- James Tarjan
James Edward Tarjan (born
22 February 1952 ,Pomona, California ) is an American Grandmaster ofchess .Tarjan was just 17 when he was selected to the American team for the 1969 World Students' Olympiad, at
Dresden . He was a member of the winning American side atHaifa 1970, and was selected again atGraz 1972. He is a graduate of theUniversity of Southern California .He finished second at an invitational junior tournament at
Norwich 1972, with 12/15, behind only HungarianGyula Sax .He earned his International Master title in 1974, and was promoted to Grandmaster in 1976. He played for the American team at five straight chess Olympiads. He began at
Nice 1974, then played atHaifa 1976,Buenos Aires 1978,La Valletta 1980, andLucerne 1982.His best results in international tournaments include first at
Subotica 1975, first atVancouver 1976, and first equal atVrsac 1983, along withPredrag Nikolic andGeorgy Agzamov . Other good finishes included tied for third atChicago 1973 with 7/11; tied for fifth atVenice 1974 with 7.5/13; and an excellent tied second atBogotá 1979, with 10.5/14, behind onlyAlexander Beliavsky . Tarjan played in several U.S. Championships during the 1970s and 1980s. He was fourth atEl Paso 1973 with 7.5/12. AtOberlin 1975, he ended up tied for sixth with a score of 6.5/13. AtPasadena 1978, which was the Zonal qualifier, he tied for second with 10.5/14, and advanced to the 1979Riga Interzonal , part of the World Championship cycle. He scored 8.5/17 and did not advance; the tournament was won by former World ChampionMikhail Tal . Tarjan's last competitive tournament was the 1984 U.S. Championship at Berkeley, where he went out in style with a fine tied third, scoring 10.5/17.According to the website
chessmetrics .com, which ranks historical chess events and players while accounting for different methods of calculation, Tarjan reached #37 in the world at his peak, and his highest published International rating was 2535.External links
*chessgames player|id=23094
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