Emory Tate’s bio, “Triple Exclam” is here!

Announcement! I will be sending out a game file to all the buyers of the book so they can go over the games on their devices.

If you are skittish about ordering online, contact me via e-mail with the number of books requested and I’ll send an invoice. Mail orders are completed with money orders only.

Fantastic, ‘magnificent’ product which will in time be duly recognized as a ‘magnum opus’!

~Ian Wilkinson, Jamaica Chess Federation

On March 11th, The Chess Drum announced the release of Emory Tate’s biography, Triple Exclam!!! The Life and Games of Emory Tate, Chess Warrior and the book has been warmly embraced by the chess community. The biography comes in the aftermath of Tate’s death October 17, 2015 when he was stricken by a heart attack during a chess tournament in California. He was 56.

Tate was an artful figure of chess throughout his playing career and enthralled fans with his charisma and signature tactical style. He also enjoyed postmortem sessions and was in his element in conducting them. The book actually transcribes two of these sessions making for colorful prose. Below are a few selections from Triple Exclam.

Triple Exclam has arrived…

FM Todd Andrews posted this photo on Facebook.

Michael Williams posted this as “Just arrived!”

… and these are going out!

Jamaican Chess President Ian Wilkinson, who lent his feedback on the manuscript, has ordered 20 copies for his players. These are headed to Kingston!

My name is Michael Karl Goldsbury. Emory and I were roommates in the Defense Language Institute stationed at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio Texas. The year we met was 1981. Emory and I were best friends. We shared a dorm room on base while learning the Russian Language. Emory was a brash, opinionated, cocky young man from Detroit Michigan out to show the world how a black man from Detroit could master the Russian Language and Conquer any opposition presented in the game of chess. He did both with flair, style and dignity rarely seen at the time. Emory was in the second class of Russian Language ever at Lackland. We used to talk about the dream of Monterey California where we were told we would take our tech school instruction, only to have the Defense Language Institute built at Lackland while we were in basic. As I stated earlier Emory was in the second class at Lackland and I was in the first. It is noted because Emory exceeded the curriculum of the second class and was placed in the first class. He then became the best student of the that class, which I was apart of. We got to the point where we would speak mostly in Russian whenever I was able to keep up with him and pull the words out to meet his vocabulary level. He was far superior to myself and to anyone else for that matter speaking Russian I became fascinated with the game of chess because of Emory. I played at a pretty high level, taught by my mother who won against the Ohio State University champion when I was just a baby, but my level of play was chicken feed compared to Emory. We played an estimated 1000 plus games against each other of which I won exactly 5 games and two draws. I was proud of that because it was more than anyone else won that played Emory! One such game was during a military hop on board of an old c130 airplane. We played on a small magnetic chess board which was I believe 6 inches square. I was up two major pieces and thought there was no way I would lose the game. Emory made a huge comeback beating me in the end game stage of play and we ended up in a draw. I will never forget that game on a plane that was leaking oil from an engine which the pilot just shut down. We were oblivious to that engine stoppage as a captain on board glanced at the engine and went back to reading a newspaper. Emory said “Gumbi (his nickname for me) You have a better chance of loosing this game than we do of crashing!” I’ll never forget that either.
Emory was a great friend who sold me his 1971 beat up Pontiac Grand Prix he evidently drove from Detroit to Lackland. He was an unbelievable person with a huge amount of flair and gusto. He was pushed by his desire to be the best at anything he did, especially when it came to Russian Language and more so the game of chess. I will never forget him as he was the best friend of that period of my life and we shared many nights together playing game after game of chess and talking about our struggles as young men from different backgrounds put together in this wonderful opportunity to learn Russian. We spoke of his humble beginnings and poverty stricken Detroit from the perspective of an over achieving black man determined to be someone special, different and overcoming the challenges he faced . He would say “Michael you can’t imagine the crap That my mom and I been through”. I don’t remember him talking of siblings or his father but I understood that there was something with his father he wouldn’t discuss. But that’s too personal and I shouldn’t speak of it. I don’t want to in any way disrespect his family if they would ever see this. He loved his mother a great deal and she inspired a fire in him. He was an amazing person who had something to prove deep down inside him. He was an inspiration whom brought a whole new meaning of confidence spurred on by a deep deep desire to be the best. I will always miss him. I was talking to my daughter and her husband about the time Emory and I spent together and just typed his name into google and discovered this website with all this information on his play and ordered the book immediately! I find it honorable for the autobiographer to bring his life story for his peers and opposition to see and remember. I am a little star stuck to have spent every day with Emory for over a year. I am excited to see his accountancy as a Master chess player who the world recognizes as a pioneer of world class chess. He played beyond my personal comprehension but he taught me how to imagine a higher level of play and important strategies especially in regard to end game and forcing opponents to move conducive to their defeat. He maintained a delicate balance between being confident and Practical in his play.i saw him humbled by a very good Russian grand master in a tournament he entered in my home city of Columbus Ohio. He came to see me and play the tournament. He couldn’t resist speaking to the Russian contingency in Russian before his match. He was facing the Russian grand master To win the tournament. Because he spoke to them in Russian they grouped together and planned a strategy. Emory lost the match. It was the worst I had seen him play. It haunted him for a year til he returned to Columbus the following year. It was the same tournament and he played the same grand master in the final match for the win. He beat the man badly and reveled in his revenge! You couldn’t write a better story. Sometimes truth IS stranger than fiction. He was humble in victory towards the Russian. I could tell he had learned a new level of sportsmanship and he was humbly blessed with a higher level of play. That was 1984. I said goodby to him at Port Columbus International airport and that was the last time we spoke. May god bless him and his surviving family. Again I will never forget Mr. Emory Tate.

I was so glad to see that copies were available again (grabbed one for my brother and myself). So far I’ve only skimmed it but I look forward to reading to look into the life of Emory Tate. I’ve admired him from afar watching and listening to his analysis at the World Open many years back. Your work is much appreciated!