User:DFlhb/Emory Tate

Emory Andrew Tate Jr. (December 27, 1958 – October 17, 2015) was an American chess International Master, described by grandmaster Maurice Ashley as "absolutely a trailblazer for African-American chess". He is the father of internet personalities Tristan and Andrew Tate.

Early life
Emory Andrew Tate Jr. was born on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois, on December 27, 1958, and grew up with 8 siblings. His father, Emory Andrew Tate Sr. (November 20, 1918 — November 17, 2008), served in the U.S. army during World War 2, and later worked as an attorney for 48 years. His mother, Emma Cox Tate (June 13, 1929 — ), ran a truck-leasing business. Tate Jr. started to play chess at age 3. He attended Northwestern University for a year, but often skipped classes to play chess, according to his brother. At Northwestern, he was the only student who beat grandmaster Arthur Bisguier in a 30-board simultaneous exhibition.

Military career
In 1980, Tate joined the United States Air Force as a linguist, where he reached the rank of staff sergeant. His son said, "The military taught him Russian. He picked up Spanish and German by accident." Tate won the United States Armed Forces Chess Championship five times.

Retired when?

Chess career
In February 1980, Tate had a USCF rating of 2052 (Expert rank), and was prominent in the Chicago chess scene. At the time, he was "particularly revered" in the Black community, and was praised by FM David Sprenkle as a "crazed tactician".

Tate's highest FIDE rating was 2413 on the October 2006 rating list, which made him the 72nd highest-rated player in the United States and among the top 2000 active players in the world. Many of his games were not FIDE-rated. His peak USCF rating was 2508 on December 30, 1996. He received the international master title in 2007, after earning his third norm at the 2006 World Open.

His oldest son, Andrew, said: "I never saw him study chess books, ever. He also hated chess computers and never used them. He just sat down and played". In a Chess Life interview, Tate said these tools made the game less creative, and criticized "opening theory that stretches to 20 or 30 moves". His biographer, Daim Shabaaz, said Tate had only read one chess book, Art of Attack in Chess by Vladimir Vuković, which Tate called a "chess bible".

Tate earned a reputation as a creative and dangerous tactician on the U.S. chess circuit, where he won about 80 tournament games against grandmasters. He won the Indiana state championship six times (1995, 1996, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2007) and was inducted into the Indiana State Chess Hall of Fame in 2005. He also won the Alabama state championship in 2010.

Fellow Air Force veteran and 2003 U.S. Armed Forces Chess Champion Leroy Hill said: "All the players had street names. Emory's was ‘extraterrestrial’ because we thought his play was out of this world." According to grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky, Tate was a tvorets (Russian: 'creator'), who valued "aesthetic elegance over rating points". Grandmaster Amon Simutowe "ranked his creativity among the top 2% of the chess players [he] had observed".

Style
Shabaaz p1: "he was trying to create a work of art— something to look at and admire"

"legendary postmortem sessions" Shabaaz p12 "animated style of conducting stream-of-consciousness analysis, and he clearly relished..." "quick wit and creative word play"

p13 "big fan of the attack"

Personal life
He had three children with his English wife; following their divorce, she moved back to the UK with the children. His eldest son, Andrew Tate, is a former kickboxer and an internet personality.

"left this earth with few possessions" Shabaaz xiii

Death
On October 17, 2015, Tate died after collapsing suddenly during a tournament in Milpitas, California. After his death, a number of grandmasters and international masters wrote tributes to him. In 2016, the Alabama Senate passed a resolution "celebrating [his] life and legacy".

(Alamaba Senate joint resolution SJR66)