The Brain in Bahrain passes
05.02.2004
– Yousuf Ahmed Al Shirawi was one of the best-respected personalities in Bahrain. He was a scientist and minister in the government, responsible for many pioneer projects in the Arabian island state. He was also a dedicated chess player who in 2002 organised the Kramnik vs Deep Fritz match. Yousuf al Shirawi died on Tuesday at the age of 76. Here's a portrait of an unforgettable man.
 |
 |
Advertisement
Nigel Davies:
Build a 1.d4 Repertoire
Creating a Repertoire can be a difficult and demanding job, especially for
those with limited study time. Attempts to implement a lot of new openings at the
same time can set a player adrift in a sea of unknown chess patterns. This in turn can
have a catastrophic impact on their game.
On this DVD Nigel Davies explains how to go about this process of building a repertoire
the right way, with a minimal amount of stress or sweeping wholesale changes.
More information...
|
|
 Yousuf
Ahmed Al Shirawi, who called himself a "son of Muharraq",
went to school in Bahrain, then on to the International College, Beirut, followed
by the American University, Beirut (AUB), where he graduated in 1950 with a
degree in chemistry. He was the first Bahraini to graduate from the AUB. He
also later studied in Glasgow, from 1953 to 1955. He married Dr May, daughter
of the late intellectual and poet Ibrahim Al Arrayed and they went on to have
six daughters.
Mr Shirawi held a string of government positions throughout the 1950s and
60s, including director of oil affairs, director of development, secretary
of the administration council and assistant director of education. He is credited
with helping to pioneer civil aviation in Bahrain and in 1970 was appointed
a director of Gulf Aviation, which grew into Gulf Air.
The causeway linking Bahrain and Saudi Arabia
Another landmark of his career was the building of the King Fahad Causeway,
linking Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The 25km causeway opened in November 1986
and was described at the time by King Fahad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud as "a
20th century miracle". Mr Shirawi was awarded Saudi Arabia's King Faisal
Medal by King Fahad.
Vladimir Kramnik talking to Yousuf al Shirawi in 2002
Away from work, Mr Shirawi was a skilled chess player and was one of the founding
members of the Bahrain Chess Federation. He was also interested in fishing,
astronomy and other sports.
Yousuf Shirawi died in London on Tuesday of a heart attack at the age 76.
His wife Dr May was with him at the time.
On a personal note
I met Yousuf Ahmed Al Shirawi on May 25, 2001, in the five-star hotel Le Royal
Meridien in the capital of Bahrain, Manama. We had come to plan the Kramnik
vs Deep Fritz event to be staged in Bahrain at the end of the year (it was
delayed by a year due to the 9/11 attack). We had been through about twelve
hours of travel and were quite exhausted. But His Excellency, as we were instructed
to address him, was there with his daughter Dana to welcome us with a sumptuous
dinner. Quite typically he organised the seating in the restaurant so that
he was able to get to know and converse with as many people as possible.
Yousuf Shiravi in a press conference with Sir Jeremy Hanley, sometime Minister
in the British government
Very soon it became evident that this highly respected former minister in
the Bahraini cabinet, who was the initiator and driving force behind the forthcoming
man vs machine match in Bahrain, was an intellectually vigorous 73-year-old,
with a wry sense of humour. He loved to discuss cultural and scientific matters,
often putting off pressing appointments if a conversation became interesting.
He was also an enthusiastic chess player who often signed off his correspondence
with the supplement "Chess enthusiast". He actually went to his chess
club four times a week to play for a few hours.
During both my stays in Bahrain I found myself seeking Yousuf's company (he
soon told me to address him by his first name, and he called me fondly "Freddy").
We had numerous very enlightening conversations, at least for me, and I picked
up more about mediaeval Arabic culture from him than from any other source.
For instance he told me about a short period in Arab history, in the 8th century,
where three important things happened. First of all chess was introduced. Secondly
Arab scientists calculated the circumference of the earth by measuring the
exact length of a southward journey that caused the north star Polaris to sink
by three degrees. And finally the most profound development, the introduction
of the zero in the mathematical system (picked up from Indian astronomers at
the time).
Discussions in a tea room of the hotel
From Yousuf I also learnt the etymology of the word "algorithm".
This derives not from the Greek algiros (for pain) as many think, but from
the name of a ninth century Arabic mathematician, Mohammed al-Khowarizimi.
[al-Khowarizini means from the city of Khowarizm, the Arabic name of a city
in Russia]. It used to refer to arithmetic procedures like long division and
square root extraction (which before calculators, all schoolchildren had to
learn by heart). Today, in the age of the computer revolution, it has of course
taken on a new meaning.
At the time (May 2001) I put together a multimedia report about our visit
to Bahrain for ChessBase Magazine Extra Vol. 82. Here is a brief summary and
a short video excerpt of Yousuf al Shirawi narrating some of the above.
GM Raymond Keene on Yousuf al Shirawi
I first met Yousuf al Shirawi on my initial trip to Bahrain in 1981, when
I was invited to open their chess centre during the Merano Korchnoi-Karpov
world championship. They didn't pay any fee for my trip, which included giving
a simul – but they covered all my expenses and afterwards they took me
to the gold souk and said "choose anything you like for your wife"!
Raymond Keen in Bahrain
Yousuf was the prime mover of chess in Bahrain. He came form humble origins,
i.e. non royal, and it was his life mission to educate people and make them
think. He was Bahrain's first chess champion, Bahrain's first foreign scholarship
student, Bahrain's first minister without the usual royal connections. He had
great drive and energy, and rose to become minister for everything in the Bahrain
Government as well as Chairman of Gulf Air. His daughters – six of them
– are charming, well educated and very liberal.
Daughter Dana being interviewed by GM Daniel King during the 2002 match
I met Yousuf again in 1999 when I visited Bahrain for the second time to promote
their national board game dama. Yousuf pledged he would raise the
money for a dama, chess and mind sports centre. This is where the Kramnik-Deep
Fritz match was played three years later.
Yousuf told me that the first thing he did every day was to solve the Times
daily chess puzzle, which he used to have faxed from London and then accessed
by email when the technology improved. Together we decided that we would hold
a great chess event in Bahrain, either the world championship or man vs machine.
It was a terrible blow to him when the terrorists attacked the Trade Center
in New York. First of all it meant that the match had to be postponed and nearly
did not happen. Secondly Yousuf was a rational human being whose roots were
in the Arab enlightenment of Baghdad in the 8th to 10th centuries, when all
the best scientists, mathematicians and chessplayers were Arabs. To see his
co-religionists resort to unlawful violence which contravened the basic tents
of his faith was a horrible shock to him.
Yousuf had been very ill with leg problems recently, but I had no idea he
had an illness which was life threatening. I am sure he was solving chess problems
to the last – or possibly playing bridge, which he liked just as much!
He was one of those giant tsunami-like personalities whom you think will never
die.
News reports
|
