At the age of 17, James E. Tarjan (born February 22, 1952 in Pomona, California) was selected to the American team for the 1969 World Students' Olympiad, at Dresden. He was a member of the winning American side at Haifa 1970 and was selected again at Graz 1972. He finished second at an invitational junior tournament at Norwich 1972, with 12-3, behind Hungarian Gyula Sax. Tarjan earned his IM title in 1974 and his GM title in 1976.
Beginning at Nice 1974, he played for the American team at five straight Olympiads then Haifa 1976, Buenos Aires 1978, Valletta 1980 and Lucerne 1982.
His best results in international tournaments include first at Subotica 1975, Vancouver 1976 and first equal with Nikolic and Agzamov at Vrsac 1983.
Tarjan played in several US Championships during the 1970s and 1980s. He was fourth at El Paso 1973 and tied for sixth at Oberlin 1975. At Pasadena 1978, which was the Zonal qualifier, he tied for second and advanced to the 1979 Riga Interzonal where he scored 8.5-8.5.
Tarjan's last tournament for 30 years was the 1984 US Championship at Berkeley, where he finished tied for third. After that tournament he retired to become a librarian.
In 2014, a retired Tarjan, then rated 2557, returned to tournament play in the US Open in Orlando and finished with a +6 -1 =2 score, placing him in 7th-14th, half a point behind a six-way tie for first place.
His current FIDE rating is 2398 which isn't bad for a 69 year old especially considering he was out of chess for 30 years! At his peak he was rated over 2600.
The 2017 Isle of Man International Masters Open was one of the strongest open events in history. The top seeds included Carlsen, Kramnik, Caruana, Anand, Nakamura, Adams, Gelfand, Eljanov, Naiditsch, Almasi, Short and many more.
It was won by Magnus Carlson with an undefeated 7.5-1.5 half a point ahead of Anand and Nakamura. Kramnik tied for places 4-12 and his one defeat came at the hands of Tarjan.
The following game is a sample of the kind of chess for which Tarjan was famous. His opponent was NM Dennis Fritzinger, the 1970/71 California State Champion.
The 1968 event held in Aspen, Colorado and was a runaway for Bent Larsen who scored an undefeated 11-1 to finish 1.5 points ahead of Pal Benko, Walter Browne, Robert Byrne, Larry Kaufman, Anthony Saidy, Gregory DeFotis, James Sherwin, Norman Weinstein and Edward Formanek.
Tarjan lead a group of 13 players who tied for 11th place with a score of +7 - 2 =3. Fritzringer was tied for places 24 to 34 with a 7.5-4.5 score.
Going into the Open, on the March 1968 rating list the 15-year-old Tarjan was number six on the top Under w21 junior list rated 2232 behind Walter Browne, Andrew Soltis, Sal Matera, Larry Kaufman, and Andrew Karklins. Fritzringer was an Expert (2000-2199) with a rating of 2182.
What kind of chess did garden variety Masters and Experts play in those days? Take a look. You can find almost 250 thrill-packed Tarjan wins HERE
James Tarjan - Dennis Fritzinger
Result: 1-0
Site: US Open, Aspen, Colorado
Date: 1968
Sicilian
[...] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 c5 3.♘f3 a6 By transposition the O'Kelly Variation has been reached (1.14 c5 2.Nf3 a6 when white has several options). It's usually played as a way for black to transpose to other variations. Because black ofter plays ...a6 anyway, in the O'Kelly black plays it on move 2 and hopes white will reveal his cards too soon. 4.♘c3 b5 Unusual and not especially good. Black almost always plays 4...cxd4 here. 5.d5 b4
21.♘h5 Even stronger was 21.Nh5 followed by g4 and h4. 21...♖e7 22.♖be1 ♖ae8 23.♘g5 ♘c8
5...♗b7 6.♗d3 ♘f6 7.♗g5 h6 8.♗h4 c4 9.♗e2 b4 turned out to be to white's advantage in Fressinet,L (2638)-Baklan,V (2615)/playchess.com 2004
6.♘e2 exd5 7.exd5 White maintains a nice advantage after this, but he gets a nearly winning game by taking with the Q.
7.♕xd5 ♘c6 8.♘e5 ♕f6 9.♘c4 ♗b7 10.♗g5 ♘d8 11.♗xf6 ♗xd5 12.♗xg7 ♗xg7 13.exd5 and white is practically winning. In Haslinger,S (2552)-Lund,D (2253)/Blackpool 2011, white won in 34 moves.
7...d6 8.♘g3 ♘f6 9.c4 bxc3 10.bxc3 g6 11.♗e2 ♗g7 12.O-O White is only marginally better here mostly owing to his greater space. 12...O-O 13.♗f4 ♕c7 14.h3 Better was 14.c4 14...♘bd7 Black could have equalized with 14...c4 which would have made white's d-Pawn vulnerable. After the text black has little chance for counterplay. 15.c4 ♘b6 16.♕d2 ♖e8 17.♗d3 ♗d7 18.♗h6 ♗h8 19.♕f4 ♗a4 20.♖ab1
20.♘f5 is flashy, but it doesn't accomplish any more than the text as after 20...♘h5 21.♕xd6 ♕xd6 22.♘xd6 ♖ed8 23.♘b7 ♗xa1 24.♖xa1 ♖dc8 25.♘d6 white still has a significant advantage, but no forced win.
20...♘fd7 To quote Fritz - Black crumbles in face of a dire situation.
20...♖ab8 wasn't a bit better though because after 21.♘f5 That move again. 21...♘c8
21...gxf5 is unplayable here though. 22.♕g5+ and mate next move
22.♖be1 ♖xe1 23.♖xe1 ♗d7 24.♗g5 ♗xf5 25.♗xf5 and after white adds his N to the attack beginning with Nd2 black's position is extremely difficult. 23...♕d8 offered stouter resistance. 24.♖e3 f6 25.♘e6 Black can resign on any of the next few moves. 25...♕b8 26.♕g4 f5 27.♗xf5 ♘e5 28.♖xe5 ♗xe5 29.♗xg6 hxg6 30.♕xg6+ ♔h8 31.♘f6 etc.
24.♖e3 ♕d8 25.♖fe1 Trading Rs is out of the question because on Qxf7 mate. 25...f6
25...♗e5 runs into 26.♖xe5 dxe5 27.♘f6+ ♔h8 28.♖xe5 Black has no way of saving himself. 28...♘xe5 29.♕xe5 Here black would best be advised to end it with 29...♖xe5 30.♘xf7#
26.♘e6 ♕a5 27.♕g4 ♔f7 This meets with instant refutation, but he is lost anyway.
27...♘e5 28.♖xe5 fxe5 29.♗xg6 ♕xe1+ 30.♔h2 ♗d1 31.♕g5 ♕d2 32.f4 ♗xh5 33.♗xh5+ ♗g7 34.♗xe8 and white wins easily.
28.♘hf4 ♖g8 29.♘g5+ A nifty sacrifice that gets the N out of the way of the Rs and makes e6 available to the Q. 29...♔e8
29...fxg5 and white has a mate in 3 30.♖xe7+ ♘xe7 31.♕e6+ ♔e8 32.♕xe7#
30.♖xe7+ ♘xe7 31.♖xe7+ Another nice sacrifice. 31...♔xe7 32.♕e6+ Black resigned. A fun game that was reasonably well played by untitled, though rapidly improving, players. (32.♕e6+ ♔d8 33.♕xg8+ ♔c7 34.♘fe6+ ♔b7 35.♘f7 grabs another piece.) Powered by Aquarium
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