The Emory Tate Pride… Andrew and Tristan break Internet

As of late, Andrew and Tristan Tate have been a social media phenomenon exhibiting “Tate Pride” with their provocative statements on topics such as masculinity/femininity dynamics, money management, and living the high-value life. Today both tout lavish lifestyles and teaches other men how to live for success in their subscription-based “War Room” training. The activities appear to be something you’d see in an action movie. Their logo is certainly a tribute to their legendary father, International Master Emory Tate.

In Death, Emory Still Trending

Daily I check my metrics for Internet traffic at The Chess Drum and for the past few years, I have wondered why stories I’ve written on Emory Tate are the most viewed. Emory carried a big chess personality and played a hyperaggressive and entertaining style of chess. He was known for winning games in a spectacular style, many featured on The Chess Drum. To further drive home the point, he would sometimes present them as dramatic portrayals in front of crowds.

So when looking at the metrics, there are four or five Tate articles (including his obituary) that are the most trafficked. Most will know that I wrote a biography on Emory Tate in 2017 called, Triple Exclam!!! The Life and Games of Emory Tate, Chess Warrior. While the book received favorable reviews and sold the first 500 copies in about six months (and hundreds more thereafter), I could not imagine that it had this much staying power. Why? One reason for the sustained interest in Emory Tate was the Tate pride… his sons, Andrew and Tristan! They have kept his memory alive! Here are the sons speaking passionately about their father and his chess exploits. Triple Exclam is mentioned.

WARNING: Strong Language

Video by Tristan Tate

The Tate Pride

If you didn’t know before, Andrew and Tristan have essentially taken the Internet by storm with very provocative pronouncements and a code of masculinity that may come off as pretentious, sexist, and to some, overtly misogynistic. Both have led successful lives as martial artists and, in their present life, have become very rich, and Internet sensations. They have been able to earn the lifestyle that Emory would be proud of, but not desiring it for himself. Emory was extremely proud of his sons and their martial arts careers, but would only see the beginnings of their entrepreneurial ideas.

“If you say something about my father, or his life, or my life as a child (that you don’t know) to my face, you’re gonna get served a knuckle sandwich.”

~ Tristan Tate

Andrew Tate is actually Emory Andrew Tate III named after his grandfather, who was an attorney for 50 nearly years. Andrew grew up playing chess in Indiana and currently gives chess a lot of credit for his success. While having never met the sons (Andrew and Tristan) face-to-face, I have heard Emory talk about them many times. At that time, they were active in kickboxing, and winning titles. I communicated with the sons during the book process and later followed some of their activities on social media… mostly related to martial arts. That was before I saw the videos in Romania! Certainly NSFW.

Triple Exclam!!!

In Triple Exclam, I try to pay tribute to a man who gave his life to art. He had a way of narrating the stories of his chess games and making them appear to be playing out in front of us. In the book, I wrote, “His postmortem chess displays were theatrical as if he were the lead actor in a stage play.” Yes, Emory was not merely a chess player, but a performer. “Erob” posted a tribute weeks after Emory’s death that sums it up perfectly:

Tate, with that circus energy, like a clown on the high wire with no net underneath, laughing fearlessly at the crowd for refusing his invitation to join him, suffered never for a gentle smile, reassuring that we act by gift of our own wonder. And that Rolls Royce of a brain he carried, thundering down the slope of an unjust society, surely will find respite in the place where all like Socrates must go. But should his ghost decide to linger our swords will sharpen and our friendships will grow in unpredictable ways.

Emory was a proud man indeed and the sons show an admiration for him that is endearing. It is easy to see where the sons got their flair for the dramatic. In the video, Tristan says he would “serve up a knuckle sandwich” if anyone ridiculed his father’s choice of a career. Even family members were resentful of his choice as a professional chess player, but how many families produce a legend? Indeed, many in the chess world have worked to keep Emory’s legacy alive, but the sons have certainly taken his lessons to heart. One of the most touching things Emory said was

“The truth is if I could clone myself, I would not. The better version of me already walk the planet. Love my link to the future. #kids”

~Emory Tate, Jr.

If Emory were alive today, he’d be a grandfather as his daughter Janine and husband Norman Webb have built a wonderful life. The sons? Well, they’re just out being the lions they were taught to be.

The Tate Pride: Tristan, Emory Jr., Andrew (Emory III)