Tigran Petrosian (1929-1984)
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was born in Tiflis (Tbilisi), Soviet Georgia,
on June 17, 1929 to Armenian parents.
His illiterate father, Vartan, was a refugee from Turkey. [source: Chess
Life & Review, May 1976, pp.271-273]
He learned the game of chess from his parents when he was 8 years
old (other sources say he learned at age 11 in the Young Pioneers). He won a
few junior events and local tournaments in Tbilisi.
At 12 years old, Petrosian began training at the Tiflis Palace of
Pioneers. His first coach was Archil Ebralidze (1908-1960), a chess
master who won the Georgian Championship in 1938, 1939, 1941, and 1946. Petrosian’s father discouraged him from
playing chess, saying it was a waste of time.
His father warned Tigran and said to him, “Study! You won’t earn your bread from chess.”
In the June 1942, Petrosian was able to draw with Salo Flohr
(1908-1983) in a simul. That year he
made friends with David Bronstein and used his breakfast money to buy chess
blloks. [source: Soltis, Soviet Chess: 1917-1991, 1999, p. 207]
In 1943, Petrosian was a first category player.
In 1944, Petrosian was a candidate master.
In 1944, Petrosian’s older brother, Hmayak, was sent to the front
of the war and survivied. Half of the
700,000 Georgians in the Red Army were killed during World War II.
His parents died in 1945, when he was 16. He was forced to
sweep streets to earn a living, starving and was losing his hearing. After his parents died in Tiflis, Petrosian
moved 160 miles to Yerevan, Armenia.
Petrosian described his childhood days: “I survived very bad days. Chess was my only safety valve.” [source: Soltis, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi, 2019, p. 15
In 1945, he won the chess championship of Georgia and was able to
play blindfold chess.
In 1946, he won the 5th USSR Junior Championship,
scoring 14 out of 15.
In 1946, he went on his own to live in Yereven, Armenia. That year
he won the Armenian championship and became a Candidate Master. He repeated
winning the Armenian championship in 1948.
In1947, he played in the USSR Chess Championship, but failed to
qualify for the finals. He was awarded the Master title.
In 1949, Petrosian moved to Moscow and began winning more
tournaments. On the 1949 ranking list,
he was tied for 39th place.
In 1950, Petrosian moved to Moscow. Thanks to the Spartak sports society,
Petrosian was given a salary and an apartment.
He was also trained by Andor Lilienthal that helped him develop his
chess style.
In December 1950, Petrosian tied for 12th-13th
in the 18th Soviet Championship, held in Moscow. Paul Keres won the event.
In 1951, he won the Moscow championship.
In 1951, he played in the 19th USSR championship, held in
Moscow. He took second place, behind
Paul Keres.
At the Saltsjobaden interzonal in 1952, Petrosian took second
place, behind Alexander Kotov, with 7 wins and 13 draws.
In October 1953, Petrosian took 5th place in the powerful 2nd
Candidates Tournament in Neuhausen-Zurich with 6 wins, 18 draws, and 4 loses.
At age 24, he was the youngest in this event.
The event was won by Vasily Smyslov.
In May 1954, a chess match between the USSR and Argentina took
place in Buenos Aires. Petrosian played
Board 6 and score 3.5-1.5 against Pilnik.
In June 1954, a chess match between the USSR and USA took place at
the Hotel Roosevelt in Manhattan.
Petrosian played board 7. He
opponent was Arthur Bisguier. Petrosian
won 2 and drew 2 against Bisguier.
Petrosian was the youngest of the Soviet team at age 24. He was described as Russia’s Capablanca.
In July 1954, a chess match between the USSR and Great Britain was
played in London. The USSR team won 18.5
to 1.5. Petrosian played Board 6 and won
his games.
In March 1955, Petrosian took 3rd-6th in the
22nd Soviet Championship, held in Moscow, Geller and Smyslov tied for 1st
place. Petrosian did not lose a single
game.
In 1955, a chess match between the USSR and USA took place in
Moscow. Petrosian defeated Israel
Horowitz and Max Pavey on Board 6.
At the next interzonal, Gothenburg 1955, he came in fourth place
with 5 wins and 15 draws.
In 1956, he shared third place in the Amsterdam Candidates
tournament with 3 wins, 13 draws, and 2 losses. That year he also won the
Moscow championship.
In February 1957, Petrosian tied for 7th-8th
in the 24th Soviet Championship, held in Moscow. Tal won the event.
In February 1958, Petrosian took 2nd place in the 25th
Soviet Championship, held in Riga. Tal
won the event.
Petrosian shared 3rd place at the 1958 Portoroz Interzonal and
came 3rd in the following Candidates tournament. He took 2nd place in the 1958
USSR championship, behind Mikhail Tal.
In 1958, Petrosian played 2nd reserve board for the
USSR team in the Chess Olympiad. He won
8, drew 5, and lost none.
In 1959 Petrosian won the USSR championship with 8 wins and 11
draws.
In 1960 he took second in the USSR championship, behind Victor
Korchnoi with 10 wins, 7 draws, and 2 losses.
In recognition of his chess, he was named a Master of Sport of the USSR
by the Committee on Physical Culture and Sports.
In 1960, Petrosian played 2nd reserve board for the
USSR team in the Chess Olympiad. He won
11, drew 2, and lost none.
In February, 1961 Petrosian won the 28th USSR championship in
Moscow with 9 wins, 9 draws, and 1 loss.
In October 1961, Petrosian tied for 3rd, behind Tal and
Fischer, at the International Jubilee Grandmaster Tournament held at Bled,
Yugoslavia. Petrosian lost to Fischer
and Portisch.
At the Stockholm Interzonal in 1962 Petrosian shared second place
(with Geller) with 8 wins and 14 draws. The event was won by Bobby Fischer.
In June 1962, Petrosian took first place at the Curacao Candidates
tournament (Fischer took 4th) to become the challenger for the world chess
championship. He won 8, drew 19, and lost none. He was the only undefeated
player. Bobby Fischer later charged that the Soviet players, including
Petrosian, prearranged their games that generally resulted in draws. Every one of the games between the three
leading Soviets was drawn in from 7 to 27 moves. [sources: The
Knoxville News, Aug 16, 1962, p. 33 and The
Baytown Sun (Texas), Sep 9, 1962, p. 4]
Back in Russia, Petrosian is a newspaperman when not playing
tournament chess. Petrosian said that
the Curacao Candidates was the hardest tournament he ever played. When asked about his chances with Botvinik,
Petrosian said, “It’s a funny thing. We
both live in the same district of the same city [Moscow], but we have rarely
played together. I last played him seven
years ago and I think he plays better than ever now.” [source: The San Bernardino County Sun, June 28, 1962, p. 21]
In 1962, Petrosian played Board 2 for the USSR team in the Chess
Olympiad. He won 8, drew 2, and lost
none.
From 1963 to 1966, Petrosian was the chief editor of the monthly
Soviet chess magazine, SHAKHMATNAYA MOSKVA.
Petrosian made more money as a journalist than he did at playing chess,
even as world champion,
In March-May 1963, Petrosian played 51-year-old Mikhail Botvinnik
for the world championship and won with 5 wins, 15 draws, and 2 losses.
Petrosian said he trained for the match by skiing two or three
hours a day. Petrosian’s second was Isaac Boleslavsky (1919-1977). The event was held at Estrada Theatre in
Moscow with 2,000 in the audience and hundreds of thousands watched the event
on Russian television. [source: The Brandon Sun (Manitoba), May 29,
1963, p. 17]
When Petrosian returned in triumph to Armenia, he and his wife,
Rona, was greeted by more than 100,000 people in the city square. All the people also chipped in 10
rubles. For half an hour the collection
boxes were passed until over a million rubles were collected to Petrosian and
his family. He never had to be poor
again. [source: Soltis, Soviet Chess: 1917-1991,1999. p. 261]
In July 1963, Petrosian tied for first place at the First Piatigorsky
Cup at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles with Paul Keres. He scored 4 wins, 9
draws, and 1 loss (to Svetozar Gligoric in round 2). Petrosian and Keres shared the $2,600 first
place prize. Paul Keres said the
Petrosian “has an unpleasant quality for his opponents – he hates to
lose.” Keres said that Petrosian’s rule
is “safety first,” He first tries to
guarantee a draw, the proceeds to look for victory. Isaac Kashdan said that Petrosian “searched
out his opponent’s weaknesses, the counter-punches.” Petrosian was the first world champion from
the USSR to compete in an American tournament.
[source: The Fresno Bee, July
7, 1963]
In 1964 Petrosian tied with Paul Keres at Buenos Aires, scoring 8
wins and 9 draws.
In November 1964, Petrosian played 1st Board for the
USSR in the 16th Chess Olympiad, held in Tel Aviv. He won 6, drew 7, and lost none.
In 1964 the first unofficial international rating list was
published by Arpad Elo. The top two players, with a 2690 rating, were Tigran
Petrosian and Bobby Fischer.
In April-June 1966 Petrosian played Boris Spassky and became the
first world champion since Steinitz to defeat his challenger to remain world
champion. Petrosian had won 4 games, drew 17, and lost 3. He received $2,000
for his efforts, as well as a five-room apartment in the center of Moscow, a
car, and achauffeur.
In July-August 1966, Petrosian played in the 2nd
Piatigorsky Cup, held at the Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. He tied for 6th-7th
place. The event was won by Boris
Spassky, with Bobby Fischer taking 2nd place.
In 1966, he played Board 1 for the USSR team in the Chess Olympiad
in Havana. He won 10, drew 3, and lost
none. During the event, Petrosian played
Fidel Castro and the game ended a draw.
Castro said of Petrosian, “Besides being a chess master, you are a great
diplomat.” [source: Waco New Tribune, Nov 21, 1866, p. 16] Petrosian made the best first-board score and
won the gold medal.
Petrosian won the Moscow championship for the third time in 1968
with 6 wins and 9 draws.
In 1968 Petrosian received his Masters degree from Yereven
University. His dissertation was entitled, 'Chess Logic.'
From 1968 to 1977, Petrosian was the chief editor of the weekly
chess and checker magazine, 64. It had a circulation of 100,000.
In 1968, he played Board 1 for the USSR team in the Chess Olympiad
at Lugano. He won 9, drew 3, and lost
none. He won both the team and
individual gold medals on top board.
In 1969, the Soviet Chess Federation had its own rating
system. Petrosian was ranked #1, and
Spassky was ranked #2.
In April-June 1969, Petrosian met Boris Spassky again for the
world championship, but lost the title with 4 wins, 13 draws, and 6 losses. Petrosian lost his title on his 40th
birthday, June 17.
In November-December 1969, Petrosian took 2nd, behind
Larsen, at Palma de Mallorca. This was
the strongest chess tournament in 1969.
In late 1969 Petrosian again won the USSR chess championship with
6 wins and 16 draws.
In March-April, Petrosian played Board 2 in the YSSR vs. Rest of
the World match in Belgrade. His
opponent was Bobby Fischer. Fischer beat
him in the first 2 games, and drew the nest 2 games. Petrosian had the worst score for the USSR
team.
In 1970, he played Board 2 for the USSR team in the Chess
Olympiad. He won 6, drew 8, and lost
none.
In May 1971 Petrosian defeated GM Robert Huebner of Germany with 1
win and 6 draws in the quarter-finals Candidates match in Seville, Spain.
Petrosian won the 7th games after Huebner
overlooked a winning move, became demoralized after he saw the mistake,
resigned, burst into tears, and withdrew from the match. Huebner said he
was bothered by the loud street noises. Petrosian merely turned his
hearing aid down.
In July 1971, Petrosian defeated Victor Korchnoi with 1 win and 9
draws in the semi-finals match.
In October 1971, Petrosian lost to Bobby Fischer in Buenos Aires
(Petrosian wanted to play in Athens). He had won 1 game (game 2 of the match),
drawn 3 games, and lost 4 games in a row. When Petrosian lost his match to
Fischer, his wife put the blame on his trainer, Alexei Suetin, and slapped him. Fischer got $7,500 for his victory and
Petrosian got $4,500.
In November-December 1971, Petrosian played in the Alekhine
Memorial in Moscow. He tied for 4th-5th
place. Anatoly Karpov and Leonid Stein
tied for 1st place.
Petrosian’s only loss was to Vassily Smyslov.
In 1972 Petrosian tied for first place at the Church's Fried
Chicken International Tournament in San Antonio, Texas with Anatoly Karpov and
Lajos Portisch. Petrosian took home
$2,333 for his share of 1st place prize money.
At the 1972 Skopje Olympiad, Petrosian played Board 1 for the USSR
team. Petrosian lost his one and only
game on time (and his only loss in Olympiad events) to Robert Huebner. When he
was later told that the incident had been shown on TV, he said, "If I had
known that, I would definitely smashed the clock." He won 6, drew 9, and lost 1 in the event.
Petrosian tied for first place with Albin Planinc at Amsterdam
1973 and tied for first with Leonid Stein at Las Palmas.
In October 1973, Petrosian tied for 2nd-6th
place in the 41st Soviet championship. The event was won by Boris Spassky.
In 1974 Petrosian defeated Lajos Portisch, but lost to Victor
Korchnoi in the Candidates matches. He took 2nd place at Milan 1974.
In 1974, he played Board 3 on the USSR team in the 21st
Chess Olympiad in Nice. He won 11 and
drew 3.
Petrosian took 2nd at Manila 1975.
In October-November 1975, Petrosian took 6th-7th
place in the Alekhine Memorial in Moscow.
His only loss was to Korchnoi.
The event was won by Geller.
Between 1968 and 1975, Petrosian never lost more than a single
game in any tournament he played in.
At the Biel interzonal in 1976, Petrosian took second, behind Bent
Larsen, with 6 wins, 12 draws, and 1 loss.
In 1976, Tigran Petrosian and Vasily Smyslov were the first two
Soviets to play in the Louis D. Statham Masters-Plus tournament at Lone Pine.
Petrosian won Lone Pine in 1976. It was
Petrosian’s first Swiss tournament ever.
Petrosian took home $8,650 for his efforts.
In November-December 1976, Petrosian tied for 3rd-4th
in the 44th Soviet Championship.
The event was won by Anatoly Karpov.
In March 1977, Petrosian lost to Korchnoi in the quarter-final
Candidates match, held in Italy. That match was played behind a bulletproof screen.
In July 1977, Petrosian was fired as editor of 64.
In 1978, he played Board 2 on the USSR team at the Chess
Olympiad. He won 3, drew 6, and lost none.
In 1979 he took first at Tallinn with 8 wins and 8 draws. He then
tied for first place with Huebner and Portisch at the 1979 Rio de Janeiro
interzonal.
In 1980 Petrosian again lost to Korchnoi in the quarter-final
Candidates match. Afterwards, he took first place at Las Palmas 1980.
In 1983, Petrosian developed cancer, but did not think it was
terminal.
He died from cancer on August 13, 1984 in Moscow. He was 55. He is buried at the Armenian Cemetery in
Moscow.
In ten chess Olympiads, Petrosian won prizes for the highest score
six times, scoring 78 wins, 50 draws, and 1 loss out of 129 Olympiad games. This is a percentage of 79.8%. By comparison, Bobby Fischer played 65
Olympiad games, scoring 40 wins, 18 draws, and 7 losses. This is a percentage of 75.4%. [source: Keene, Petrosian vs. the Elite, 2014]
Petrosian played over 2,500 games, winning over 62 percent of the
time. His peak Elo rating was 2680. He drew more than half his total games, a
higher fraction than any other world champion.
Petrosian won 13, drew 45, and lost 11 world championship games.
T. Petrosian - Necsesov, Tbilisi 1944
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Qe2 Qe7 6.d3 Nf6 7.Bg5
Qxe2+ 8.Bxe2 Be7 9.Nc3 c6 10.O-O-O O-O 11.Rhe1 Bf5 12.Nd4 Bg6 13.Bg4 Bd8 14.Bc8
Bb6 15.Bxb7 Bxd4 16.Bxa8 1-0
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