INTRODUCING TIGRAN PETROSIAN

The 9th World Champion, Tigran Petrosian of Armenia, was born in his native country in 1929, living his childhood in Tblisi, Georgia. Georgia was—and remains to this day—a strong chessplaying country, especially when it comes to women's chess: Nona Gaprindashvili (1962-1978) and Maia Chiburdanidze (1978-1991) both became Women's World Champions.

Petrosian learned how to play chess at 8, and credits learning other games such as checkers at the age of 4 for helping him make quick progress. When he moved to Moscow in 1949, he really made progress, winning a lot of tournaments including Moscow 1951.

Petrosian qualified for the 1952 Interzonal tournament held in Stockholm, Sweeden, finishing in a tie for 2nd place. This qualified him to participate in the 1953 Candidates Tournament at Zurich, where he finished in 5th place, a more than respectable result considering that this is considered one of the strongest tournaments ever held.

Petrosian then qualfied for the next three Candidates Tournaments: equal 3rd in Amsterdam 1956 (won by Smyslov), third in Yugoslavia 1959 (won by Tal), and finally first in Curacao 1962.

The winner of the Candidates Tournament (later to be replaced by the Candidates Matches) would gain the right to play a World Championship Match. For winning Curacao 1962 Petrosian got the chance to challenge Mikhail Botvinnik for the title. In doing so, Petrosian is the only player ever to go through both the Interzonal and the Candidates without losing a single game! Fischer, during his magical run in 1970-71, where he won 20 consecutive games at one point, lost two games.

Petrosian overcame the Soviet patriarch in the 1963 World Championship Match by a final score of 12.5-9.5, doing so on the strength of his tough, defensive, positional chess. Tigran Petrosian really was "an immovable object." An opponent would have to play absolutely brilliant chess—tactically and strategically, to win a game from him. He was the complete opposite of Tal in his style!

FIDE had at this time instituted a rule that eliminated the "return matches" that Botvinnik had benefitted so greatly from during his long reign. To challenge Petrosian for the title, Botvinnik would have to go through the Candidates again, something the 52-year old did not wish to do. Therefore, Petrosian was guaranteed to be more than a "Winter King": he would hold the title until at least 1966.

Petrosian's challenger in 1966 was Boris Spassky. Spassky at this time was already World Championship-calibre material, but Petrosian won the match by a score of 12.5-11.5. The match was tied after 19 games, then Petrosian won games 20 and 22, taking a two-point lead. Spassky came back to win Game 23, but could only draw the final game. Petrosian was the first World Champion since Alekhine to successfully defend his title after winning it in a match.

Spassky came all the way back to challenge Petrosian in 1969, defeating the champion by a score of 12.5-10.5.

Petrosian is remembered for being a "boring" positional, defensive player, which limits his popularity, but there was more to him than this. Petrosian was a brilliant tactician: the reason for this is that in many ways it is harder to defend than attack. When attacking, one does not usually need to calculate everything, but can build up their position. In defending, one must see all the opponent's plans and threats in order to react to them.

Petrosian, with his "negative" chess, added greatly to our understanding of prophylaxis: stopping the opponent's play in its tracks before it has even started. This has become ever more important in contemporary play.

The 9th World Champion competed successfully in tournaments till the end of this life in 1984, when he died of stomach cancer.

To see a biography of Tigran Petrosian on Wikipedia, click here.

To see the games of Tigran Petrosian on ChessGames.com, click here.