For American chess, Black History Month comes this year as Black history is being made.
As we have chronicled in this space in recent columns, FIDE last spring officially awarded Bronx-born junior star Brewington Hardaway the title of grandmaster, making the 16-year-old Hardaway the first African American player born in the U.S. ever to earn the game’s most prestigious title. (Maurice Ashley, the first African American grandmaster when he received the title in 1999, was born in Jamaica and moved to the U.S. at the age of 12.)
Hardaway has a long and promising career ahead of him, and we look forward to charting his progress in the years to come. But at this time, when much of the East Coast seems encased in a permanent sheet of Arctic ice, we’re devoting this Black History Month column to another African American superstar, the legendary, mercurial IM Emory Tate.
Tate, who spent a number of years living and competing right here in the Washington area, is something of a cult figure for chess fans, with a flair for aggressive, attacking chess on a par with the great Latvian world champion Mikhail Tal. Tate, who left us too soon in early 2015 at the age of 56, has achieved a new level of posthumous notoriety as the father of controversial social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate. But he also left a legacy of unforgettable games perfectly designed for playing over before a comfy fire on a snowbound mid-winter evening.
Tate was an accomplished player with a number of impressive tournament wins, but he had a positive genius for defeating — brilliantly — top-caliber grandmasters who often outranked him by 100 rating points or more. He defeated dozens of grandmasters over the course of his career, and it was widely said that he would rather pull off one tactical attacking masterpiece against a quality player than actually win whatever event he happened to be playing in.
Among his very best performances was his famous win over Russian-born GM Leonid Yudasin, a two-time participant in the world championship Candidates’ Tournament, at the 1996 U.S. Masters Tournament. Tate as White plays aggressively from the get-go against Black’s Scheveningen Sicilian set-up, with an early g-pawn push and a piece sacrifice that the grandmaster declines on 11. Bd5!? Bb7?! (it’s not clear if Yudasin blinked here, but White gets the double-edged battle he craves after 11…exd5!? 12. Nc6 Qb6 13. exd5+ Ne5 14. f4 Bg4 15. Qe3) 12. Bxb7 Nxb7 13. a4!, not only poking Black on the queenside but opening a route into the game for White’s queen’s rook.
With a number of Black pieces occupied on the queenside, Tate alertly shifts the field of battle on 18. b4 Na4 (Qxb4? 19. Nc6) 19. Nf5! (Rxa4 Qxd4 20. Qd3 Qxd3 21. cxd3 Rfc8 is far too comfortable for Black) exf5 20. Nd5 Qd8 21. exf5 Re8 22.Qh5!, again ignoring the knight on offer at a4 to pursue the mating attack.
Already under pressure, the grandmaster goes wrong on 22…Nab6? (this saves the knight, but almost mandatory here was 22…g6! 23. fxg6 fxg6, when Black can fight on after 24. Qh4 Qc8 25. Rxa4 Qxc2 26. Ra3 Bd8) 23. Rh3 Nf8 (securing the h7-square and threatening to take White’s rook on d5, but retreat was never in the Tate playbook) 24. f6! Nxd5 (Black has several options, all bad: 24…gxf6 25. gxf6 Bxf6 26. Rg1+ Bg7 27. Qh6 Ng6 28. Qxh7+ Kf8 29. Rxg6! fxg6 30. Rf3+ Bf6 31. Bh6 mate; or 24…Bxf6 25. gxf6 Re5 26. Ne7+ Rxe7 [Kh8 27. fxg7+ Kxg7 28. Qh6+ Kh8 29. Qf6 mate] 27. fxg7! Kxg7 28. Qh6+ Kg8 29. Rg1+ Ng6 30. Qxh7+ Kf8 31. Qh8+! Nxh8 32. Rxh8 mate) 25. fxg7 Kxg7 26. Bb2+, and every White piece is now in on the kill.
Black can’t stop the onslaught: 26…Kg8 27. g6! Bxf6 28. gxf7+ Kh8 29. Rg1 (this wins quickly, but a touch faster was 29. Qg4 Ne6 30. Rg1 Ng5 31. Qxg5 Rf8 32. Qg7+! Bxg7 33. Bxg7 mate) Re1 (a diversion that offers only a momentary reprieve) 30. Rxe1 Bxb2 31. Re8 Nf6 (White was threatening 32. Qxh7 mate) 32. Rxd8 Rxd8 (also losing was 32…Nxh5 33. Rxa8 Nf4 34. Rg3 N4g6 35. Rxf8+ Nxf8 36. Rg8 mate) 33. Qh6 Ne4 34. Qh4 Nf6 35. Rg3 N8d7 36. Qg5, and Black resigned as the end is near on 36…Ng4 (Be5 37. Qg7 mate) 37. Rxg4 Be5 38. Qg8+! Rxg8 39. Rxg8 mate.
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One could dine out on a game like that for years, but Tate fashioned a remarkable number of similar attacking masterpieces over the years. Many cite his win over GM Nick de Firmian, a three-time U.S. champion, at the 2001 New Jersey open as perhaps the quintessentially Tate brilliancy. Tate here is on the Black side of this Sicilian sideline variation and his opponent, a noted author and opening theorist, can’t hold back his opponent in full beast mode.
As with Yudasin, de Firmian shows his opponent the utmost respect with 11. Be2 Nbc6 12. Nb3?!, a retreat when the more forthright 12. Nf5 seems a better way to challenge Black’s outside-the-box opening set-up. On 15. 0-0 Be5 16. Qd2 Qc8!, Black is already eyeing nasty sacrifices to break up the defensive rampart in front of the White king.
White tries to shore up his defensive foundations, but Black is not to be denied: 19. Nd4 (to meet Black’s threat of 19…Bxh3 20. gxh3 Nxf3+, with a winning fork, but Black goes ahead with the sacrifice anyway) Bxh3!? 20. gxh3 Qxh3, with the threat of 21…Bh2+ 22. Kf2 Bg3+ 23. Kg1 Qh2+ 24. Kf1 Qh1+ 25. Bg1 Qh3 mate.
As in the first game, the harried grandmaster misses a saving defensive resource, and soon the walls are caving in: 22. Bxf4? (White understandably looks to trade pieces to de-fang the attack, but needed now was 22. Qg2!, and there’s still plenty of play for both sides in lines such as 22…Qc8 23. Qh1 g4) Nxf4 23. Rf1 a6 24. Bd3 Qg3+ 25. Kh1 h3 26. Rg1 (see diagram; White may have thought he had weathered the storm as he’s much better now after 26…Qh4? 27. Nf5 Qh5 28. Rg3 Nxf3? 39. Qe3 Ne5 30. Nd5 Nexd3 31. cxd3 Nxd5 32. exd5 Re8 33. Rxg5) Qg2+!!, a fantastic tactical idea.
There followed 27. Rxg2 (Qxg2 hxg2 mate) hxg2+ 28. Kg1 Rh1+ 29. Kf2 Rxa1 — White has a queen and two pawns to offset the lost rooks and bishop, but Black’s attack is far from spent and the pawn on g2 will present massive headaches for the White defense.
Tate’s second rook joins the attack via the open h-file, and de Firmian can only mark time as Black lines up the final blow: 38. Bc4 Rh1 39. Be2 (the bishop hustles back to thwart 39…Rxg1! 40. Kxg1 Nxf3+) Rxg1!! (again, Tate goes through with a move his opponent specifically tried to stop) 40. Kxg1 (Qxf4 Rgxd1 41. Qg4 g1=Q+ and wins) Nh3+, and White packs it in ahead of 41. Kh2 g1=Q+ 42. Kxh3 Qg2 mate.
(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)
Tate-Yudasin, U.S. Masters, Oak Brook, Illinois, March 1997
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 Nbd7 8. Qe2 Nc5 9. g4 b5 10. g5 Nfd7 11. Bd5 Bb7 12. Bxb7 Nxb7 13. a4 bxa4 14. Rxa4 Nbc5 15. Ra3 Qb6 16. O-O Be7 17. Kh1 O-O 18. b4 Na4 19. Nf5 exf5 20. Nd5 Qd8 21. exf5 Re8 22. Qh5 Nab6 23. Rh3 Nf8 24. f6 Nxd5 25. fxg7 Kxg7 26. Bb2+ Kg8 27. g6 Bf6 28. gxf7+ Kh8 29. Rg1 Re1 30. Rxe1 Bxb2 31. Re8 Nf6 32. Rxd8 Rxd8 33. Qh6 Ne4 34. Qh4 Nf6 35. Rg3 N8d7 36. Qg5 Black resigns.
De Firmian-Tate, New Jersey Open, Somerset, New Jersey, September 2001
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bd7 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Bg7 10.h3 Ne5 11.Be2 Nbc6 12.Nb3 h5 13.f3 h4 14.Bf2 Ng6 15.O-O Be5 16.Qd2 Qc8 17.Be3 Bf4 18.Rfe1 Nce5 19.Nd4 Bxh3 20.gxh3 Qxh3 21.Bb5+ Kf8 22.Bxf4 Nxf4 23.Rf1 a6 24.Bd3 Qg3+ 25.Kh1 h3 26.Rg1 Qg2+ 27.Rxg2 hxg2+ 28.Kg1 Rh1+ 29.Kf2 Rxa1 30.Nd1 Kg7 31.Ne2 Rc8 32.b3 f6 33.Ng1 Rh8 34.Bc4 Rh1 35.Be2 Rxa2 36.Ne3 Ra1 37.Nd1 Neg6 38.Bc4 Nh4 39.Be2 Rxg1 40.Kxg1 Nh3+ White resigns.
• Got a hot tip or a cool game to share? David R. Sands can be reached at davidrsands18@gmail.com.
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