If Tiki Barber can come back, why not Yasser Seirawan?

Seirawan, a former US Champion, gave up tournament chess eight years ago and moved to Europe. But he was the surprise recipient of a “wild card” invitation to the US Championship, which begins next month in St. Louis.

Retired GMs have returned to chess before. Maxim Dlugy played well in the 2006 US Championship, also as a wild card, after being away from the board for 15 years. Gata Kamsky performed creditably in the 2004 Championship after a 10-year break.

But Kamsky was 30, typically the peak age of a player, when he returned. Dlugy was 40 when he came back. That’s about the age when virtually all GMs are in decline.

Next month Seirawan turns 51, the age when GMs play chess like . . . well, like a 36-year-old running back plays football.

Age takes a toll of a chess player’s ability to calculate variations over the course of a four- or five-hour game. But it’s the rustiness that also hurts. It took Kamsky two years to get back into the brilliant form he displayed in the 1990s.