Monday
Jul282014
Tarjan At The U.S. Open
Monday, July 28, 2014 at 11:04PM
After 30 years' inaction, GM James Tarjan is in action! Tarjan gave up the game in the early 1980s (in fact, I played him when I was a kid in one of his last tournaments, back in 1982) but now at long last he has taken up the game again, at least to the extent that he is playing in the U.S. Open in Orlando, Florida. (HT: Alex) Here's hoping he enjoys his return to the game.
tagged James Tarjan
Reader Comments (5)
That's awesome. I always root for those American players from that great time for American chess. I was a kid mostly during those times, but those were the guys I read about growing up. Hope he wins the Open.
I have the same sentiment as Mike. Henley is playing, too, but I guess he has played sporadically over the past 20 years. I hope some publication or website will get a comment or two from both of these GMs. Dennis, do you care to share the game you played against Tarjan?
[DM: I don't have the game, unfortunately, but remember giving up a piece for a couple of pawns. Beyond that I don't remember much, so I assume that there wasn't much to it and that Tarjan consolidated and won without breaking a sweat. (If I had had good chances I suspect I'd have remembered that!)]
Tarjan gave up chess in 1986, saying that he was having too difficult a time making his living from playing chess. In fact, he turned down his invitation to the 1985 U.S. chess championship for that reason. He later became a reference librarian, and he might still be doing that work today.
He was certainly a regular in U.S. chess championships from 1973-84. His best finish was clear 2nd at the 1978 edition....but then he finished dead last at the 1983 one despite being the highest rated player in the country at the time!
[DM: Um, no. Looking up the tournament he was only the third seed (at 2535, behind Alburt (2570) and Browne (2560), and Seirawan (2600), who didn't play in the championship that year, was even higher-rated and 65 points above Tarjan.]
On second thought, Tarjan had the highest USCF rating at the time---not the highest FIDE one. I'll double-check it when I get home later today, but I'm at least 90% sure that the crosstable for the event (as given in CL&R) indicated that Tarjan had the highest USCF rating of anyone in the tournament. The magazine also stated that he was the highest rating, which implies that he was even more highly rated than Seirawan, who (as you pointed out) didn't compete in the tournament that year.
[DM: Did that prove to be correct? I have my CL&R on disc somewhere, but don't feel like checking it.]
Oops ! I did make an error in stating that Tarjan finished "dead last" in that championship----actually, he and Boris Kogan tied for last place. My mistake !