Tigran Petrosian (June 17, 1929 – August 13, 1984), aka Iron Tigran, at the age of 33, defeated Mikhail Botvinnik (August 17, 1911 – May 5, 1995) for the world championship in 1963 by a score of +5 -2 =15. It had been apparent for the last few games of the match that they were a mere formality and Botvinnik had abandoned all hope of catching his cautious adversary. The match ended when Botvinnik, three points down, accepted a 10 move draw in a Queen’s Gambit Accepted. Chess fans were none too thrilled at Petrosian’s victory because his cautious, defensive style which emphasized safety above all else was boring at best. Nevertheless, it was pretty clear that Petrosian’s victory had brought an end to the post-World War Two era in chess.
Ever since Alekhine had died in 1945 Botvinnik had, despite a couple of short interruptions by Smyslov and Tal, dominated the championship and was generally considered the best player of his era. It was wondered if the new champion in the years to come would establish himself in the same manner as Botinnik or would he be like Euwe, Smyslov and Tal who had enjoyed only a brief supremacy?
In 1966 Petrosian and Spassky played for the Championship. Spassky was the big favorite; he had defeated Keres, Geller and Tal in candidates matches and people liked his personality and his style. He had a universal style that was at home in everything from a King's Gambit to a King's Indian or a Queen’s Gambit.
It was a tough mach. Spassky found himself two points down after 10 games, but he fought back and evened the score after game 19. Then Petrosian won the 20th and 22nd games to clinch the title +4 -3 =17.
Three years later in 1969 they met again and before the match Smyslov opined that although Petrosian had “penetrated deeper perhaps than anyone into the secrets of positional maneuvering” Spassky had “every ground" for achieving victory.
When they met in the second match, in the first game Spassky lost an interesting ending where he had a R+B vs. a R+N+P. It’s an odd fact that Spassky lost the first game of this match and went on to win; Petrosian had lost the first game of his match with Botvinnik and went on to win; and a few years later Fischer lost the first game to Spassky and went on to win.
After the first game Spassky scored three wins and with a third of the scheduled 24 games played, he had a two point lead...a huge lead at this level. Was Spassky going to crush his opponent? The answer was no, because in the next eight games Petrosian evened the score with two wins to Spassky’s none. After 16 games the score was even.
Then came game 17 which was the turning point. In this game, with the score tied, Petrosian had the black pieces and in a position that was slightly favorable for him, he offered a draw. Spassky thought for several minutes before deciding that “in a long match you have to play both good and bad positions” and so detecting some uncertainty on the party of Petrosian, Spassky declined the offer, complicated the game, and went on to win.
In the 18th game, Petrosian, playing white, put up a stout resistance and managed to draw, but by this time he was taking some heat in the press. Down a point and running out of time, he decided to come out swinging; the result was a quick loss and he was down two points with only 5 games to go.
Petrosian made a fight of it and managed to win game 20 to pull within one point with four games to go. Spassky grabbed his two point lead back by winning game 21. In game 22 Spassky offered a draw at move 31 in a position where he stood slightly better and with no winning chances or even a chance to complicate things Petrosian had little choice but to accept. That left him two points down with only two games to play and the prospect of defeating Spassky twice in a row to tie the match and keep his title was not outside the realm of possibility. He had done it in games 10 and 11.
The 23rd game was a hard fought Kan Sicilian with Petrosian playing black. It was adjourned after 40 moves and both players concluded that Spassky could probably win, but because he only needed a half point to win the title, Spassky offered a draw which was accepted. Here is that fateful 19th game.
Boris Spassky - Tigran Petrosian
Result: 1-0
Site: World Championship Moscow
Date: 1969.06.04
Najdorf Sicilian
[...] 1.e4 c5 A good choice against Spassky because it always gave him trouble. Or was it? Spassky stated that even though he was a point ahead he wasn't thinking of a draw...he wanted a fight and that's exactly what the SIcilian offered. 2.♘f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.♘xd4 ♘f6 5.♘c3 a6 6.♗g5 During the match Petrosian tried several Sicilian lines and here he employs a rarely played, but sharp move that he played in his younger days. 6...e6 is almost automatically played. 6...♘bd7 7.♗c4 ♕a5 8.♕d2 h6 Again, 8...e6 is almost automatic. Here Petrosian invites Spassky to play 9.Bh4 which at the time was popular, but by now has largely disappeared. At this point Spassky recalled a similar game against Bagirov in the 1963 Soviet Championship in which Bagirov had played Bxf6 and gotten a good game. 9.♗xf6 ♘xf6 10.O-O-O e6 11.♖he1 Spassky noted that white has a lead in development and black has to play very carefully in order to avoid getting himself into trouble. 11...♗e7
12.f4 O-O
11...b5 This move came into consideration by Spassky, but he concluded that it was not very convincing and gave some analysis which is easily refuted by engines. The correct sequence is: 12.♗b3 ♗e7
12...b4 13.♘d5 ♗d7 (13...exd5 14.♗xd5 ♘xd5 15.exd5 ♔d7 wins.) 14.♘xf6 gxf6 and white is somewhat better.
13.♘c6 ♕c7 14.♘xe7 ♕xe7 15.♕xd6 with the advantage.
12...♕c5 I dont' know if the game Parma,B-Bogdanovic,R/Novi Sad 1965 was known to Spassky and Petrosian (I doubt it), but it did not work out well for black after 13.♗b3 O-O 14.♔b1 ♗d8 15.g4 ♗b6 16.♕g2 ♘e8 17.f5 and white had a winning attack.
13.♗b3 ♖e8 14.♔b1 ♗f8
14...e5 leaves white with a slight advantage after 15.♘f5 ♗xf5 16.exf5 ♗f8 17.h4 exf4 18.♖xe8 ♖xe8 19.♕xf4
15.g4 Spassky commented that white's position is so good that he can play this energetic move instead of the "expected" 15.e5. By sacrificing a P with 15.g4 white opens the g-file after which he can make use of his Rs to launch a decisive attack.
15.e5 dxe5 16.fxe5 ♘d7 17.♕f4 ♘c5 18.♘e4 ♘xe4 19.♕xe4 with only a slight advantage.
15...♘xg4 Petrosian captures the P based on principle. The move 15...e5 positionally weakens his position whereas after this he is a P ahead and white has no concrete threats..
15...e5 is the other, and according to Spassky, better option. After 16.fxe5 dxe5 17.♘f5 ♗xf5 18.gxf5 white is better.
16.♕g2 Here Spassky says he was criticized by his second Igor Bondarevsky for taking 20 minutes to make this move. Spassky admitted that when offering the P with 15.g4 he didn't have any plan to follow it up and doubts set in immediately after Petrosian took it. Spassky's dilemma was over whether 16.Qg2 or 167.Rg1 was stronger. Actually there's not much difference. 16...♘f6 17.♖g1 Spassky called this the best move of the game because it shows the helplessness of black's position as white calmly improves the position of his pieces and prepares to transfer his R on d1 to g3. 17...♗d7 18.f5 ♔h8 Spassky criticized this as too passive saying black has to search for acvtive play and suggested that the moves 18...Rac8 or 18... exf5 would have been more unpleasant for white. He also commented that at this point both players had used two hours and blamed it on fatigue after a two month long match.
18...exf5 19.♕g6 After this nifty move things don't look at all unpleasant for white! 19...♔h8 20.♗xf7
18...♖ac8 is even worse. 19.fxe6 ♗xe6 20.♘xe6 fxe6 21.♖df1 ♔f7 22.e5 ♕xe5 23.♖e1 ♕c5 24.♕g6 is winning.
19.♖df1 Spassky commented that Petrosian's next move allowed white to carry out the final blow and therefore the best practical chance was 19...Qe5. 19...♕d8
19...♕e5 20.♘f3 and Spassky is correct that black's position is hardly defensible. 20...♕c5 21.h4 and the threat of Ng5 can't be satisfactorily met.
19...exf5 This is probably black's best practical chance. After 20.♘xf5 ♗xf5 21.♖xf5 ♖e5 22.♖xf6 ♖g5 white keeps the advantage but only if he is willing to give up whis Q with 23.♕xg5 hxg5 24.♖xf7 Here white has good compensation for his Q, but is it enough to win? Maybe, maybe not! In Shootouts using Stockfish white scored two wins at 5 and 7 plies, b ut drew three at 9, 11 and 13 plies.
20.fxe6 fxe6 (20...♗xe6 21.♗xe6 fxe6 22.♕g6 ♕e7 23.♘f3 followed by e5 winning.) 21.e5 dxe5 22.♘e4 ♘h5 (22...♘g8 23.♘d6 ♖e7 24.♘f7) 23.♕g6 exd4 24.♘g5 Petrosian resigned.
24.♘g5 hxg5
24...♕xg5 25.♖xg5 avoids immediate mate but the material loss is too great.
25.♕xh5 ♔g8 26.♕f7 ♔h8 27.♖f3 mates in 8
Powered by Aquarium
No comments:
Post a Comment