Armed Forces Champ & Brilliant Tactician Emory Tate, 1958-2015

Tate accepting his 2nd Armed Forces Championship title

Brilliant tactician, International Master and 5-time Armed Forces Champion Emory Tate died on October 17, 2015. He was playing at a chess tournament in San Jose, California, the GM Sam Shankland Championship. Emory is remembered by peers and fans for his outlandish attacks and dramatic post-mordem analysis. As recently as National Chess Day on October 10, 2015, Emory contributed his own analysis to US Chess, on a blindfold exhibition at the Weibel Elementary School in Fremont, California. An excerpt from that piece, after Emory played 16.Qe4, showed off his colorful approach to the game and to its annotations.

A move played to create confusion!!! Most blindfold players would have a hard time seeing it. My opponent even stuttered (Qe4?) Yes. And the battle continued. Emory was featured on the earliest days of Chess Life Online for his trips in 2006 and 2007 to the Curacao Chess International, where he revealed his "frozen pawn" idea and executed his usual Grandmaster scalps.

[pgn][Event "Curacao International Chess Festival"]
[White "Tate, Emory"]
[Black "Torres, J."]1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 e6 4.f3 Bd6 5.Bxd6 Nxd6 6.Nc3 f5 7.e4 O-O 8.Qd2 b6 9.O-O-O Bb7 10.exf5 exf5 11.Nh3 Nc6 12.Nf4 a6 13.h4 b5 14.Kb1 Ne7 15.Qf2 b4 16.Na4 Nd5 17.Nd3 Ne8 18.Nac5 Bc8 19.Ne5 Nef6 20.Bc4 a5 21.Rde1 c6 22.g4 Qc7 23.h5 d6 24.Ng6 dxc5 25.g5 hxg6 26.hxg6 Qf4 27.gxf6 gxf6 28.Qg2 1-0[/pgn]

[pgn][Event "Curacao International Chess Festival "]
[White "Tate, Emory"]
[Black "Gustafsson, Jan"]1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 Bc5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bb3 Bb6 7.h3 h6 8.Qe2 Nbd7 9.Nd2 O-O 10.Nc4 Bc7 11.Ne3 Nc5 12.g4 d5 13.Nf5 Bxf5 14.gxf5 Ba5 15.Rg1 Kh8 16.exd5 cxd5 17.Bd2 d4 18.Ne4 Nfxe4 19.dxe4 Bxd2+ 20.Kxd2 Qa5+ 21.Kd1 Nxb3 22.cxb3 Rac8 23.f6 g6 24.Qd2 Qxd2+ 25.Kxd2 Rc6 26.Rac1 Rxf6 27.Ke2 Ra6 28.a3 Rb6 29.b4 a5 30.Rc5 axb4 31.a4 Re8 32.a5 Rf6 33.Rb5 Re7 34.Rxb4 Rc7 35.Rd1 Rf4 36.f3 Rh4 37.Rb5 Rxh3 38.Rxe5 Rc2+ 39.Kd3 Rxb2 40.Rf1 Rb4 41.Rd5 Kg7 42.e5 g5 43.Rxd4 Rb5 44.Ke4 Rxa5 45.Kf5 Rh2 46.Re1 Ra3 47.f4 Rf2 48.e6 fxe6+ 49.Rxe6 Ra5+ 50.Kg4 Rb5 51.Rd7+ Kf8 52.Kh5 Rxf4 53.Kg6 1-0 [/pgn]

[pgn][Event "Curacao International Chess Festival 2006"]
[White "Tate, E."]
[Black "Shabalov, A."]1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 b5 9.Bd3 Bb7 10.a4 b4 11.Nce2 a5 12.Bh6 O-O 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.h4 e5 15.Nb5 d5 16.exd5 Bxd5 17.h5 Rh8 18.h6+ Kf8 19.Be4 Nc6 20.Bxd5 Qxd5 21.Qg5 Ne8 22.Rd1 Qe6 23.O-O Ne7 24.f4 Nf5 25.fxe5 Qxe5 26.Rf2 Qe7 27.Qf4 Qe3 28.Qc4 Nxh6 29.Rd3 Qe5 30.Rdf3 Qe7 31.Ned4 Kg8 32.Nc6 Qe1+ 33.Rf1 Qe6 34.Rxf7 1-0[/pgn]

Also see Emory's famous win over GM Yudasin.

[pgn]
[Event "U.S. Masters Chicago 1997"]
[White "Tate, Emory"]
[Black "Yudasin, Leonid"]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.Qh6 1-0 [/pgn]

FM Todd Andrews said, "He took me down in the first tournament I ever beat a master, but praised my teenage brain in doing so. While he was no stranger to controversy, he also knew how to encourage. We traveled the Northeast together. We both found ways to hustle up gas money to get to the next event. We got lost and somehow found our way back again. He was always proud of his children. He showed me that a southern boy could go toe-to-toe with the Grandmasters.... Everyone in American chess knew right and well how strong and charismatic he was the entire time he was here. RIP, my ole friend - you are already sorely missed and US tournaments will not see another like you ever come along." Daniel Parmet wrote of a saying that went around the US chess subculture, "you are not a real chess player if you do not have an Emory Tate story." On chess.com, GM Maurice Ashley said, "Players like him do not come along every day, every month, every year. He was one in a generation, and he will be thought of, always, with a chuckle and a smile. No doubt he is challenging Tal to some blitz right now. " Share your own favorite Emory stories or games in the comments thread, and see FM Mike Klein's chess.com report for more memories and games.