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Peter Biyiasas

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Peter Biyiasas
Biyiasas at the Wijk an Zee Tournament, 1980
CountryCanada (until 1979)
United States (since 1979)
BornNovember 19, 1950 (1950-11-19) (age 73)
Athens, Greece
TitleGrandmaster (1978)
FIDE rating2450 (November 2024)
Peak rating2485 (January 1979)

Peter Biyiasas (born November 19, 1950) is a Canadian chess grandmaster.[1][2][3][4] He was Canadian champion in 1972 and 1975, represented Canada with success on four Olympiad teams, and played in two Interzonals. He moved to the United States in 1979, settling in California. He retired from competitive play in the mid-1980s to work as a computer programmer. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was a frequent training partner of Bobby Fischer, who stayed at his home in San Francisco for extended periods.[5]

Early years

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Born in Athens, Greece, Biyiasis moved to Canada as a young boy, and grew up in Winnipeg and Vancouver.[6] He won the first of his four British Columbia chess championships in 1968; he would repeat in 1969, 1971, and 1972.[7] He played in the 1969 Closed Canadian Chess Championship at Pointe Claire, and finished in the middle of the field; Duncan Suttles won.[8] Biyiasas was of National Master strength by this time. He represented Canada as second reserve on its bronze medal-winning team at the 1971 World Students' Olympiad in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, where he scored 5/7 (+4 −1 =2).[9] He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. He won the first of his three British Columbia Open titles in 1972, and repeated in 1976 and 1978.

Canadian Champion, International Master

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Biyiasas won the Zonal Closed Canadian Championship, Toronto 1972, with 12/17, half a point ahead of Lawrence Day and George Kuprejanov.[10][11] For this, he earned the International Master title, as did Day and Kuprejanov. It marked an enormous leap in class for him in just one year, from second reserve on the Canadian student team to national champion.

Biyiasas tied for 1st–4th places at Norristown 1973 at 7½/11, along with Kenneth Rogoff, Bruno Parma, and Hermann Pilnik.[12][13] He struggled in his first super-strong tournament, the 1973 Petropolis Interzonal, with 6½/17, for 15th place; Henrique Mecking won.[14][15] But he stayed on in Brazil for the São Paulo event, and placed respectably with 6½/13.[16] Biyiasas won the British Columbia Diamond Jubilee Open in 1973,[17] and repeated in 1974 and 1976.

He notched a strong third place at the 1974 Pan American Chess Championship in Winnipeg with 11/15; Walter Browne won. He tied with Kim Commons for the American Open title in 1974.[18] He repeated as Canadian champion in the Zonal at Calgary 1975 with 12/15, half a point ahead of Kevin Spraggett.[19] This earned him another Interzonal chance at Manila 1976, where he finished with 6/19 for 17th place; Mecking won again.[20]

Medals in Olympiads

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Biyiasas made four appearances for Canada in chess Olympiad competition. He won board medals on three occasions, including a silver and two bronzes, scored (+28 −7 =18) overall, for 70 per cent, and helped Canada to some of its best-ever team finishes in 1976 (8th) and 1978 (11th).[21]

  • 1972 Skopje board 4: 11½/15 (+8 −0 =7), bronze medal;
  • 1974 Nice board 2: 9½/17 (+7 −5 =5);
  • 1976 Haifa board 1: 7½/10 (+6 −1 =3); bronze medal;
  • 1978 Buenos Aires board 2: 9/12 (+7 −1 =4); silver medal.

Grandmaster

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Biyiasas made an excellent tied 3rd–4th at New York City 1977 with 8½/14, as Leonid Shamkovich and Andrew Soltis won.[22] In the Canadian Zonal, Toronto 1978, he finished 2nd with 10/15, as Jean Hébert won.[23] He earned the Grandmaster title in 1978 (making him Canada's third grandmaster after Abe Yanofsky and Duncan Suttles) for his strong performances at the GHI International Open (New York 1978), Lone Pine (1978), and the Haifa Olympiad.[1][24][25]

Biyiasas scored 7½/14 at Hastings 1978–79 to tie for 7th–10th places, as Ulf Andersson won.[26] He won the 1979 Paul Keres Memorial tournament in Vancouver.[27] He emigrated to the US in 1979, working in San Jose, California as an IBM computer programmer. Biyiasas scored 6½/15 at Hastings 1979–80 for 13th place, as Andersson won again.[28] One of his strongest career results came in a very strong field at Wijk aan Zee 1980, where he made 7½/13 to tie for 4th–6th places, as Browne and Yasser Seirawan won.[29] He scored an excellent equal 2nd place at Zrenjanin 1980. He played in the United States Chess Championship at Greenville 1980, finishing just below 50 per cent.[30]

Biyiasas won a number of tournaments in the San Francisco area while visiting and after moving there.[6] These included four titles in the Carroll Capps Memorial (1981, 1982, 1983, and 1985),[31] and four titles in the Arthur Stamer Memorial (1978, 1979, 1982, and 1984); the events were organized by the Mechanics Institute Chess Room. He also won the Northern California Championship in 1983.[32]

During a four-month period in 1981, Biyiasis played 17 five-minute games with Bobby Fischer, who was staying in his apartment at the time. Fischer, although he had been absent from competitive play for nine years, won all of them. Biyiasas said that he didn't think Fischer had lost anything in form, despite the layoff.[5]

Chess style

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Biyiasis's formation was influenced in the late 1960s when he joined a group of young masters mentored by Elod Macskasy.[33] He generally favoured unusual openings, staying away from mainline Sicilians after opening with 1.e4. Biyiasis tended towards King's Indian Attack formations, and aimed to get play into complex maneuvering channels.[34] "At his best, he is mathematically thorough," wrote the chess columnist Vic Arcega. "At his worst, he is a 'great escape artist' and has won 'impossible' games."[35]

Biyiasas retired from competitive chess in the mid-1980s.

In 2002, he was inducted into the Canadian Chess Hall of Fame.[36]

He was married to Ruth Haring, a Woman International Master with whom he had three children.[37][38]

Notable chess games

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References

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  1. ^ a b Day, Lawrence (July 8, 2008). "Peter Biyiasis". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  2. ^ "Peter Biyiasis at seventy" (PDF). BCCF E-mail Bulletin. No. 403. 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  3. ^ Golombek, Harry, ed. (1977). Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess. Crown Publishers. ISBN 9780517531464. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  4. ^ Divinsky, Nathan (1990). The Batsford Chess Encyclopedia. Batsford. p. 21. ISBN 9780713462142. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Nack, William (July 29, 1985). "Bobby Fischer". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  6. ^ a b Fauber, R.E. (1980). "Peter Biyiasis: Bay Area Bluebomber" (PDF). Chess Voice. Vol. 15, no. 3. p. 8. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  7. ^ "British Columbia Chess Federation - Provincial Champions". B.C. Chess Federation. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  8. ^ "59th Canadian Championship, Pointe Claire, 10 - 23 August 1969". bcchesshistory.com. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  9. ^ "18th World Student Team Chess Championship: Mayagüez 1971". Olimpbase.org. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  10. ^ Lennon (photographer), Frank (June 26, 1972). "Peter Biyiasas, 21, a student at the University of British Columbia, studies a move before winning the Canadian Closed Chess Championship last night (photo caption)". Toronto Star. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  11. ^ Wright, Stephen. "1972 Canadian Championship" (PDF). BCCF Bulletin. No. 130. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
  12. ^ "Biyiasis shares lead in chess tournament". Daily Colonist (Victoria, BC). June 23, 1973. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  13. ^ "Norristown (1973)". chessgames.com. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  14. ^ Kerr, Ray (February 24, 1973). "B.C. to pay chess tab". Daily Colonist (Victoria, BC). p. 15. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  15. ^ "World Chess Championship: 1973 Petropolis Interzonal Tournament". Mark-Weeks.com. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  16. ^ "Sao Paulo 1973". 365chess.com. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  17. ^ "Diamond Jubilee Open Chess Tournament, Dec. 26-30, 1973" (PDF). Northwest Chess. February 1974. pp. 37–38, 41. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  18. ^ Budd, Carl (February 1975). "10th American Open" (PDF). Chess Life & Review. pp. 74–75. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  19. ^ "61st Canadian Chess championship: Calgary 1975". olimpbase.org. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  20. ^ "World Chess Championship: 1976 Manila Interzonal Tournament". mark-weeks.com. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  21. ^ "Chess Olympiads: Peter Biyiasas". olimpbase.org. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  22. ^ Byrne, Robert (February 2, 1977). "Chess (column)". New York Times. pp. C22. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  23. ^ Berry, Jonathan, ed. (1978). 62nd Canadian Closed Chess Championship and Zonal Tournament, Toronto 1978. Chess Federation of Canada.
  24. ^ Goichberg, Bill (October 1978). "GHI International Open: Titles and Norms" (PDF). Chess Life & Review. p. 550. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
  25. ^ "Lone Pine (1978)". chessgames.com. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  26. ^ "Hastings, 1978-79". chessgames.com. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  27. ^ "4th Paul Keres Memorial: Open". bcchesshistory.com. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  28. ^ "Hastings, 1979-80". chessgames.com. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  29. ^ "Wijk aan Zee Hoogovens 1980". 365chess.com. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  30. ^ "United States Championship Tournament (1980)". chessgames.com. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  31. ^ "Mechanics' Institute Chess Club Newsletter, no. 506". chessdryad.com. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  32. ^ Goodall, K. Michael (1983). "Biyiasis wins Northern California championship" (PDF). Chess Voice. Vol. 15, no. 5. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  33. ^ Berry, Jonathan (2005). "A Personal Remembrance" (PDF). British Columbia Chess Federation Bulletin. No. 74. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  34. ^ Mar, Craig. "The Talking Grandmaster". California Chess History Archives. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  35. ^ Arcega, Vic (May 19, 1973). "Imaginative way to win war". The Albertan (Calgary).
  36. ^ Cohen, David (January 15, 2020). "Peter Biyiasis". Canadian Chess Biographies. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  37. ^ McLean, Dylan Loeb (December 3, 2018). "Ruth Haring, Top Chess Player Who Led Federation, Dies at 63". New York Times. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  38. ^ See also: List of chess families
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