Jeff Sarwer
Encyclopedia
Jeff Sarwer is a former child chess prodigy
whose charismatic personality and chess talent made him a well known media figure. His chess career and his family's unconventional lifestyle were the subjects of many articles and TV shows.
Jeff's attacking playing style was often compared to Bobby Fischer
, and a match drawn against him by another young chess player, Joshua Waitzkin
, was the inspiration for the climax in the film Searching for Bobby Fischer
.
Jeff Sarwer won the under 10 World Youth Chess Championship
in Puerto Rico
in 1986 representing Canada.
When Jeff was eight, he was believed by many to be one of the strongest prodigies in the
history of the game. Allen Kaufman, head of the American Chess Foundation, said, "Jeff at nine is stronger than Bobby was at 11."
Bruce Pandolfini
said, "Of the several thousand kids I've taught, Jeff is certainly the most amazing young player I've ever seen."
at the age of 4 from his 6-year-older sister Julia and at age of 6 started to play at the Manhattan Chess Club, which was one of the most prestigious chess clubs in the world at the time. Bruce Pandolfini
was the manager of the club, and being impressed with them gave him and his sister free life memberships which were usually reserved for grandmasters.
Jeff used to entertain large crowds by playing 40 people at the same time known as simultaneous chess
, every Canada Day
from the age of 7 on Parliament Hill
in Ottawa
. He also used to show up and play speed chess at Washington Square Park in New York City, where large numbers of people gathered to watch his games.
and he invited him to analyze the 1986 World Championship Match between Kasparov-Karpov on PBS. Jeff and his sister Julia (who was also a world champion for girls under 10) continued to do this for the rematch in 1987 as well. After this Jeff and Julia became well known in media circles and appeared on various talk shows and were the subject of a documentary.
Magazines such as GQ and Sports Illustrated
wrote articles about Jeff and his family, often highlighting their bizarre lifestyle and questioning his safety and chess career under his father's care.
magazine by John Colapinto
detailed child abuse of Jeff and Julia and prompted the C.A.S. to take him and his sister into protective custody.
Jeff and Julia ran away from the C.A.S. back to their father and hid out from authorities in order to not be taken away into custody again. The Sarwers lived in various countries and got used to living an anonymous lifestyle.
was released and Jeff Sarwer's character was portrayed as "Jonathan Poe". In the film's final game, Jonathan Poe declined the offer
of a draw
and eventually lost. In reality Jeff Sarwer declined the draw offer by Josh Waitzkin, but the game ended in a draw (because of insufficient material) a few moves later. Under tournament tie-breaking rules, Waitzkin was determined to have played more challenging opponents during the overall competition and was awarded first place, but they were declared US Primary School co-champions. At the time that the game was played, Jeff was 7 and Josh 9 years old.
. He finished in third place with a score of 7/9 in a group of 86 players including four Grandmasters. Since he had no active chess rating, he was given a provisional Elo rating
of 2300 FIDE but seemed to perform above that level. In January 2010 Jeff gave a long interview to Chess Life Online detailing his experiences from that tournament and talking about his current life in Europe. In August 2010, Sarwer was profiled in the Sunday Times Magazine talking about his father's methods, his chess career and his reappearance in public. Sarwer says that if he decided to make chess a priority, he would do so to become a Grandmaster. "It would require at least two years of dedicated hardcore study and practice," he said, "especially in regards to opening preparation” for him to achieve that goal.
. He has had two final table appearances and earned about $500,000. In February 2010, Bluff Europe Magazine ran a featured article about Jeff and his new poker career. In 2011 Jeff made his first World Series Of Poker
final table. Jeff is represented by the player agency Poker Icons.
's programme, The Interview on December 19, 2010, in which he candidly recounted his life and his childhood experiences and his relationship with his abusive father.
Chess prodigy
Chess prodigies are children who play chess so well that they are able to beat Masters and even Grandmasters, often at a very young age. Chess is one of the few sports where children can compete with adults on equal ground; it is thus one of the few skills in which true child prodigies exist...
whose charismatic personality and chess talent made him a well known media figure. His chess career and his family's unconventional lifestyle were the subjects of many articles and TV shows.
Jeff's attacking playing style was often compared to Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
, and a match drawn against him by another young chess player, Joshua Waitzkin
Joshua Waitzkin
Joshua Waitzkin is an American chess player, martial arts competitor, and author. As a child, he was recognized as a prodigy, and won the U.S. Junior Chess championship in 1993 and 1994. He is the only person to have won the National Primary, Elementary, Junior High School, High School, U.S....
, was the inspiration for the climax in the film Searching for Bobby Fischer
Searching for Bobby Fischer
Searching for Bobby Fischer is a 1993 film based on the life of prodigy chess player Joshua Waitzkin, played by Max Pomeranc. Adapted from the book of the same name by Joshua's father Fred, the film was written and directed by Steven Zaillian...
.
Jeff Sarwer won the under 10 World Youth Chess Championship
World Youth Chess Championship
The World Youth Chess Championship is a chess competition for girls and boys under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18.The first predecessor of the youth championship was the Cadet Championship. It started off unofficially in 1974 in France for players under 18. The 1975 and 1976 editions were also...
in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
in 1986 representing Canada.
When Jeff was eight, he was believed by many to be one of the strongest prodigies in the
history of the game. Allen Kaufman, head of the American Chess Foundation, said, "Jeff at nine is stronger than Bobby was at 11."
Bruce Pandolfini
Bruce Pandolfini
Bruce Pandolfini is a chess author, teacher and coach. He was famously portrayed by Ben Kingsley in the 1993 film Searching for Bobby Fischer, based on the book of the same name by Fred Waitzkin...
said, "Of the several thousand kids I've taught, Jeff is certainly the most amazing young player I've ever seen."
Early career
Jeff learned the rules of chessChess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
at the age of 4 from his 6-year-older sister Julia and at age of 6 started to play at the Manhattan Chess Club, which was one of the most prestigious chess clubs in the world at the time. Bruce Pandolfini
Bruce Pandolfini
Bruce Pandolfini is a chess author, teacher and coach. He was famously portrayed by Ben Kingsley in the 1993 film Searching for Bobby Fischer, based on the book of the same name by Fred Waitzkin...
was the manager of the club, and being impressed with them gave him and his sister free life memberships which were usually reserved for grandmasters.
Jeff used to entertain large crowds by playing 40 people at the same time known as simultaneous chess
Simultaneous exhibition
A simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display is a board game exhibition in which one player plays multiple games at a time with a number of other players. Such an exhibition is often referred to simply as a "simul".In a regular simul, no chess clocks are used...
, every Canada Day
Canada Day
Canada Day , formerly Dominion Day , is the national day of Canada, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the British North America Act , which united three British colonies into a single country, called Canada, within the British Empire...
from the age of 7 on Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
. He also used to show up and play speed chess at Washington Square Park in New York City, where large numbers of people gathered to watch his games.
Media life
At the age of 7 Jeff's enthusiasm for the game caught the attention of Grandmaster Edmar MednisEdmar Mednis
Edmar John Mednis was an American International Grandmaster of chess born in Riga, Latvia. He was also a popular and respected chess writer.-Biography:...
and he invited him to analyze the 1986 World Championship Match between Kasparov-Karpov on PBS. Jeff and his sister Julia (who was also a world champion for girls under 10) continued to do this for the rematch in 1987 as well. After this Jeff and Julia became well known in media circles and appeared on various talk shows and were the subject of a documentary.
Magazines such as GQ and Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
wrote articles about Jeff and his family, often highlighting their bizarre lifestyle and questioning his safety and chess career under his father's care.
Vanity Fair article
Jeff's father did not allow Jeff to continue his chess career when it became apparent that he would not be able to keep full control over Jeff's life. He moved the family away from New York City and ran into trouble with The Children's Aid Society of Ontario. A featured article in Vanity FairVanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
magazine by John Colapinto
John Colapinto
John Colapinto is an award-winning journalist, author and novelist and is currently a staff writer at The New Yorker.Prior to working at The New Yorker, Colapinto wrote for Vanity Fair, New York magazine and The New York Times Magazine, and in 1995 he became a contributing editor at Rolling Stone,...
detailed child abuse of Jeff and Julia and prompted the C.A.S. to take him and his sister into protective custody.
Jeff and Julia ran away from the C.A.S. back to their father and hid out from authorities in order to not be taken away into custody again. The Sarwers lived in various countries and got used to living an anonymous lifestyle.
Searching For Bobby Fischer
In 1993 the film Searching for Bobby FischerSearching for Bobby Fischer
Searching for Bobby Fischer is a 1993 film based on the life of prodigy chess player Joshua Waitzkin, played by Max Pomeranc. Adapted from the book of the same name by Joshua's father Fred, the film was written and directed by Steven Zaillian...
was released and Jeff Sarwer's character was portrayed as "Jonathan Poe". In the film's final game, Jonathan Poe declined the offer
Draw by agreement
In chess, a draw by agreement is the outcome of a game due to the agreement of both players to a draw. A player may offer a draw to his opponent at any stage of a game; if the opponent accepts, the game is a draw. The relevant portion of the FIDE laws of chess is article 9.1...
of a draw
Draw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
and eventually lost. In reality Jeff Sarwer declined the draw offer by Josh Waitzkin, but the game ended in a draw (because of insufficient material) a few moves later. Under tournament tie-breaking rules, Waitzkin was determined to have played more challenging opponents during the overall competition and was awarded first place, but they were declared US Primary School co-champions. At the time that the game was played, Jeff was 7 and Josh 9 years old.
Sarwer vs. Waitzkin 1986 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f4 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. e5 Ne8 8. Bd3
c5 9. dxc5 Nxc5 10. Bc2 a5 11. O-O b6 12. Be3 Bb7 13. Qd4 dxe5 14. Nxe5 Qxd4
15. Bxd4 Rd8 16. Bxc5 bxc5 17. Na4 Bxe5 18. fxe5 Rd2 19. Rf2 Rxf2 20. Kxf2 f6
21. e6 Nd6 22. Nxc5 Rc8 23. Nxb7 Nxb7 24. b3 Nc5 25. Re1 Rc6 26. Be4 Ra6 27.
Bc2 Rxe6 28. Rxe6 Nxe6 29. Ke3 Kf8 30. Ke4 Ke8 31. g3 Kd7 32. Kd5 f5 33. a3 h6
34. b4 axb4 35. axb4 Nc7+ 36. Kc5 e5 37. Ba4+ Kc8 38. Bc6 e4 39. b5 e3 40. Bf3
Ne6+ 41. Kd5 Ng5 42. Be2 Kc7 43. Ke5 Ne4 44. Kd4 Kd6 45. Kxe3 Kc5 46. g4 Nd6
47. Kf4 g5+ 48. Ke5 fxg4 49. Kf6 g3 50. hxg3 Ne4+ 51. Kg6 Nxg3 52. Bd3 Nh1 53.
Kxh6 g4 54. Kg5 g3 55. Be4 Nf2 56. Bd5 Nd1 57. Kf4 Nc3 58. Bc6 Ne2+ 59. Kf3
Nd4+ 60. Kxg3 Nxc6 61. bxc6 Kxc6 62. Kf3 Kc5 63. Ke3 Kxc4 ½–½
Resurfacing
After he disappeared at a very young age, many people thought Jeff would not be seen playing chess again. In September 2007 Jeff resurfaced to the chess scene apparently without training and entered a 30 minute semi-rapid tournament at Malbork castle in PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. He finished in third place with a score of 7/9 in a group of 86 players including four Grandmasters. Since he had no active chess rating, he was given a provisional Elo rating
Elo rating system
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor....
of 2300 FIDE but seemed to perform above that level. In January 2010 Jeff gave a long interview to Chess Life Online detailing his experiences from that tournament and talking about his current life in Europe. In August 2010, Sarwer was profiled in the Sunday Times Magazine talking about his father's methods, his chess career and his reappearance in public. Sarwer says that if he decided to make chess a priority, he would do so to become a Grandmaster. "It would require at least two years of dedicated hardcore study and practice," he said, "especially in regards to opening preparation” for him to achieve that goal.
Poker
Since December 2008 Jeff has been playing on the European Poker TourEuropean Poker Tour
The Pokerstars European Poker Tour is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour , created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Texas Hold 'em popularity...
. He has had two final table appearances and earned about $500,000. In February 2010, Bluff Europe Magazine ran a featured article about Jeff and his new poker career. In 2011 Jeff made his first World Series Of Poker
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...
final table. Jeff is represented by the player agency Poker Icons.
Radio interview
Sawrer was the subject of BBC World ServiceBBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
's programme, The Interview on December 19, 2010, in which he candidly recounted his life and his childhood experiences and his relationship with his abusive father.