Emory Tate

     International Master Emory A. Tate, Jr. (born December 27, 1958, Chicago, Illinois) has a current USCF rating of 2355. Not so high now, but his highest FIDE rating was 2413 in 2006 and his highest USCF rating was 2455, also in 2006.
     He is a 12-year US Air Force veteran and a 5-time All Armed Forces Champion, and 6-time Indiana Champion. 
     He reached 2500-plus after winning the Eastern Open in 1996 and won the IM title at the 2006 World open. Tate’s first rated tournament was the 1992 New York Open which was won by GM Eric Lobron with 7.5 points ahead of Jaan Ehvest, Alex Schneider, John Fedorowicz, Igor Ivanov, Alonzo Zapata and Mihail Braude (all at 7.0). There was a whole gaggle of GM’s participating. Tate finished in 84th place (out of 183), scoring wins over Dr. Ariel Mengarini (2231), Anjelina Belakovskaia (2288), Boris Kreiman (2383) and Alfred Carlin (2331) and drew with Lev Albert (2599). He lost to Semion Palatnik (2616), John Fedorowicz (2626), Vladislov Fedorov (2658) and Antonio Fernandez (2144) for a provisional rating of 2427.
     Tate has a reputation as a dangerous tactician and has won at least 80 tournament games against Grandmasters. The downside is that he often loses to much weaker players with his risky brand of chess. Known as a vicious predator he has the ability to analyze complicated variations with amazing clarity and speed and his games often contain amazing ideas. Here’s a classic Tate game wherein he constantly poses tactical problems to his GM opponent. Tate's best wins, like this one, have been achieved with a tactical style.