Nxf3. Some of the systems employed by White against the Pirc Defence include the following: Glossary of chess#counterplay This glossary of chess explains commonly used terms in chess , in alphabetical order. Some of these terms have their own pages, like fork and pin . For

434-529: The King's Indian Defence for the first time in his life, though he managed to draw the game. Black can avoid a King's Indian with 3...e5, which may lead to an Old Indian type of position after 4.d5, with 3...c5, which may lead to a Benoni type of position after 4.d5 or transpose to Prins Variation of the Sicilian Defence after 4.Ne2 cxd4 5.Nxd4, or with 3...d5. This can transpose to the Classical Variation of

465-452: The "Pirc–Robatsch Defense". The Austrian Attack begins 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3, and was a favourite of Fischer. It is also well respected by Nick de Firmian , the author of Modern Chess Openings ( MCO ). In placing pawns on d4, e4 and f4, White establishes a powerful centre, intending to push in the centre and/or attack on the kingside ; in the main line, Black will usually counter with ...e5, aiming for play against

496-462: The 'classical' pawn centre with pawns at e4 and d4, forgoing the committal move f2–f4 as Black castles and builds a compact structure. Efim Geller , Anatoly Karpov and Evgeni Vasiukov have all successfully used this system for White; Zurab Azmaiparashvili has scored well as Black. This transposes into the Sicilian Dragon after 6...c5 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4. The setup f2–f3, Be3 and Qd2

527-475: The Pirc Defence" because the development of the bishop to g7 "creates the same sort of positional tension as the King's Indian Defence ". A distinction is usually drawn between the Pirc and lines where Black delays the development of his knight to f6, or omits it altogether; this is known as the Modern or Robatsch Defence . The tenth edition of Modern Chess Openings (1965) grouped the Pirc and Robatsch together as

558-533: The U.S. team in the world team championship in China, where he won silver in first alternate. He had wins versus top GMs Judit Polgar and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov . He only lost one game. Seirawan won the 2011 and 2012 Dutch Open Blitz championship. Seirawan is widely known for his expert commentary in live broadcasts on the Internet during important events. He has been named by the chess historian Edward Winter as one of

589-531: The dark squares and weaknesses created by White's central advance. This direct, aggressive line is one of the most ambitious systems against the Pirc. Jan Timman has played the Austrian successfully with both colours. Yuri Balashov does well with the white pieces, and Valery Beim has an impressive score on the black side. The most frequently played move after 5...0-0 is 6.Bd3 (the Weiss Variation ), with 6...Nc6

620-471: The defeat sustained by Fischer in the game given in the example games spurred White players, including Fischer, to turn to 6.Bd3. In the 1980s, 6.Be2 c5 7.dxc5 Qa5 8.0-0 Qxc5+ 9.Kh1 was revived with more favourable results. 6.Be3 is another possibility, first extensively explored in the 1970s and played by Bojan Kurajica , Yuri Balashov and Alexander Beliavsky , which leads to sharp play. Black's chief alternative to 5...0-0 lies in an immediate strike against

651-426: The efforts of Canadian grandmaster Duncan Suttles . Black, in hypermodern fashion, does not immediately stake a claim in the centre with pawns ; rather, Black works to undermine White's centre from the flanks . Its first appearance in a World Championship match was in 1972, when it was played by Bobby Fischer against Boris Spassky at Reykjavík ( game 17 ); the game ended in a draw . Hooper and Whyld gave

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682-709: The end, the FIDE World Chess Championship 2006 between Kramnik and Veselin Topalov reunited the world championship title. Following a series of events, such as Seirawan participating in the Beijing Chess Challenge in September 2003, there were reports that he would be retiring as a professional player. In the July 2007 FIDE list, Seirawan had an Elo rating of 2634, placing him in the top 100 chess players in

713-450: The highest category", as it gives White "too many opportunities for anybody's liking". The Pirc Defence, named after Slovenian grandmaster Vasja Pirc , is a relatively new opening; while it was seen on occasion in the late nineteenth century, it was considered irregular , thus remaining a sideline. The opening began gaining some popularity only after World War II , and by the 1960s it was regarded as playable , owing in large part to

744-506: The main line), continuing 9.Ng5 Bxb5 ! Now if White tries 10.Nxe6, Black has 10...Bxd4!, ignoring the threat to his queen, in view of 11.Nxd8 Bf2+ 12.Kd2 Be3+ with a draw by perpetual check . White can instead try 11.Nxb5, with complicated play. White can also essay the sharp 6.e5 against 5...c5, after which 6...Nfd7 7.exd6 0-0 is considered to offer good play for Black. The Classical (Two Knights) System begins 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 0-0 6.0-0. White contents themselves with

775-413: The most common response, though 6....Na6, with the idea of ....Nc7, ....Rb8 and ....b5 became popular in the 1980s after 6....Nc6 was found to offer Black few winning chances. 6.e5 is a sharp try, with unclear consequences, which was much played in the 1960s, though it has never attained popularity at the highest levels. 6.Be2 is another move which was often seen in the 1950s and early 1960s, although

806-557: The top five Internet broadcasters. In 2019, he joined the Chessbrahs and provided coverage for the 2019 World Cup. Seirawan has written several books. The "Winning Chess" series (with co-author IM Jeremy Silman ): The "Winning Chess" series was originally published by Microsoft Press ; it is now published by Everyman Chess . Seirawan is married to Woman FIDE Master Yvette Nagel, daughter of Dutch politician Jan Nagel . The chess opening Seirawan attack (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Bg5)

837-415: The white centre with 5...c5, to which the usual response is either 6.dxc5 or 6.Bb5+. The former allows 6...Qa5. The latter promises a tactical melee, with a common line being 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.e5 Ng4 8.e6 (8.h3 or 8.Bxd7+ are other possibilities) 8...fxe6, which was thought bad, until Yasser Seirawan played the move against Gyula Sax in 1988 (8...Bxb5 is the alternative, if Black does not want the forced draw in

868-601: The winner of the 2002 Einstein tournament in Dortmund , who turned out to be Péter Lékó . The winners of these matches would then play each other to become undisputed World Champion. This plan was signed by all parties on May 6, 2002, in the so-called "Prague Agreement". The Kramnik-Leko match took place (the match was drawn, with Kramnik retaining his title); the Kasparov-Ponomariov match was canceled in 2003, and this particular plan became moot when Kasparov retired in 2005. In

899-443: The world, and America's number four, behind Hikaru Nakamura , Gata Kamsky , and Alexander Onischuk . He played six games in the July 2007 FIDE update. In 2007, Seirawan unveiled a chess variant created in collaboration with Bruce Harper, called Seirawan chess or SHARPER chess. SHARPER chess introduces two additional pieces, a "hawk" and an "elephant"—a rook/knight and a bishop/knight combination that in other variants are called

930-466: Was drawn +2–2=6. In 2001, Seirawan released a plan called "Fresh Start" to reunite the chess world, which at that time had two world champions : Ruslan Ponomariov had gained the title under the auspices of FIDE , while Vladimir Kramnik had beaten Garry Kasparov to take the Classical title. It called for one match between Ponomariov and Kasparov (the world number one), and another between Kramnik and

961-557: Was knocked out by Jon Speelman in the preliminary round. In 1990, he won a match against Jan Timman sponsored by KRO by the score of +3-1=2. For 12 years, he was the chief editor of the Inside Chess magazine. The magazine was sold to the ChessCafe.com website, on which old articles were featured. In 1999, Seirawan played a ten-game match against Michael Adams in Bermuda . The match

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