Peter Biyiasas - Grandmaster

Grandmaster

Biyiasas made an excellent tied 3rd–4th at New York 1977 with 8½/14, as Leonid Shamkovich and Andrew Soltis won. In the Canadian Zonal, Toronto 1978, he finished 2nd with 10/15, as Jean Hebert won. He was granted the Grandmaster title in 1978 for his strong New York and Buenos Aires Olympiad performances.

Biyiasas scored 7½/14 at Hastings 1978–79 to tie for 7th–10th places, as Ulf Andersson won. He won the 1979 Paul Keres Memorial tournament in Vancouver. He immigrated to the US in 1979, working in San Jose, California as an IBM computer programmer. Biyiasas scored 6½/15 at Hastings 1979–80 for 13th place, as Andersson won again. One of his strongest career results came in a very strong field at Wijk aan Zee 1980, where he made 7½/13 to tie for 4th–6th places, as Browne and Yasser Seirawan won. He scored an excellent 2nd place at Zrenjanin 1980. He played in the United States Chess Championship at Greenville 1980, finishing just below 50 per cent.

Biyiasas won several tournaments in the San Francisco area, while visiting, and after moving there. These included four titles in the Carroll Capps Memorial (1981, 1982, 1983, and 1985); and four titles in the Arthur Stamer Memorial (1978, 1979, 1982, and 1984). These events were organized by the Mechanics Institute Chess Room. During a four-month period in 1981, Biyiasas played 17 five-minute games with Bobby Fischer, who was staying in his apartment at the time. Fischer, although he had been absent from competitive play for nine years, won all 17 games. Biyiasas said that he didn't think Fischer had lost anything in form, despite the layoff.

Biyiasas generally favoured unusual openings, staying away from mainline Sicilians after opening with 1.e4. He tended towards King's Indian Attack formations, and aimed to get play into maneuvering channels.

Biyiasas has been retired from competitive chess since 1985. He was married to Ruth Haring, a Women's International Master. They have three children, Lauren, Tina, and Theodore. His current FIDE rating is 2450. The site chessgames.com has a selection of 140 of his games.