Tigran Petrosian
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Tigran Petrosian. |
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (
June 17,
1929 –
August 13,
1984) was a former
world chess champion. His nickname was "Iron Tigran", because of his almost impenetrable defense, which guaranteed safety above all else (Vasiliev 1974:27) and (Kasparov 2004:7, 16, 62, 80).
An ethnic
Armenian, Petrosian was born in the village Mulki of Aragatsotn region,
Armenia, and lived during his childhood in the city of
Tbilisi,
Georgia,
USSR. Most of his life he lived in the
Russian capital,
Moscow. He learned the game of chess at the age of eight. A significant step for Petrosian was moving to Moscow in 1949, and he began to play and win many tournaments there. He won the 1951 tournament in Moscow, and began to show steady progress.
His results in the triennial
Candidates Tournament, held to determine the challenger to the world champion, showed a steady improvement: fifth at
Zürich in
1953, equal third at
Amsterdam in
1956, third in
Yugoslavia in
1959, and first at
Curaçao in
1962. In
1963 he defeated
Mikhail Botvinnik 12.5–9.5 to become world
chess champion. His patient, defensive style frustrated Botvinnik, who only needed to make one risky move for Petrosian to punish him. Petrosian is the only player to go through the
Interzonal and the Candidates process undefeated on the way to the world championship match.
Petrosian defended his title in
1966, defeating
Boris Spassky 12.5–11.5, the first World Champion to win a title match while champion since
Alekhine beat
Bogoljubov in
1934. In 1968, he was granted an
M.Phil. from
Yerevan University for his thesis, "Chess Logic". In
1969 Spassky got his revenge, winning by 12.5–10.5 and taking the title.
He was the only player to win a game against
Bobby Fischer during the latter's 1971 Candidates matches, finally bringing an end to Fischer's amazing streak of twenty consecutive wins (seven to finish the
1970 Palma de Mallorca Interzonal, six against
Taimanov, six against
Larsen, and the first game in their match).
Some of his late successes included victory in the 1979
Paul Keres Memorial tournament in
Tallinn (12/16 without a loss, ahead of
Tal,
Bronstein and others), shared first place (with
Portisch and
Huebner) in the
Rio de Janeiro Interzonal the same year, and 2nd place in
Tilburg in 1981, half a point behind the winner
Beliavsky. It was here that he played his last famous victory, a miraculous escape vs. the young
Garry Kasparov [
1]. Petrosian died of cancer of the stomach in 1984.
He has two major
opening systems named after him: the Petrosian variation of the
King's Indian Defence (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5
7. d5) and the Petrosian system in the
Queen's Indian Defense (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6
4. a3). A variation of the
Caro-Kann defense also bears his name, along with former world champion
Vassily Smyslov; the Petrosian–Smyslov variation (1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4
Nd7).
He is most famous for being one of the best players pioneering the theory of
prophylaxis, years after
Aron Nimzowitsch. His style of play was often highly strategical, notable for anticipating opponent's possible attacks and he based many of his games on avoidance of error, content with accumulating small advantages. His games are now widely used for instruction in chess schools around the world. He was also the chief editor of the chess magazine,
"Shakhmatnaya Moskva" from 1963–66.
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Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian vs Robert James Fischer, Yugoslavia ct 1959, Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 (E40), 1-0 After the weak 5th move of Black, Petrosian energetically exploits his spatial advantage
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Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian vs Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow 1963 (5th game of the WCh match), Gruenfeld Defense: Three Knights. Burille Variation (D94), 1-0 A classical endgame R+N vs R+B
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Mikhail Tal vs Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian, Moscow Ch URS 1973, Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation (B17), 0-1 Both grandmasters attack, but Petrosian is quicker
*
In those years, it was easier to win the Soviet Championship than a game against "iron Tigran". â€"
Lev Polugaevsky (Kasparov 2004:80).
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World Chess Champions by
Edward G. Winter, editor. 1981 ISBN 0080249041
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Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games by Irving Chernev; Dover; August 1995. ISBN 0486286746
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Garry Kasparov (2004).
On my Great Predecessors, Volume 3. Everyman. ISBN 1-85744-371-3
*
Viktor Vasiliev Tigran Petrosian: His Life and Games. Zhizn Shakhmatista, 1969.
B. T. Batsford, 1974. ISBN 0-7134-2818-x.
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50 Critical Positions from His Games*
Biography
