Tigran Petrosian the Master of Prophylaxis
Tigran Petrosian, a Soviet Armenian grandmaster, defeated Botvinnik to become the 9th world chess champion. Petrosian focused on safety and prophylactic play, happy to pounce on any mistake. His defensive prowess earned him the nickname “Iron Tigran”.
Petrosian won the Soviet Championship 4 times, was a 10-time Olympian for the Soviet team and remained undefeated in 1962. He popularized chess in Armenia and played positional exchange sacrifices, one of his trademarks.
Petrosian could play beautiful attacking chess, especially against weaker opponents. His game against Ludek Pachmann from 1961 is a wonderful example. Let’s take a look.
Petrosian was defending world chess champion or a world chess champion candidate during 10 consecutive cycles. He was an active world chess champion and eventually lost his title to Boris Spassky in 1969. Unfortunately, he died in 1984 aged 55 due to stomach cancer.
That’s all for today. Stay on top of COVID-19 by following the WHO Guidelines and play it safe while looking to pounce on mistakes like “Iron Tigran”.
