Tigran Petrosian

Tigran Petrosian
Full name	Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian
Country	Soviet Union ( Armenia)
Born	June 17, 1929(1929-06-17) Tbilisi, Georgia, Transcaucasian SFSR, USSR
Died	August 13, 1984 (aged 55) Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR
Title	Grandmaster
World Champion	1963-1969

This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Tigran Petrosian (Armenian: Տիգրան Պետրոսյան) (June 17, 1929 – August 13,1984) was World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969.

He is often known by the Russian version of his name, Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (Russian: Тигран Вартанович Петросян). He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else.^[1] He was a Candidate for the World Championship on eight occasions (1953, 1956, 1959, 1962, 1971, 1974, 1977 and 1980), won the world championship in 1963 (against Botvinnik) and 1966 (against Spassky), thus he was the defending World Champion or a World Champion candidate in ten consecutive three-year cycles. He won the Soviet Championship four times (1959, 1961, 1969, and 1975). He was arguably the hardest player to beat in the history of chess^[2].

Early years

A Soviet Armenian, Petrosian was born in the city of Tbilisi, Georgia, Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, USSR^[3] and spent most of his childhood there. He learned the game of chess at the age of eight, after entering a local chess school at the Tbilisi Pioneer's Palace (currently known as Tbilisi Children's Palace). Petrosian's first coach was Archil Ebralidze.

Petrosian's first important result was a shared 1st-3rd place at the 4th USSR Junior Championship, Leningrad 1945, with 11/15; he tied with Y. Vasilchuk and A. Reshko. In the 6th Armenian Championship, Yerevan 1946, Petrosian won the title with 9/10. But that same year at Leningrad for the Candidates to Masters event, he could only make 6.5/15 for a shared 8th-11th place. In the 7th Georgian Championship, Tbilisi 1946, Petrosian scored 12.5/19, and was second among Georgians; the winner Paul Keres (18/19) played hors concours ("far ahead of the competition"), and conceded just two draws, one of them to Petrosian. He failed badly at the USSR Championship semi-final, Tbilisi 1946, with just 6/17, for a shared 16th-17th place. Petrosian claimed the title in the 5th USSR Junior Championship, Leningrad 1946, with an unbeaten 14/15. In the 1947 Armenian Championship, Petrosian shared 2nd-4th places, with 8.5/11, behind Igor Bondarevsky, who played hors concours. In the 1948 Championship of Caucasian Republics, Petrosian placed 2nd with 9/12, behind winner Vladimir Makogonov. In the 8th Armenian Championship of 1948, Petrosian shared the title on 12.5/13 with Genrikh Kasparian.

Despite growing up and starting his chess career in Georgia, Petrosian was regarded by his Soviet teammates as Armenian. For example when Bobby Fischer said he intended to beat "all the Russians" at the Bled 1961 tournament, Paul Keres told him that there were no Russians in the tournament: Mikhail Tal was a Latvian, Petrosian an Armenian, Efim Geller a Ukrainian, and Keres himself was an Estonian.^[4] Western publications described Petrosian as an Armenian.^[5]

Moves to Moscow, Grandmaster

A significant step for Petrosian was moving to Moscow in 1949, where he began to play and win many tournaments. Moscow, along with Leningrad and Kiev, were the three major Soviet chess cities. He won the 1951 tournament in Moscow, and began to show steady progress. By 1952 Petrosian became a Soviet and international Grandmaster in chess. Prior to taking up chess full time though, Petrosian was a caretaker and a road sweeper.^[6] In 1952, he married Rona Yakovlevna Avinezar, a translator who was active in chess circles.

World title Candidate

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.

World Champion

In the 1963 World Championship cycle, he won the Candidates tournament at Curaçao in 1962, then 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 shared first place with Paul Keres at the Piatigorsky Cup, Los Angeles 1963, his first tournament after winning the championship.

Petrosian defended his title in 1966 by defeating Boris Spassky 12.5–11.5. He was the first World Champion to win a title match while champion since Alekhine beat Bogoljubov in 1934. In 1968, he was granted a PhD from Yerevan State 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). Nevertheless Petrosian lost the match.

Olympiads and Team Championships

Petrosian was not selected for the Soviet Olympiad side until 1958; he had already been a Candidate twice by that time. But he then made ten straight Soviet Olympiad teams from 1958 to 1978, won nine team gold medals, one team silver medal, and six individual gold medals.
His overall performance in Olympiad play is impressive: +78 =50 −1 (only one game lost out of 139 played), for 79.8 per cent, the third all-time best performance after Mikhail Tal and Anatoly Karpov.^[7] His Olympiad results are the following.

• Munich 1958, 2nd reserve, 10.5/13 (+8 =5 −0), board and team gold medals;
• Leipzig 1960, 2nd reserve, 12/13 (+11 =2 −0), board and team gold medals;
• Varna 1962, board 2, 10/12 (+8 =4 −0), board and team gold medals;
• Tel Aviv 1964, board 1, 9.5/13 (+6 =7 −0), team gold medal;
• Havana 1966, board 1, 11.5/13 (+10 =3 −0), board and team gold medals;
• Lugano 1968, board 1, 10.5/12 (+9 =3 −0), board and team gold medals;
• Siegen 1970, board 2, 10/14 (+6 =8 −0), team gold medal;
• Skopje 1972, board 1, 10.5/16 (+6 =9 −1), team gold medal;
• Nice 1974, board 4, 12.5/14 (+11 =3 −0), board and team gold medals;
• Buenos Aires 1978, board 2, 6/9 (+3 =6 −0), team silver medal.

Petrosian also made the Soviet side for every European Team Championship held while he was alive, a total of eight selections, from 1957 to 1983. He won eight team gold medals, and four board gold medals. His totals in Euroteams play, according to olimpbase.org, are (+15 =37 −0), for 64.4 per cent.^[7] His Euroteams results follow.

• Vienna 1957, board 6, 4/5 (+3 =2 −0), board and team gold medals;
• Oberhausen 1961, board 4, 6/8 (+4 =4 −0), board and team gold medals;
• Hamburg 1965, board 1, 6/10 (+2 =8 −0), board and team gold medals;
• Kapfenberg 1970, board 1, 3.5/6 (+1 =5 −0), team gold medal;
• Bath, Somerset 1973, board 2, 4.5/7 (+2 =5 −0), board and team gold medals;
• Moscow 1977, board 2, 3.5/6 (+1 =5 −0), team gold medal;
• Skara 1980, board 3, 2.5/5 (+0 =5 −0), team gold medal;
• Plovdiv 1983, board 3 3.5/5 (+2 =3 −0), team gold medal.

Later career

Along with a number of other Soviet Chess champions, he signed a petition condemning the actions of the defector Viktor Korchnoi in 1976. It was the continuation of a bitter feud between the two, dating back at least to their 1974 Candidates semi-final match which Petrosian withdrew from after five games while trailing 3.5-1.5 (+3−1=1). His match with Korchnoi in 1977 saw the two former colleagues refuse to shake hands or speak to each other. They even demanded separate eating and toilet facilities. Petrosian went on to lose the match and was subsequently fired as editor of Russia's largest chess magazine, 64. His detractors condemned his reluctance to attack and some put it down to a lack of courage. At this point however, Botvinnik spoke out on his behalf, stating that he only attacked when he felt secure and his greatest strength was in defence.^[6]

Some of his late successes included victories at Lone Pine 1976 and 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 second 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 against the young Garry Kasparov.^[8] Petrosian died of stomach cancer in 1984 in Moscow. Petrosian is buried in Vagankovo Cemetery and in 1987 13th World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov unveiled a memorial in the cemetery at Petrosian's grave which depicts the laurel wreath of world champion and an image contained within a crown of the sun shining above the twin peaks of Mount Ararat - the national symbol of Petrosian's native Armenia.

Chess legacy

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 Defence (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3).

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" ("The Chess Moscow") from 1963–66.

Quotations

• In those years, it was easier to win the Soviet Championship than a game against "Iron Tigran". — Lev Polugaevsky^[9]
• It is to Petrosian's advantage that his opponents never know when he is suddenly going to play like Mikhail Tal. - Boris Spassky
• He [Petrosian] have an incredible tactical view, and a wonderful sense of the danger... No matter how much you think deep... He will "smell" any kind of danger 20 moves before! - Robert Fischer
• We can call Petrosian the first defender with a capital D. He was the first person to demonstrate that it is possible to defend virtually every position. Petrosian contributed a defensive element to chess - an element that is being developed more and more today. He showed that chess contains an enormous number of resources, including defensive ones. - Vladimir Kramnik^[10]
• Chess is a game by its form, an art by its content and a science by the difficulty of gaining mastery in it. Chess can convey as much happiness as a good book or work of music can. However, it is necessary to learn to play well and only afterwards will one experience real delight. - Tigran Petrosian
• I'm absolutely convinced that in chess - although it remains a game - there is nothing accidental. And this is my credo. I like only those chess games, in which I have played in accordance with the position requirements... I believe only in logical and right game. - Tigran Petrosian^[11]

Notes

References

• "Tigran Petrosian". Chess Champions. Retrieved on August 14, 2005.
• Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games by Irving Chernev; Dover; August 1995. ISBN 0-486-28674-6
• Edmonds, David; Eidinow, John (2004), Bobby Fischer Goes to War, HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0-06-051024-4 
• Kasparov, Garry (2004), My Great Predecessors, part III, Everyman Chess, ISBN 978-1-85744-371-4 
• Viktor Vasiliev Tigran Petrosian: His Life and Games. Zhizn Shakhmatista, 1969. B. T. Batsford, 1974. ISBN 0-7134-2818-X .
• World Chess Champions by Edward G. Winter, editor. 1981 ISBN 0-08-024094-1

External links

• Tigran Petrosian at ChessGames.com
• OlimpBase
• Biography
• Spassky-Petrosian WCh 1966 Multimedia Annotated Game