Yasser Seirawan is playing again.
When did he come out of retirement? Will he be playing more?
He didn’t exactly retire, though he hasn’t played in major tournaments lately. He’s been living in Holland and playing regularly in the Dutch team league.
If you check his FIDE history, you’ll see that although Yasser had a two year time frame between 2003 and 2005 in which he did not play any FIDE rated games, he has been active for most FIDE reporting periods since the middle of 2006, though I believe most of his play has been in the Dutch team league, as reported by John Hillery.
It is certainly frustrating that one of our most successful players over the last thirty years has to go to Europe to earn his living, but unfortunately that is far from unusual.
That’s not an accurate portrayal of the situation, Mike. Seirawan is quite well off (I’d say “wealthy,” but that’s a matter of perspective), and he does not need to play chess to make a living. He married a Dutch woman and has chosen to live in Holland, but I doubt that whatever he gets for playing in the Dutch league was a major factor.
I stand corrected on Yasser, but the general situation applies, it is difficult for top chess players to earn enough money playing chess in the USA, and it is easier to do so in Europe.