View source for Gregory Serper

{{Short description|Uzbekistani-American chess player (born 1969)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox chess player
|image = Serperk.jpg
|country = [[Uzbekistan]]<br>[[United States]]
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1969|9|14}}
|birth_place = [[Tashkent]], [[Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic|Uzbek SSR]], Soviet Union
|title = [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] (1992)
|rating = 
|peakrating = 2600 (January 1993)
|FideID = 2012642
|peakranking=No. 53 (January 1993)
}}
'''Gregory Serper''' ({{langx|ru|Григорий Юрьевич Серпер|translit=Grigory Yurievich Serper}}; born September 14, 1969) is a chess [[Grandmaster (chess)|grandmaster]].<ref>"FIDE Chess Profile" https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=2012642</ref>

==Biography==
He was born in [[Tashkent]], in the former [[Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic]] of the [[Soviet Union]] (present [[Uzbekistan]]). At age 6, he learned to play [[chess]] from his grandfather. In 1985, at age 16, he started studies at Moscow's famous Botvinnik-Kasparov Chess School.

During his military service in Novosibirsk, he attended the 27th [[World Junior Chess Championship]] held in 1988 in [[Adelaide]], [[Australia]]. In this strong tournament Serper took 3rd place with same score 9/13 as his opponents [[Lautier]], [[Ivanchuk]] and [[Boris Gelfand|Gelfand]] who took 1st, 2nd and 4th place respectively.<ref>''Chess Informant'', Vol. 46, Šahovski Informator, p. 448</ref><ref>Here [http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-biggest-secret-of-the-soviet-chess-scool] you can find an interesting story about this tournament written by Serper himself. </ref>

In 1992, as a member of the Uzbekistan team, Serper won the [[silver medal]] in the [[30th Chess Olympiad]].

In January 1996 he moved with his family to the [[United States]]. In 1999, Serper won the [[World Open chess tournament|World Open tournament]] after drawing an [[List of chess terms#Armageddon|Armageddon]] [[playoff]] game as [[White and Black in chess|Black]] against [[Boris Gulko]], who had been one of nine players who had tied with Serper in the main event.<ref>Grandmasters Serper, Gulko, [[Vladimir Akopian]], [[Joel Benjamin]], [[Jaan Ehlvest]], [[Alexander Fishbein]], [[Igor Novikov (chess player)|Igor Novikov]], [[Alexander Shabalov]], [[Georgi Timoshenko]], and [[Alex Yermolinsky]] tied for first at 7-2 in the main event. Seven of those ten players chose to participate in a [[List of chess terms#Blitz|blitz]] playoff, which Serper and Gulko won with 5/6. Gulko and Serper then played the Armageddon game, with Gulko taking White and receiving six minutes to five minutes [[Chess handicap|time odds]], but giving draw odds to Serper. The game ended in a draw after 43 moves. [[Jerry Hanken]], "Serper Breaks Log Jam at WORLD OPEN", ''[[Chess Life]]'', October 1999, p. 33.</ref> In the same year, he advanced to the finals of the [[U.S. Chess Championship]] by defeating [[Alex Yermolinsky]] in the semifinals, but lost in the finals to Gulko.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A05E5D7103FF935A1575AC0A96F958260 Robert Byrne, Boris Gulko Wins U.S. Title, ''New York Times'', September 26, 1999]</ref>
{{chess notation|section=tocright}}

Serper regularly writes articles for [[Chess.com]] under the username "Gserper".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chess.com/member/gserper|title = GM Gregory Serper (Gserper) - Chess Profile}}</ref>

==Notable game==
{{Chess diagram
|tright
|
|rd|  |bd|  |kd|nd|  |rd
|  |  |qd|  |  |pd|bd|  
|pd|  |pd|  |  |  |pd|  
|  |  |pl|nl|pd|  |  |nd
|pl|pd|  |  |pl|  |  |pd
|  |  |  |  |bl|pl|  |  
|  |pl|  |ql|bl|nl|pl|pl
|rl|  |  |  |  |rl|kl|  
|Serper-Nikolaidis, position after 17.Nd5!}}

''[[Chess Informant|Chess Informant's]]'' panel of judges voted the following game the second-best game of the 666 games in Volume 59 of ''Chess Informant''.<ref>''Chess Informant'', Volume 60, Šahovski Informator, 1994, p. 6.</ref> [[Larry Christiansen]] rated it his sixth favorite attacking game of the 1990s.<ref>Larry Christiansen, ''Storming the Barricades'', Gambit Publications, 2000, p. 154. {{ISBN|1-901983-25-0}}.</ref> [[Yasser Seirawan]] wrote, "Can you imagine a game in which you [[sacrifice (chess)|sacrifice]] ... ''all'' of your [[List of chess terms#Piece|pieces]]? Toss in the [[Promotion (chess)|promotion]] of two [[Pawn (chess)|pawns]] as well and you have a game to last!<ref>Yasser Seirawan, ''Combinations'', Gloucester Publishers, 2006, p. 161. {{ISBN|1-85744-420-5}}.</ref>
 
Serper-[[Ioannis Nikolaidis]], [[St. Petersburg]] Open 1993:<ref>[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1289099 Serper-Nikolaidis, St. Petersburg Open 1993]</ref>

'''1.c4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.d4 d6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Nge2 Nbd7 6.Ng3 c6 7.Be2 a6 8.Be3 h5 9.f3 b5 10.c5 dxc5 11.dxc5 Qc7 12.O-O h4 13.Nh1 Nh5 14.Qd2 e5 15.Nf2 Nf8[[Chess punctuation#?: Mistake|?]]''' Seirawan recommended 15...Nf4 16.Nd3! Bh6 17.a4! with advantage to White.<ref>Seirawan, p. 162.</ref> '''16.a4 b4 17.Nd5[[Chess punctuation#!: Good move|!]]''' Eschewing the quiet 17.Ncd1 or 17.Na2, White sacrifices a piece to obtain two mobile [[List of chess terms#Connected passed pawns|connected passed pawns]] on the fifth [[List of chess terms#Rank|rank]]. '''17...cxd5 18.exd5 f5 19.d6''' 19.Qxb4 would allow Black to complicate with 19...Rb8 20.Qa3 e4 with an obscure position. '''19...Qc6 20.Bb5[[Chess punctuation#‼: Brilliant move|!!]]''' Another sacrifice in order to stop Black from establishing a successful [[List of chess terms#Blockade|blockade]]. 
{{Clear}}
{{Chess diagram
|tright
|
|rd|  |bd|  |kd|nd|  |rd
|  |  |  |  |  |  |bd|  
|pd|  |qd|pl|  |  |pd|  
|  |bl|pl|  |pd|pd|  |nd
|pl|pd|  |  |  |  |  |pd
|  |  |  |  |bl|pl|  |  
|  |pl|  |ql|  |nl|pl|pl
|rl|  |  |  |  |rl|kl|  
|Position after 20.Bb5!!}}
'''20...axb5 21.axb5 Qxb5''' Black returns some material in order to blockade White's pawn. White would be winning after 21...Qb7 22.c6 Rxa1 23.cxb7 Rxf1+ 24.Kxf1 Bxb7 25.Nd3 Nd7 26.Qc2 e4 27.Qc7, or 22...Qb8 23.b6 Rxa1 24.Rxa1 Bd7 25.Qd5! Nf6 26.c7. '''22.Rxa8 Qc6 23.Rfa1! f4 24.R1a7! Nd7''' Not 24...fxe3? 25.Qd5! Qxd5 26.Rxc8#. Now Black threatens to get his [[King (chess)|king]] to safety by [[castling]], so White sacrifices more material. 
{{Clear}}
{{Chess diagram
|tright
|
|rl|  |bd|  |kd|  |  |rd
|rl|  |  |nd|  |  |bd|  
|  |  |qd|pl|  |  |pd|  
|  |  |pl|  |pd|  |  |nd
|  |pd|  |  |  |pd|  |pd
|  |  |  |  |bl|pl|  |  
|  |pl|  |ql|  |nl|pl|pl
|  |  |  |  |  |  |kl|  
|Position after 24...Nd7}}

'''25.Rxc8+!! Qxc8 26.Qd5! fxe3 27.Qe6+ Kf8 28.Rxd7! exf2+ 29.Kf1 Qe8''' 
{{Clear}}
{{Chess diagram
|tright
|
|  |  |  |  |qd|kd|  |rd
|  |  |  |rl|  |  |bd|  
|  |  |  |pl|ql|  |pd|  
|  |  |pl|  |pd|  |  |nd
|  |pd|  |  |  |  |  |pd
|  |  |  |  |  |pl|  |  
|  |pl|  |  |  |pd|pl|pl
|  |  |  |  |  |kl|  |  
|Position after 29...Qe8}}
'''30.Rf7+!''' Yet another sacrifice to allow White's d-pawn to promote. After 30.Qxe8+? Kxe8 31.Re7+ Kf8 32.c6 Ng3+! 33.Kxf2 Nf5, White cannot advance his passed pawns. '''30... Qxf7 31.Qc8+ Qe8 32.d7 Kf7 33.dxe8=Q+ Rxe8 34.Qb7+ Re7 35.c6! e4! 36.c7 e3 37.Qd5+ Kf6 38.Qd6+ Kf7 39.Qd5+ Kf6 40.Qd6+ Kf7 41.Qxe7+ Kxe7 42.c8=Q Bh6 43.Qc5+ Ke8 44.Qb5+ Kd8 45.Qb6+ Kd7 46.Qxg6 e2+ 47.Kxf2 Be3+! 48.Ke1! [[List of chess terms#Resign|1&ndash;0]]''' Notes based on those by Christiansen, Serper, and Seirawan.<ref>Christiansen, pp. 154-57.</ref><ref>''Chess Informant'', Volume 59, Šahovski Informator, 1994, game 620 (p. 335). {{ISBN|84-87301-91-6}}.</ref><ref>Seirawan, pp. 161-67.</ref>
{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{FIDE|name=Grigory Serper}}
*{{Chessgames player|13854|Grigory Serper}}
*{{OlimpBase player|0oyacy8f|Grigory Serper}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050830135935/http://uschess.org/news/bio/serper.php US Chess Federation: Grandmaster Gregory Serper]

{{American GMs}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Serper, Gregory}}
[[Category:1969 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Chess Grandmasters]]
[[Category:Chess Olympiad competitors]]
[[Category:American chess players]]
[[Category:Russian chess players]]
[[Category:Uzbekistani chess players]]
[[Category:Soviet chess players]]
[[Category:Chess players from Tashkent]]