Internet bogeyman Andrew Tate, recently detained in Romania on trafficking and rape charges, is a chess fan. Disciples who visit his ‘The Real World’ website in search of the influencer’s insight will encounter a logo featuring a cobra entwined with a chess knight. ‘King Cobra’, as he was known during his days as a professional kickboxer, is a competent chess player, as he showed during a recent interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored. Their verbal sparring concluded with a game of chess, in which Morgan left his queen hanging and Tate didn’t hesitate to capitalise.
Afterwards, Tate praised chess as a game which fosters absolute self-reliance, a lesson he learned from his father. ‘His father was a chess master’ – all Tate’s bios seem to drop that in, the better to portray his idiosyncrasy, perhaps. That father, Emory Tate, spoke several languages and served in the US Air Force, winning the Armed Forces championship five times in the 1980s. He met his wife Eileen in England, and they had three children: Andrew, Tristan (another kickboxer, also detained in Romania with his brother) and Janine.
Emory Tate’s exuberant, ferocious chess, with charisma to match, earned him a kind of heroic status. His win against grandmaster Leonid Yudasin, shown below, is one of his finest, and considering the number of strong players he beat, it is surprising that he was not awarded the international master title until 2007, when he was already in his late forties.
In 2015, he died after suffering a heart attack while playing chess. His biography, Triple Exclam!!!: The Life and Games of Emory Tate, Chess Warrior was published in 2017, written by Daaim Shabazz.
Emory Tate-Leonid Yudasin
US Masters, Illinois 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 Taking the bait is double-edged: 11…exd5 12 Nc6 Qb6 13 exd5+ Ne5 14 f4 leads to sharp complications. 12 Bxb7 Nxb7 13 a4 bxa4 14 Rxa4 Nbc5 15 Ra3 Qb6 16 O-O Be7 17 Kh1 O-O 18 b4 This thrust turns on the fact that 18…Qxb4 19 Nc6 would fork queen and bishop. Na4 Better than retreating to b7, since 19 Nxa4 Qxd4 leaves White with a loose position. 19 Nf5 Triple Exclam!!! And a fine counterpoint to the earlier sacrifice with 11 Bd5. exf5 20 Nd5 Qd8 21 exf5 Re8 21…Bxg5 was worth considering immediately, although after 22 Bxg5 Qxg5 23 Rg1 Qh6 24 Rxa4 White is still calling the shots. 22 Qh5! Playing for mate is far stronger than capturing the errant knight. Nab6 As risky as it looks, Black had to try 22…g6, although 23 fxg6 fxg6 24 Qh3 is just one way to maintain a promising attack, e.g. 24…Nab6 25 Qb3 Nxd5 26 Qxd5+ Kh8 27 Bb2+ Ne5 28 f4 Bf8 29 fxe5 Bg7, and Black is clinging on for dear life. 23 Rh3 Nf8 24 f6! Tearing open the kingside. Nxd5 24…Bxf6 25 gxf6 Re5 26 Ne7+ Rxe7 26 fxg7! breaks through the defence. 25 fxg7 Kxg7 Black would prefer to leave this pawn as a shield, but the Nf8 was under attack. 26 Bb2+ Kg8 (see diagram) 27 g6! An unexpected lateral attack: 27…fxg6 28 Qxd5+ wins. Bf6 28 gxf7+ Kh8 29 Rg1 The threat of mate on g8 forces decisive gain of material. Re1 30 Rxe1 Bxb2 31 Re8 Nf6 32 Rxd8 Rxd8 33 Qh6 Ne4 34 Qh4 Nf6 35 Rg3 N8d7 36 Qg5 Black resigns
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