Tigran Petrosian

World Champion 1963-1969
Born: 1929, Tbilisi













Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was born in 1929 in Tbilisi, Georgia of Armenian parents. His parents died before he was 16 and he found consolation in chess. He was greatly influenced by Nimzovitch's theories and his play was deeply prophylactic, preventing any plans his opponents might come up with. He enjoyed slowly improving the position of his pieces and closed positions where he could quietly fight for the control of key squares. His style of play made his games less accessible to anyone other than masters and this made him one of the least popular of the World Champions. He defeated Mikhail Botvinnik in 1963 to become World Champion and lost his title to Boris Spassky in 1969.

Petrosian had a special talent for prophylaxis. Nobody could do anything against him. As soon as someone began mobilizing their forces for an attack, Petrosian would see their plan and put it to rest. He rarely tried to initiate his own attacks. Often he would think only of his opponent's plans and stop them, leaving his opponents not knowing what to do. Eventually his antagonist would make some small error and Petrosian would pounce just like a tiger who has been lying in wait for just the right moment. This tendency earned him the name "Tiger".

Games
-------
[White "Petrosian"]
[Black "Boris Spassky"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O Nc6 6. Nc3 d6
7. d4 a6 8. d5 Na5 9. Nd2 c5 10. Qc2 e5 11. b3 Ng4 12. e4 f5
13. exf5 gxf5 14. Nd1 b5 15. f3 e4 16. Bb2 exf3 17. Bxf3 Bxb2
18. Qxb2 Ne5 19. Be2 f4 20. gxf4 Bh3 21. Ne3 Bxf1 22. Rxf1 Ng6
23. Bg4 Nxf4 24. Rxf4 Rxf4 25. Be6+ Rf7 26. Ne4 Qh4 27. Nxd6
Qg5+ 28. Kh1 Ra7 29. Bxf7+ Rxf7 30. Qh8+ 1-0

[White "Petrosian"]
[Black "Ludek Pachman"]
[ECO "A04"]


1.Nf3 c5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 g6 4.O-O Bg7 5.d3 e6 6.e4 Nge7 7.Re1
O-O 8.e5 d6 9.exd6 Qxd6 10.Nbd2 Qc7 11.Nb3 Nd4 12.Bf4 Qb6
13.Ne5 Nxb3 14.Nc4 {Very nice tempo move. --Fischer} Qb5
15.axb3 a5 16.Bd6 Bf6 17.Qf3 Kg7 18.Re4 {Now Petrosian is
preparing for a very beautiful finish.--Fischer} Rd8 19.Qxf6+
Kxf6 20.Be5+ Kg5 21.Bg7 {This is a real problem
move. --Fischer} 1-0

[White "Boris Spassky"]
[Black "Petrosian"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 d5 4. Nbd2 Be7 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 c5
7. c3 b6 8. O-O Bb7 9. Ne5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Nd7 11. Bf4 Qc7
12. Nf3 h6 13. b4 g5 14. Bg3 h5 15. h4 gxh4 16. Bf4 O-O-O
17. a4 c4 18. Be2 a6 19. Kh1 Rdg8 20. Rg1 Rg4 21. Qd2 Rhg8
22. a5 b5 23. Rad1 Bf8 24. Nh2 Nxe5 25. Nxg4 hxg4 26. e4 Bd6
27. Qe3 Nd7 28. Bxd6 Qxd6 29. Rd4 e5 30. Rd2 f5 31. exd5 f4
32. Qe4 Nf6 33. Qf5+ Kb8 34. f3 Bc8 35. Qb1 g3 36. Re1 h3
37. Bf1 Rh8 38. gxh3 Bxh3 39. Kg1 Bxf1 40. Kxf1 e4 41. Qd1 Ng4
42. fxg4 f3 43. Rg2 fxg2+ 0-1

[White "Petrosian"]
[Black "Mikhail Botvinnik"]

1.c4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.e3 O-O 6.Be2 dxc4 7.Bxc4
c5 8.d5 e6 9.dxe6 Qxd1+ 10.Kxd1 Bxe6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Ke2 Nc6
13.Rd1 Rad8 14.Rxd8 Rxd8 15.Ng5 Re8 16.Nge4 Nxe4 17.Nxe4 b6
18.Rb1 Nb4 19.Bd2 Nd5 20.a4 Rc8 21.b3 Bf8 22.Rc1 Be7 23.b4 c4
24.b5 Kf7 25.Bc3 Ba3 26.Rc2 Nxc3+ 27.Rxc3 Bb4 28.Rc2 Ke7
29.Nd2 c3 30.Ne4 Ba5 31.Kd3 Rd8+ 32.Kc4 Rd1 33.Nxc3 Rh1 34.Ne4
Rxh2 35.Kd4 Kd7 36.g3 Bb4 37.Ke5 Rh5+ 38.Kf6 Be7+ 39.Kg7 e5
40.Rc6 Rh1 41.Kf7 Ra1 42.Re6 Bd8 43.Rd6+ Kc8 44.Ke8 Bc7 45.Rc6
Rd1 46.Ng5 Rd8+ 47.Kf7 Rd7+ 48.Kg8 1-0

[White "Paul Keres"]
[Black "Petrosian"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nc3
Ng4 8.Qxg4 Nxd4 9.Qd1 Ne6 10.Qd2 d6 11.Be2 Bd7 12.O-O O-O
13.Rac1 Bc6 14.Rfd1 Nc5 15.f3 a5 16.b3 Qb6 17.Nb5 Rfc8 18.Bf1
Qd8 19.Qf2 Qe8 20.Nc3 b6 21.Rc2 Qf8 22.Qd2 Bd7 23.Nd5 Rab8
24.Bg5 Re8 25.Re1 Rb7 26.Qf2 Bc6 27.Qh4 f6 28.Be3 e6 29.Nc3
Rd7 30.Bd4 f5 31.exf5 gxf5 32.Rd2 Bxd4+ 33.Rxd4 Rg7 34.Kh1 Rg6
35.Rd2 Rd8 36.Red1 Rd7 37.Qf2 Qd8 38.Qe3 e5 39.f4 e4 40.Ne2
Rdg7 41.Nd4 Bd7 42.a3 Qa8 43.Kg1 h5 44.Rb1 h4 45.Rbb2 Rg4
46.Rf2 Qd8 47.b4 Rg3 48.hxg3 hxg3 49.Rfd2 Qh4 50.Be2 Rh7
51.Kf1 Qxf4+ 0-1

[White "Petrosian"]
[Black "Vasily Smyslov"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. d4 Bb7 5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5
7. e3 Be7 8. Bb5+ c6 9. Bd3 c5 10. Nxd5 Qxd5 11. dxc5 Qxc5
12. Bd2 Nc6 13. Rc1 Qd6 14. Qc2 Rc8 15. O-O h6 16. Rfd1 O-O
17. Bc3 Qb8 18. Qa4 Rfd8 19. Qe4 g6 20. Qg4 h5 21. Qh3 f5
22. Bc4 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Kf7 24. e4 Qf4 25. Re1 Qg4 26. exf5
Qxc4 27. fxg6+ Ke8 28. g7 e5 29. Qxh5+ Kd7 30. Rd1+ Bd6
31. Bxe5 Nd4 32. Nxd4 1-0

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