ONE of the first chess books I had the good fortune to own was the Philippine reprint of “Tigran Petrosian: His Life and Games” by Vik L. Vasiliev, one of the Soviet Union’s top chess journalists, as translated by British IM Michael Basman.
I read and re-read it so many times that I eventually noticed that the term papers I was submitting in school were heavily flavored with Vasiliev’s dramatic, almost breathless prose: “Complicated, contradictory, even enigmatic. How had such a chess character risen? How did such an unusual combination of characteristics come together in one person? How indeed did it happen that flame and ice befriended each other?” That’s Vasiliev describing Petrosian’s play. Here’s how he recounted the meteor-like arrival at the chess scene of the Magician from Riga: “There was a wind of change coursing through the cathedral of chess art, penetrating its silent halls. This wind, entering with an almighty crash and a disrespectful slamming of doors, was the play of Tal.”
I still have my battered copy of the now 28-year-old book, one of the few volumes I brought with me when I first arrived on island 18 years ago. I still enjoy re-reading it. It’s a marvelous biography of one of the deepest, most mystifying players in the history of chess.
Born to Armenian parents on June 17, 1929 in Tiflis, Georgia, Petrosian was orphaned during World War II and had to sweep streets to earn a living. He became seriously ill and his hearing deteriorated. But his love for chess, which he learned to play when he was 8, never wavered. He studied Nimzovitch and was smitten with Capablanca. At 17, he won the Armenian championship and then the USSR junior championship. In 1951, he placed second in the USSR championship, the world’s strongest national event, which qualified him for the Interzonal. By placing second in that event, he earned the GM title and qualified for the 1953 candidates tournament which would select the challenger to the world champ. He finished fifth and until the USSR championship in 1957 was content to preserve what he had already achieved. In 1959 and 1961, he won two of his four USSR championships. In the 1962 Interzonals, he shared second-third places with Geller, 2.5 points behind an impetuous 19-year-old American named Bobby Fischer.
The candidates tournament was held in Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. Petrosian topped the event, finishing half a point ahead of perennial runner-up Keres, with Geller finishing third, a whole point behind Tigran. Fischer blasted the three Soviet GMs for intentionally drawing their games. (From then on, the candidates would play elimination matches.)
In 1963, Petrosian faced the venerable champion of the world, the founder of the mighty Soviet school chess himself, Botvinnik. Tigran prepared for the match by skiing several hours each day. His trainer and second was Ukrainian GM Isaac Boleslavsky who, with his best friend and eventual son-in-law David Bronstein, topped the first candidates tournament in 1952. In his match against Botvinnik, Petrosian, after a shaky start, won comfortably 12.5- 9.5. Three years later, he defeated challenger Boris Spassky who was the heavy pre-match favorite. It was the first time since 1934 that the world champ had beaten the challenger.
In 1969, however, Spassky could no longer be denied and he finally budged the chess world’s immovable object, winning the crown by a score of 12.5-10.5.
Petrosian lost his title on the day of his 40th birthday, but went on to win his third USSR championship in the same year. He and Polugaevsky tied for first place so they had to play a match which Tigran convincingly won 3.5-1.5. In 1971, as the former champ, he was seeded in the eight-player candidates matches. He won against the extremely nervous Hubner and edged Korchnoi in the semis. In the finals, however, he faced Fischer who was already at the peak of his powers. In the 1974 cycle, Tigran beat Portisch in the quarterfinals but lost in the semis to Korchnoi, whom he had publicly criticized before the match. (During their mano a mano, Tigran complained that Korchnoi was moving his leg up and down beneath the table so much. The ex-world champ also complained that Korchnoi actually kicked him beneath the table. In the fifth game, with his opponent ahead +2 -1 =1, Petrosian, while shifting in the chair to adjust his hearing aid, kicked Korchnoi accidentally. “Mister Petrosian,” Korchnoi was quoted as saying, “please look for your match chances above the chess table rather than below it.” Petrosian “exploded,” refused to continue the game and later resigned the match.) Tigran won his fourth and last USSR championship in 1975 and continued to play top-level chess, qualifying for the candidates cycle once again in 1977 after placing second in the Biel Interzonals (he won the tie-breaking match-tournament against Portisch and Tal). But, once again, Korchnoi beat him in their match 6.5-5.5. Both refused to shake hands or speak to each other. They even demanded separate eating and toilet facilities. After Petrosian’s defeat, he was fired as editor of Russia’s largest chess magazine, 64 (the “inspiration” of this column’s title).
Petrosian topped the 1976 Lone Pine tourney and the 1979 Keres Memorial in Talinn. He shared first place with Hubner and Portisch in the Rio de Janeiro Interzonals which earned him another slot in the candidates finals. He had to face Korchnoi, once again, and his bitter rival, once again, won, this time by a score of 5.5.-3.5. In 1981, Petrosian placed second behind the young Soviet GM Beliavsky in the very strong tournament held in Tilburg. It was there where he played his famous game against the future world champ Kasparov.
Petrosian died on Aug. 13, 1984 in Moscow of stomach cancer. He was 55.
Nicknamed the “Iron Tigran” for his outstanding defensive skills, Petrosian’s first name is Russian for “tiger.” “Playing him,” a commentator once noted, “was like trying to put handcuffs on an eel. There was nothing to grip.” Petrosian has also been described as “a centipede lurking in the dark, a tiger looking for the opportunity to pounce, a python who slowly squeezes his victims to death, and a crocodile who waits for hours to make a decisive strike.” Spassky said Petrosian “reminds me of a hedgehog — just when you think you have caught him, he puts out his quills.” In a 1960 interview, Fischer said Botvinnik, Tal and Spassky were “among the best,” but Petrosian was “better than all of them.” Ex-world champ Max Euwe said Petrosian was “one of the most accomplished strategists in the history of chess…who…is at home in all positions. He can conduct an attack with élan and has registered many successes by mating attacks after the queens have gone.” According to Kasparov, “My games with the 9th world champion broadened my understanding of chess…. I was filled with boundless respect for Petrosian’s talent.”
Game of the week. Here is their famous game as annotated by GM Raymond Keene.
White: G. Kasparov (2630)
Black: T. Petrosian (2585)
Queen’s Gambit Accepted
Tilburg 1981
1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 Nf3 Kasparov’s other unfortunate experience against accepting the Queen’s Gambit came in his game against White against Boris Gulko in a team event in 1982. There after 3 e3 Nf6 4 Bxc4 e6 5 Nf3 c5 6 0-0 a6 7 e4 b5 8 Bd3 Bb7 9 Bg5 cxd4 10 Nxd4 Nbd7 11 Nc3 Ne5 Kasparov tried the dubious piece sacrifice 12 Ncxb5 but lost after 11 moves. 3…Nf6 4 e3 Bg4 5 Bxc4 e6 6 h3 Bh5 7 Nc3 a6 8 g4 Bg6 9 Ne5 Nbd7 10 Nxg6 hxg6 11 Bf1 An excellent regrouping maneuver which prepares to place the White bishop on its most powerful diagonal. 11…c6 12 Bg2 Qc7 13 0-0 Be7 14 f4 Nb6 15 g5 Nfd7 16 Qg4 0-0-0 Black’s position is strategically difficult. If he castles on the kingside White has an easy attack by means of h4 and h5. Petrosian must, therefore, run the gauntlet by castling into the force of White’s fianchettoed bishop on g2. 17 Rb1 Kb8 18 b4 Nd5 19 Na4 An energetic pawn sacrifice to open lines against the Black king. 19…f5 Before taking the pawn the former world champion tempts his young opponent with a sacrifice of his own. If now 20 gxf6 e.p. gxf6 21 Qxe6 Rde8 Black obtains significant counterplay. 20 Qg3 Nxb4 This capture looks extremely risky but in view of White’s threat to blast open the queenside by means of Nc5, a4 and b5, Black may as well console himself with an extra pawn. 21 Bd2 Nd5 22 Rfc1 It requires immense nerve on the part of the defense to permit Kasparov to mass his entire army in such close proximity to the Black king. 22…Ka7 23 Qe1 Ba3 24 Rc2 Qd6 25 Rb3 Qe7 26 Qe2 Rb8 27 Qd3 Bd6 28 Nb2 Rhc8 29 Nc4 Bc7 30 a4 b5 The commencement of a remarkable defensive concept. The move appears loosening but Black is also gaining terrain to create an escape route for his king. 31 axb5 cxb5 32 Ra2 The knight is immune from capture since 32…bxc4 33 Rxa6+ would win easily for White. 32…Kb7 33 Bb4 A natural continuation of the attack but insufficiently subtle. Correct is 33 Na3 Bb6 34 Nc2 Ra8 35 Nb4 Qd6 36 e4 fxe4 37 Qxe4 with a fearful attack. One virtue of Kasparov’s 33rd move is that it sets a beautiful trap which Petrosian avoids: 33…Qd8 34 e4 fxe4 35 Qxe4 Qe8 36 Qxd5+ exd5 37 Bxd5+ Ka7 38 Rxa6 Kxa6 39 Ra3+ Ba5 40 Rxa5# 33…Qe8 34 Bd6 Ra8 35 Qb1 Kc6!! A brilliant defensive coup which, as Kasparov admitted, threw him into utter confusion. “The king itself takes a step toward the White army,” he says, “and White now has to concern himself over how to withdraw his entangled pieces without losing material. Staggered by my opponent’s fantastic defense, I failed to find the best continuation.” White can probably still save himself by playing 36 Bxc7 bxc4 37 Rb7 Rxc7 38 Rxa6+ Rxa6 39 Qb5+ Kd6 40 Qxa6+ Ke7 41 Bxd5 Rxb7 42 Bxb7 Qb8 43 Kf2. Instead Kasparov impales himself with an unsound sacrifice. 36 Rba3 bxc4 37 Rxa6+ Rxa6 38 Nxa6+ Bb6 39 Bc5 Qd8 40 Qa1 Nxc5 41 dxc5 Kxc5 42 Ra4 and White resigns.
Puzzler.
White: Ka5, Nb5, Qc1, Bd3, pawn on d4
Black: Kd5, Ne5, pawns on a6 and f3
White to play and mate in three moves.
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