OT ee ed This magnificent compilation of play from the second half of the 20th century forms the basis of the third part of Garry Kasparov's long-awaited definitive history of the World Chess Championship. Kasparov subjects the play of his predecessors toa rigorous analysis and also explains how each champion brought his own distinctive style to the chessboard. This volume is devoted to world champions Tigran Petrosian (1963- 1969) and Boris Spassky (1969-1972) and also their outstanding opponents — Svetozar Gligoric, Lev Polugayevsky. Lajos Portisch and Leonid Stein.Copyrighted Material First published in 200 by Gloucester Publishers plc (formerly Everyman Publishers ple}, Northburgh House, 10 Nonhburgh Street, Londen BCTV OAT Copyright © 2004 Garey Kasparov English translation © 200 Ken Neat First published 204M by Everyman Publishers ple Reprinted 2004 The right of Gary Kasparov to be idenofied as the author of this work has been assered in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988, All nights reserved. No par of this pubbeation may be reproduced, stored in a retneval systern or mansmated in any form or by any means, clectronic, clectrasuaric, magnetic tape, photoocopring, recurding or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher, Bridieh Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 1.85744 371 3 Distedbuted in North America by The Globe Pequot Press, P.C} Box +80), 246 Goose Lane, Guilford, CT 064370480, All other sales enquiries should be directed to Everyman Chess, Gloucester Mansions, 404 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H SHD tel: O20 7539 THM) faa: 020 7379 4000 email; info(ieverymanchess.com, website: www everymanchess.com Everyman is the registered trade mark of Random House Inc. and is used in this work under license from Random House Inc. EVERYMAN CHESS SERIES (formerly Cadogan Chess} Chief adviser: Garry Kasparov ‘Commissioning editor; Byron Jacobs Translation by Ken Neat Typesetting and editing by First Rank Publishing, Brighton. Cover design by Horacio Monteverde. Production by Navigator Guides. Printed and bound in United States by Sheridan Books Ine. Copyrighted MaterialCONTENTS Introduction Tigran the Ninth Nos just'a Defender Favourite Sacrifice Miracles of Prophylaxis ‘The Saga of Svetorar A modest little Pawn Mowe How to overcome Honrirnik? ‘The Challenger's Mistake ‘The Lion shows its Claws ‘The Tiger wakes up ‘The “Hungarian Botvinnik’ Petrosian’s Lessons Finale Boris the Tenth Riga Cansreophe In has Element A burnt-out Star The Hand of Bondarevsky ‘The Storming of Obmnpus ‘Tike first ‘Oscar’ Winner “Forward, Kazimirycht" Spassky’s Lessons Index of Players Index of Openings Copyrighted Material 422 16F ae 182 183 198 218 265 a 2ot 29 Jus 329 33tCopyrighted Material INTRODUCTION At the Junction of the Eras This volume is devored to the lives and games of two elses kings frocs the sbetiew and seventies of the last century ~ Petrosian andl Spassky, as well as their outstanding opponents — Gligosic, Polugayersky, Portisch and Stein, In the inneduction to the second volume | wrote that a genuine revolution in chess was ac complished by every fifth word champion: Steinit: (let) = Botvinnik (th) = Fischer (11th). ‘Steinitz created a school of positional play, and Bosvinnik — a system of preparing for compet tions and sharp opening set-ups, whereby Eilack, ignoring classical rus, imercatly eisturbs the equilibrium and serives to seize the initiative, With the next four champions — Smys- lov, Tal, Petrosian and Spassky — the theory of the game developed along the lines of the Bot- vinnik em, which thereby continued to the late 1960s. In the carly 19% the next revolutionary spart was tmade by Fisebet, essentially laying, the foundation of present-day professional chess. Nominally the Botvinnik era ended in 1963, when the champion of many years lost his match to Petrosian and opted out of any further contests for the chess crown, Soon after this Borvinnik verte in Cher [Peril (1964 No.2}: “It seems to me that in chess the time of geniuses has passed, In their time Morphy, Steinitz, ‘Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine were definitely superior to their contemporancs, and in par- teular by talent. Nowadays with nient alone you cannot exist: also required are health, a strong- ‘willed competitive character and, finally, special preparaton. A few decades ago the natural selec- ton of the strongest players occured among a comparatively narrow circle of people, and there were not many such phyers — their names arc known to everyone. Bur now the mass base of chess is se jgeat, that there are rruiny very strong players — at present it is crowded on the chess Glympus. A gond dozen grandmaster: are distinguiched by striking talent, and enviable health, and fighting character, and deep special preparation. The importance of special preparation should especially be mentioned: sometioes it it intuitive, at other times it consists in reducing 1 the minimum the influence of the opponent's preparation — a quality which is evidenaly rypical of the new world champion. Incan be asserted that, in the forming of the modem strong player, talent is no longer the decisive factor” ‘One senses thar Botvinnik’s wounds had mot yet beaked after has heavy defeat. In fact, of sourse, he realised thar be had lost eo a great player. Three years later he asked Spassky, who hdl 5 Copyrighted MatGarry Kasparov on My Great al just lost a mateh to Petrosian: Were you able to guess his moves, Boris Vasiievich?” "No, not always,’ Spassky replied. “1 too was unable to guess them,’ Botvinnik admitted. In his way of speaking this was the hughest prise for his opponent! Subsequently. be also gave both Spassky anal Fischer their dar. ‘Also debatable is hes thesis about it being ‘crowded on the chess Olympus’. Now the mass base of chess is even greater than forty years ago, and there are even more top-class grandmus- ters, bur the proportions between the strong and very strong have not changed and the number of maf contenders for the world championship is sill extremely restricted, However, in Botvinnak’s evaluation there & an hissonc truth: the names of the past champuoms were always shrouded in a romantic hale of grandeug, However, the 1938 AVRO tournament, where Capablanca, Alekhine and Euwe made way for the young, signified the ending of the he- foic cra of the chess titans. Even so, thanks to his legendary victories in the 10s, Boavinaik succeeded in prokinging this era = not without reason was he called the Patriarch of the Soviet ‘Chess School. Smyslov was nghth regarded as his great opponent, and Tal ax a vivid star, a me- teor, the second Morphy". ‘And suddenly at the summit there appeared Petzosian and Spassky — seemingly ordinary, non- heric champoons. Bur a detailed study of their games demonstrates the enormous scale of the talent of these chess kings, and the time when they were on the chron was an important stage in the accumulation of knowledge — something of a consolidating penod, when the basis of mod- vem chess was bid, In these vears Civcr Injgemaior appeared, new opening schemes arose, the con cepes of many middlegame positions were deepened, customary dogmas were reviewed (for ex- ample, the approach to positions with an isolated pawn changed) and sc on. “The second Petrosian-Sparsky march (14964) already heralded the approaching change of eras, which began with the arrival of Fischer, But thats a topic of the next vohume, I should bke to express my thanks to grandmaster Viadimar Belor and to Honoured USSR, ‘Trainers Alexaneler Nikitin and Mark Dvoretsky for their help in preparing this volume for pub- canon. (Garry Kasparov August 2004 Copyrighted MaterialCopyrighted Material CHAPTER ONE Tigran the Ninth Tn his best years Tigran Wartanovich Petrosian (17 June 1929 —3 August 1984) used 10 hose so-rarely, that each defrat of his became a sen- sation. For this trufy legendary impeegnability be was nicknamed ‘ron Tigran’, although on account of his very distinetive ‘passive’ style it was hard te associate his name vath the proud conquerors of the chess throne. Meanwhile, Petrosian had a complete mas- tery of che am of creaming harmonious posi tions, full of life, where behind the apparent absence of dynamics was concealed « colossal internal energy (the slightest changes being immediately taken into account in the general strategy, which was not always understandable to the oppenend), As yet his games have mot been snadied as thorsughly and ss compre- hensively as one would like. He presented to the chess world what seem tw be common truths, but ot is they that casentially comprise the basis of chess creativity. ‘The depeh of Ti grin Vartanovich’s style is a consequence of the clarity of his thinking and his uncornmcn easp not only of global chess problems, but also all the subtleties of tactecs and strategy. Wes, perhaps | like defending more than at- tacking, but whe has demonstrated that de- fence is a less risky and dangerous occupation than attack? And are there ey few gases that have found their way into the treasury of chess thanks 1 virmoso defence?” said Petro sian. “What { value more than anything in chess is logic. 1 am firmly convinced thar in chess there is nothing scckkental. This is my ereda. I believe only in loggeal, “correct” play.’ He uscended to the throne in the year Iwas bom, 1963. The ‘Botvinnik era’, which had lasted through a genertion of Soviet players and to many seemed endicss, was conchading. Borvinnsk's absolure superiority had evapo- rated back in the carly 1950s, bust te had ne- tained the world champion’s crown, safely preserved not only by his enormous march experience and ability to prepare effectively for any specific opponent, but also by the fight of the returns manch —a didholical est for anew king, which became an excessive pey- chological burden for both Smyslow and Tal, And yet their accession t the throne was imagined by many to be a quite natural con- ftinuation of chess history: the crystal clarity of Senyslov's play and the incomparable magic of ‘Tal's combinations seemed worthy landmarks in the new chess world. But Petrosian®! Not just « Defender Petrosian was born and grew up in Thilisi, ‘where he learned the rudiments of chess From 7 Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My Grea: the swbrle positional master Arlich Elbralidee, a great admirer of Capablanca and ‘Nimzowirsch, Tigrin’s progress was as rocas- ured and unburried as his stryke. Im 145 — jon of Georgia, in 1946 — USSR junior champion (14 our of 152) andl an 147, ar hse very first attempt — the master tithe. Modest, as though iembering-wp performances, in tao USSR Championships (1949 and 195), and a win in the championship of his second ‘litle motherland” — Moscow. Finally, his first major success = in the Zonal, 19th USSR Champion- ship (1951): after wo initial defears the young, master gained cight wins with seven draws ane qualied for the Intermonal toummament! “The scale of this triumph can be assessed only boy looking at the leading places: 1, Keres ~ 12 out of 17; Geller and Petrostan - 11M; 4. Smyslow - 11; 5. Borvinnik — 10; 6-8, Averbakh, Bronstein and Taimanov — 9¥a etc. Tt became clear that some new stars had ap- peared on the chess horizon. Petrosian was awarded a special prize for the best eciult against the grandmasters. ‘This strong defender with good endgame tech- nique, as the press commented, ‘manoeuvred excellently, basng his strategie ideas on deep and accurate calculanion, and nrelessly strove for the initiative.” And, just imagine, be em- plored risky openings, boldly sacrificing mate- rial! A classic example is his duel with Vasdly Senpslow: even agunst one of the strongest players in the world, Petrosian was not afraid to play the shasp Tohash-Geller garnbis, Game t T.Petrosian-V.Smyslov 1th USSR Championship, Moscow 151 Sian Defence DUS 1 dd gS 2 04 duct 3 O43 ONG 4 De3 6 Bedl? b5 6 ob Generally speaking, "Petrosian” and ‘sacri- fice’ are mot words that chess players tend to associate together. When it is a quesian of sombénations ancl sacrifices, those who arc a done more Likely to be remembered are Alekhine, ‘Tal and Spassky (who, incidentally, instead of 65 devised 6 We2t7), and of the present-day fighters — Shine, But, as we shall see many: times, Petrasian alse sed not avoid a sharp fight (expecially if it was imposed on hisn), bur he always proceeded from the demands of the position = and if the position demanded sacri- fices, he was prepared to make therm. 6...0d5 7 ad of Lf 7_akeG there would probably have fol- lowed not # axbS @ixc3 9 bae3 cxbS 10 Dips dS 11 6 feet 12 Wet hot 13 Ws Wao! 14 ‘Ws Sd? with advantage to Black (Tolush- Smplov, 15th USSR Championship, Lenin- grad 1947), bor 8 @yp5t Ginc3 9 bacd Sas 10 eG! fuoh 11 2U8 (Taimanov) with a dangermus muha. B axbS In the opinion of the theoreticians, after the unburied # dtc? dtb7, whech was ued in two Geller-Smyslow games (18th USSR Champi- onship, Moscow 1950, and Budapest 1952) White's initiative risks coming to a standetill Amore modem plan is # 2g hé (other tepkes are abso possible) 9 Diged bt 10 Sib a6 11 Wp? ithe source game Spassky- Mnatsakariizn, Moscow 1959) of 11 ibd? Dba) (113 has also been played) 12 Wit Dds+ 13 Rexdd end} 14 Seite! (later they switched to 14040) 14..diud6 15 Weg? dine! (instead of 1520? 16 exds Qd7 17 450 Sosonko-Fiar, Wik aan Zee 1987) 16 WahB Copyrighted Material“ Tigran the Ninth Wald 17 0-0 Dar 18 DO Wel 19 Aho Wh 20 ky? Webs 21 Ashe tho and Black has an excellent endgame (Horto-Seypslov, Buenos Aires 19), 8...fime3 9 bxc3 cxbS 10 fipS kb? 11 Wh5 o6 After 11.Wd7, ‘1 move more in the spirit vof Stemnitz and Lasker,’ (Crouch) White would bly have replied not 12 Gieh7#t Bes 13 #8? (Kasparoe-Kupreichik, 47th USSR. ‘Championship, Mansk 1979) on accouns of 13..Wad!, but simply 12 Le2!, as in the game Furran-Libenthal (aku 1951). Later 1 also Played this successfully against Petursson (Malta Oilpmpiae! 1980}, 12 Wot 12...007 13 Sez (13 h4? Petrosian-lgna- ev, Moscow 1958) 13.007 (13.d5e) 14 hart But bere this inchusion is dubious, although we should not find faultwith the initial moves in a game played half a certury ago, at the dawn of modem openang theory. More prob- lems are posed by 14 S06 (Geller-Unzicker, Stockholm Inscrzonal 1952), when the best as 14. cH! (Srabo-Petrosian, Budapest 1955), 14,..451 15 Wd Ob6 (15.245) 16 0-0 (16 BG? with the idea of @e4) 16...05! Smnysiov apparently consicered his posinion to be very comfortable and he was not afraid of the breakthrough in the cennre. Otheraise he would Ihave preferred 16 dS, when White could have replied 17 S23, exchanging the important bishop — the defender of the dark squares. Now 17 lal? is bad on account of 17_b4, when it is unclear what compensation White thas for the sacrificed pawn. It ts cunous that this postion was abo reached in the game ‘Geller-Flobr, played in the same round, in which White failed te find a good plan and after 17 Hi? b4 14 (4 Wd? 19 Hal b3 he gradually lost: the ouscome was decided by Black's passed pavens on the queenside and his control of a5, Geller was always regarded as a sharper player and one whe, far more often than Pet fosan, resorted to tactics to further his aims. However, it was Petrosian, and not Geller, ‘who made the folkrwing incredible move! 17 gt! ‘The best way of complicating the play as mach as possible and of maintaining Whiac’s fading initiative. This looks like a blunder, but in face it radically changes the situation: White ert. fd of his “unnecessary” pawn on d4, which was allowing the opponent to keep the posioon closed, Bur now it is opened, and since Hack cannot caste kingside (om account of Ssh5}, be has te either leave bis king at e8, or castle queenside = and in either case the ‘opening of the «-fie is 10 White's advantage, 17...2imd5 ‘An unexpected enor,’ wrote Petrosian soon after the game. “Bleek should have played 17..dixd5, preventing the white knight a Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My GreatcRnegepesactaterial from occupying the post at 4.’ However, in my view after 17..uitedS 18 dt We? 19 diet (00 J iS 20 Wad 6-0 is inferior) White has strong pressure: Black faces the same problem — what eo .do-with his king? 18 Edt We? 19 Sed (Succin) “Queenside castling eruails consider able dangers, but it is already hard to sugecst a fully satisfactory defence for Black (Petro- sian) Even so, we shalll try! 20 Ag6! (achieving the desired exchange of bishops) 20...ding5 21 Wag5 ‘The culmination of the battle, overlooked by the analysts night to the very end of the 20kh century. White appears 10 have succeeded with at east ome thing: ensuring the invasion of his knight at d6. Such a knight cannot be tolerated for long, and a rok will have to be given up for it, bat this will open additonal opporuni- Bes for an artack. All this is ener, bor 21..ea? ‘The sudden change in the character of the play had clearly unsenled Senyslov, He makes a ‘sole’, passive move — ane misses an oppor- tunity, exploiting bis material advantage, to ‘change the situation in his favour: 1) 21..b4 22 extet anbd 23 DditHt Sbe 24 QubT Oa Baca? Bcd 25 nds Wad 24axb7 25 2 WeS!, or 23 Bald! (Couch) Dhol (noe 23? 24 Beker) 24 exh 4 Site Ged) 4 Sibel with a sharp, roughly equal game; 2) 21...60! This fantastic resource, which | discovered in the lite 190s, disrupts White's entire plar: after 22 ext 24d 23 Eadie Eads 24 269 25! he is deprived of his ain trump ~ the knight at dé, ‘The position és very sharp, bot the unpleasant threat of b5-b4 means thaa @ can be evaluated in Black's favour, 22 Wg 15 {after this Black has to sacrifice the exchange in less favourable eircumseanees) 23 Dd6+ Ixd6 24 ends saan) Aibough even here after 26 BadS (26 cnd5 27 Wee) 27 Babl Black serious difficulties. 1 Copyrighted Material“ Tigran the Minth But for some reason no one has noticed that 25..ded7l? 26 Rd5 Bais 27 Dato dct is more tenacious, and shat 25_ Wr6! 26 Bxd5. exd5 with the idea of BAB and «lS! ix altogether unclear. 25 Weg6 Wxd6 26 2/3 Acé 27 Eet Zo8 During the Last ten or so mowes the picrure fas changed sharply. Smystov, famous for his ability to manoeuvre, and to defend, and to take account of the slightest nuances in the position, proved tanready for such a sharp change in the events and ended up in a very difficult position. Petosian convincingly con- verts his achvantage. 28 Sxd5! ‘This exchange creates a very strong impres- sion. 28 Badt? is sho possible, but Petrosian is aiming for the endgasne. 28...WdS 29 Dadi! WIS (forced) 30 Wats axfS 31 Exe8+ txef 32 13) spite the nominally frvourable material tal- ance (bishop and nwo pawns for a rook — usu- ally this is more than enough), Black's down- fall is caused by the white king's march to the queenside, after which the rook is activated and Black's hopelessly weakened kingside pawns are lose, 32,..W07 33 S12 Gb6 34 de? das Smysiow has chosen the only sensible plan = he has sen his king to the suppors of his a- and b-pawnes. After 4_ic3 there would also have followed 35 His1!, for example: 3343 36 ‘hu? bt 37 cote hid 39 Bal c+ 39 het e340 Bxad S02 41 Bncd disp? 43 hd? and ‘wins (Crouch). 35 Ebi A cool munocuvte, after which ir becomes clear that Black cannot break through. But can White?! Usually in such endings the bishop is not inferior to the rook, but here a fine picce of tactics comes to White's aid, crowning his strategy. 36...a3 36 bd? (with the intention of play- ing eZ) 36...b4 (if 36_diad, then 37 Bhae a5 38 hc? followed by Whla2sa} and Bbl-cl ct) 37 cxb4+ dad 38 e302 39 Eat dad 40 dac4! ‘An accurately caleated took sacrifice. The black king ix forced offside, and the poor bishop, tied to the passed b-pawn, is unable to defend the weak pawns, Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My Grear 40...b2 41 Bel all 42 San) Sant 43 bS Sd? 44 b6 dcB 45 ddd db? 46 ded ed 47 data dd 48 gS ded 49 dans 216 50 gf 2b7 61 bho! 1-0 ‘The fact chat Petrostan's success was to ac- ‘adent was also confirmed m the Interzonal tournament (Stockholm 1952), where the So- ‘viet players dominaadk 1. Rotew— 1644 out of 20, 2-3. Petnosian and Taimanow — 13; 4. ‘Gecller - 153; 5-8, Averbakh, Glagonic, Seahlberg, and Szabo — 12' etc. The Candidates tour- nament (furich 1953) even had to be ex- panded, by admitting am additional three for- eagners, This tournament was won bnllianthy by Semplov, while Perrotan took fifth plore {not ar all bad for the young debutant!) and. firmly established himself among the world elite: Tn Zunch he employed for the firet time a hitherto unknown postonal procedune. Favourite Sacrifice Who has not heard of Petosian’s virtuoso skill in defence, his ability to avert danger, ex- ploinng imperceptible nuances in the position, and of his favourite dish — the positional ex- change sacrifice! ft is the harmonious combi nation of such seemingly incompatible cle ments of strategy, as the cechange sacrifice and unhurried manoeuvring, that evidently conceals one of the secrets of his enormous practical strength and deep penetration inso the seerets of chess. Since, by its mature, chess is exceptionally harmonious, and any proce- dares, even the most diverse — be they sacti- fice of material, creation of weaknesses in the enemy camp of clminaion of one's own ‘weaknesses — have one and the same aim: to achieve harmony in one’s own position and, on dee contrary, to cause disharmony in the “opponent's position, Pewosian very much liked two sacrifice the exchange positionally, and he was able oo do so like ne one clse, It has eo be said chat, with the development of chess, empressions of dhe ‘companitive values of the pieces have changed strongly, Thus, in an interesting article in New i Cheer (1999 No.5}, Hans Ree gives an ex- tract from an old game by Tarrasch where White is the exchange up, and even years later ‘he considered this position to be won for him, whereas today any strong club player would unhestatangly evaluate ot an favour of Black! AS an experiment the position wus shown to several amateurs from an ordinary Dutch club, and they all began vying with one another 90 assert that Black's posicion was virrually won. For such a revelumion to occur in the minds of ches: plavers, many decades were needed. And a key role im the recomaderapon of the limits of the possible employment of the ex- change sacrifice was played by Petrosian. Many made sarnfices ~ one can name a whole galay of bnllient maser: who have demon- strated the trumph of mind over matter, Por example, Alekhine and ‘Tal had a highly exea- tive approach to the evaluation of the com: paranve strength of ploces on the board, Bur the combinations of Alekhine ard Tal are ‘usually associated with the rapid development of the initiative of a direct attack on the king, ‘On occasion Petrosian would also sacrifice the exchange for the whe of conerete, visible ams, but in the given instance we are talbang, about sacrifices af a quite different type, about the most difficult thing in the understanding of chess — abour the effect of long-term posi- tional facrors (we will rerum ta this many times). Petrosian introduced the echange saciive for tte sake of ‘gaubty of pouiton’, where the time factor, which i so important in the play of AMekhine and Tal, plays hardly any role, Even today very few players can operate confidently at the board with such abstract concepts. Be- fore Petrosian no one had studied this (except, inthe mast genenl form, Nimacertsch — in- cidentally, My Spamw was the young “Figran’s reference book), By sacrificing the exchange fjust like that’, for certain long-term advase ages, in posisons with disrupted material 12 Copyrighted Matbalance, he discovered latent resources that few were capable of secing and properly evahaating, Till ithostrate what has been sasd with the famous game Reshevsky-Petrosian. played at the start of the Zurich Candidates tournament in 1953. Although it eventually ended in a den, ft made an enormous contnibation eo developing an understanding of the depth of chess. Game 2 S.Reshevsky-T.Petrosian Candidares Tournament, Zurich 1953, 2nd round 1 4 SM6 2 04 06 3 cd Ab4 403 0.05 S03 05 6 OS 65 7040 De6 B03 dnc 9 bxcd be?! ‘Te is thought thar this move gives Black a cramped game, but if this sart of “cramped game appeals to a player, he will achiewe better results in ir than in a different “free” game,’ etites Bronstein in his famous book on this foumament. The main line is ®cdxe4 10 Sixet WET or the immediate 9...WC7, not allowing Heb. 10 cxd6 (Black threatened dia) 10...0nd5 11 bb? In the 20th round, Taimanow, a great expert on the NimmoIndian Defence, played the energetic 11 Ste! againue Petrosian, and after nt u Tigran the Ninth 1c? 12 Sixc6 Ward 13 6 ted 14 Wet 7 15 cd of (according to Bronstem, 15.05 16 eS bS with the idea asf ,,.b6-c4 was better) 16 de3 15 17 cS BY 18 ad a5 19 4 White gained a clear advantage and scored an exgellent win, ‘Pethaps it was this game,’ Perrosian re- called in the micl-1'i0s, ‘that became the stan. ing point for the opening direction that 1 largely adhered co: ner to allow the opponent to ply his fvourite schemes. In almost any position the boundless possibilities of chess erable a new of at least a linle-snadied continuation te be found.” ‘V1c4 12 Be? 294 13 Wot! Sea! In the event of 13def 14 px Shs White had the possibility of systematically strengthening his position by 15 fl, (2-6, We, Doel, cl, Phi, Zl, e3-e4 and so on, ‘Therefore Petrosian continues on the same logical course, reckoning that, since he has nor made any moves that are dubious of disrupt the equilbsium, it should mot bead to a lost position.’ (Bronstein) 14 Dd2 Sind? 15 Wad2 2h5 16 13 dof 17 of Wd7 18 Sael deed 19 fxed few 20 Wi4 (20 247 Sie5! and M3 with an ‘equal game) 20...b5 21 Ad1I? Re? 22 kgs Wee 23 05 a5 24 Se3 de 25 Stet Since after both 25 4 (Hroasecin) and 25 20 Black has the pod reply 25/61, Crouch sunggeats 25 ete 13 Copyrighted MaterialGarey Kasparov on My Greer arRerin! At first sight, White's chances are prefer- able, He has the nwo bishops, and although the one at b2 is passive, it is free te come inte play via el. Black's pawn majority on the queentide is ephemeral (the move .b5-b4 doesn't give anything in particular}, whereas White ts reacly for activity in the centre. He can first strengthen his position by the ad- vance of the h-pawn, bat Reshevsky’s main ain is the c3-c6 breakthrough. ‘This threat is highly unpleasant and it is not ahtogether clear how to combat it But on a close cxathinaton of the pilacing of the black pieces and the fea tures of the position, is will be noticed that its evaluation could change if the black knight were able io me tha le dS square, Here the knaght not only blocks. the pawn, but ako takes away some good squares from the white pieces (for example, (4 from the queen}. Herwever, it is mot so easy Fert dhe Knight tor reach dS: for this the rook has to move from £7. For example, 25... 77 — after 26 6 6 27 BE BT everything is sell far From clear; in any event, there is mo apparent way of forcibly explomng dee powerfal passed pawn Black fetains control of the light squares, and even if the pawn should advance to €7, the g6-bishop fan come to the rescuc. But this would have heen falling in with White's plans! And Pesro- sian makes a move which many players, un- farmiiar with this game, would commder a blunder and at which the computer would 4 Copyrighted Mat ‘hugh its heart out’, 25... Beg! "This purely posinonal sserifier (4 quiet move, without any checks of obviows threats!) made an indebble impression om mc.” (Tall The move is indeed incredible: the rook sim- ply plces self en prise. For the sake of what?! In order to block the advance of the ¢- pawn and also te open the way for dhe knight to 5, However, let us ponder over the position and ask ourselves: why, in face, chould a rook be stroqger than 3 minor piece here? After all, a took requires open lines, if needs to have something to attack, whereas minor peeces require strong pants and pawn suppor. In the given instance there is a shortage of open tines, and it is ne longer possible 1 prevert the knight from reaching d5, where it will be impregnable, In addition, from d3 the knight will be attacking the c3-puwn, and if the whine bahop docs not manage 1 mwiech no 2, it will terrain ‘veyetating’ at b2. Tt ws practically ien- possible to break Black's light-xquare de- fences: White simply does not have sufficient mesourees to do som. ‘Thus, when this staggering move is made on the board, we can understand perfectly well the reasons that induced Black to give up the exchange, and we can gravp the deep stra- tegic sense of what has occurred. Nevertie~ fess, 1 think that even today oot everyone would have decided on such a sacrifice. AndCopyrighted Mataria Tigran the Ninth yet. possessing the invaluable experince of Petrostan, and other outstanding grandimusters who came Liter, and having in mind widely kecwn ideas and games, it is fir easier ter make such moves. Even so, they do not cease to surprise! Tr would appear that Reshevsky was also slightly shockodt he decided to delay the cap- are of the rook, thinking that all the same it would not run away, 26 od? Fine 33 Wit Wis 34 exis Sede 35 Bee? dive? M6 Exg?+ ha 37 diché bl, So it would appear that the immedine 24 Sxet would have promised him mote. 26.2071 ah the threat of .©k/5, Soon it transpires thar White has clearly gained nothing from the ‘opening of Lines: the rooks remain passive and. to bring the bishop into play via a3, which Resheveky was dreaming of, is not possible, 27 Ane6 tx06 An anempt, by creating tension on the queenside, to open lines and exploit the ex- change advantage (for example, after 26...b471 27 dit RadS 28 Sixe fae 20 Wed), Al though, in my opinion, the immediate 26 Bve6 was better (bur nor 26 4% Qe! and ADS), and if, as in the game, 26faet, then after 27 By¥ (less convincing es 27 hd BeTt 28 By3 Sus 20 Hh} Bh of 28 BG Gus 29 WyS 2d3) White begins preparing an armack on the king. For example: 27..Me7 28 HA 05 29 We Wee after 20.207 wo ha hdd 30 BP it is even hander to create counterplay) 0 Set! WegS 31 xgh Bhd 32 Bd? (the behop has managed to switch to where it needed) 32_Sd3 33 iz and Black has a dif- ‘ficult endgame. ‘Therefore here 24 Whe6! is correct. After the possible 27 Bg3 Be? 28 ht Gi 20 Wes Buy 30.65 bé 3t Wht @d3 the problem of the b2ubéshop cannot be solved immediately, Ibur White retains some advantage: 32 dict 28 Wi! Already planning to rerum the exchange. ‘If 28 WA, then 28...4d5 29 EL bd is unpleas- ant." (Bronstein) Also after 28 263 it is possible to ply 2825 29 Welt (Ceouch’s move 29 Wuz is weaker on account of the same reply 29..b4) 29_bA WO cxbd axbt 31 Wat Wxad 32 Bal WAT, of even 32 Wes 33 D7 Bee 34 Was, ho 35 Eps @h7 — objectively White stands better, but he thas po real winning chances. ‘What tell are the same long-term factors thar ‘Petrosian was relying on: the unopposed light- squared bishop: and the eternal knight at d5 are together not inferior to the rook and the half-asleep bishop at b2, which is forced 1 keep watch on the passed b-pawn. However, the immediae 24..b4! 2) Zefl dS 30 Wes Bb is stronger, and 31 Ee? Wrolt 32 Baft+ dag os unfavoursble for White. Mere Black is aleogether invulnerable: White is unable to attack his weaknesses and 1s Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My Great be has essentially lost the strategie battle. So Resheveky decided to return the exchange in gond time, thereby admitting the correctness cof Petrosian’s idea, 28.805 29 563 £d9 30 ExdS odd 31 ‘Wadd ba! “Reshevsky’s clever zigrags and Petrosian’s iron logie make this game one of the ador- ments of the tournament. Now White faces a abffiewl psychological problem: whether to exchange on b4, ewhich wall almost certainly lead to a draw, of no advance his pawn and drive back the knight, obtaining chances of ‘winning and of losing.” Bronstein) 32 cxb4t Tn time-trouble Reshevsky plays it simple, “After 32.04 bb the white pawns would have been blocked, whereas Black's would have become extremely dangerous: 33 el Pinad M4 fal Wes, or 33.d5 exdS 4 c5 Shad 35 Bd Bc6 36 WE," Bronstein) M4. Acs crc. 32.,.anb4 32. Aint was also possible Now things quickly end ina drow: White's extra pawn is ae compensated by the powerful knight at Sous moa 30ns1 Wc6 35 Act Tf 35 62 Black had 35.24 36 WE) (it is no better to play 36 WA? p5 or 36 Wt Was 37 get Sid 38 Jet b3 Crouch) 36..p5 with the unpleasant threat of ...Wic2! 35...We?! Black is not tempted by 35.22xa5? 36 HxaS. ‘Weelt 37 Wr We 36 Wh (Bronstein), since here the vulnerabality of his own king causes his downfall. 36 06 Whe 37 ad? Lf 37 3 (Crouch), then simply 37-271, picking up the a-pawn, Or 37 Wed @yc7! 38 a7 Esa? 9 Exe? Wea? 40 Wht Dts with ‘equality. 37...b3 38 Wed hG 39 h3 bz 40 Eb1 whe (0), jisa6 41 What Bisa6 42 Bb Bad and Badd with a draw) 417 Bot 6 The sealed move (it was inenereet tn play 4) hc Wras 42 Wad Zxah 43 dhxb? Bhs). A draw was agreed without resuming in view of 41, Zixa6 42 Wel+ bh? 43 Wer dpa 44 Web? Wah? 45 Heb? Black's stratqgic idea fully juscified irsclil After Zurich, Petrosian became truly invin- sible, remaining undefcated in rwo successive USSR Championships (inchadling the 22nd, a Zonal event) and then also the Intersonal tournament of the new cyele (Gothenburg 1955), The Candidates tournament in Amster- dam (1956) developed into another thumph for Sovier players: 1. Smyslor, 2. Keres, 3-7. Bronstein, Geller, Petrosian, Spassky and the Hungarian Szabo. But chess bfe was so ar- fanged that iron Tigran’ had 1 begin the next world champsonship cycle from a serni-final cof the USSR Championship. A confident vie~ tery there was the start of a series of beillkane 6 Copyrighted MaterialTigran the Ninth performances by Petrosian on the lengthy path to the world chess crown. In the final of the Zonal, 25th USSR ‘Championship (Riga 1958) be as usual wear through undefeated, finishing secon int a very sharp struggle — half a point behind Mikal Tal, who overtook his rival only thanks to an ineredible last-round win over Spassky (Gas Nef). It need hardly be said bow important was the Tal-Petrosian game, plyed in the middle of dhe tournamsens, In his fierce bartle another dastie positional exchange sacrifice took place. ‘Game 3 M.Tal-T,Petrosian 25th USSR Championship, Riga 1958 Ray Later C8? Vet e5 2 213 Sc6 3 AbS a6 4 dod FG 50-0 £e7 6 Set bb 7 Ab3 0-08 c3 469 h3 S05 10 Be? cS 11 dé We? 12 Abd? Ad7 13-21 Ded 14 203 A harmless alemarive is 4 b3 @ib6 15 Bcd c4 16 bad Bwet 17 Booed bac 18 at Bes with equal play, as in the games Korchnoi-Petmsian (Curacao Candidates 1962) and Velimirovic-Petrosian (Rio de Ja neino Intersonal 1979). Against Tigran Vat- tanavich I once tied 14 d5? Qib6 15 gt (Banja Laka 1979). 14..Aine3 16 fixe 2eG?! (it is more accurate to play 15,2fci! Kapor-Petrosian, Milan, tst matchyame 1975) 16 id2 Sfe8 17 f4! Had (17_cxd4 18 cxdd Hack 19 23 is also advantageous to White) 18 foeS deo 19 d5 2d? 20 04 Eb 21 04 b4 22 a5! ‘S18 23 fo4 dxaé 24 Sunt White has a great positional advantage. He effectively has an extra, protected passed pawn at d5, and in the endgame it may play a decisive role, Hck could have sansfied him- self with passive defence - dtd6, 2id7, 7-6, EM, HbA and so on, but against good play by White he would sooner of later have ended up in a difiieulr position. And here 1 managed to devise a rather interesting plan of defence." (Petrosian) 24,..2bd8 25 WES 2d8! (he only chance ix this unexpected switching of the rook to the sixth rank) 26 2b3, ‘The knight sinks its teeth inte the weak <5. 17 Copyrighted Material¥ ov on My G. LESS EARSI, pawn, and White's storming of the kingude seems only a queso af time. 26.07 27 Sant Sg6 28 Df ade I don’t know if Petrosian was already con- sidering the posuble exchange sacrifice, but the... gf manocuvrc has at least given Black some counterply. In order to dinve the rook from its favourable post, White has to advance his h-pawn, weakening his king's defences. 29 ha Wea 30 HS 16 30 @h3, then WAS 3 Bs Wes 32 ‘WES (32 Bah Sey 322066 is unschear. 30...216 31 Wo Tronly remains for White to play g2-¢3 and exchange the audacioss rook at £6, after which everthing will go smoothly. ‘I considered my postion to be woe,’ writes Tal. ‘Indeed, White has prepared an attack on che kingsicke, while on the queenside, insicad of counterplry, Black merely has weaknesses Bur here there was occasion to remember Namzowirsch ancl his theory of blockade.” 31. A beilfant move! And an already farniliar idea: the rook places itself en prise to a minor piece. The exchange sacnfice (for not even a parent) enables a radical reassessment to be made of the comparative valucs of the picors. 32 Axa?! ‘Thus caprure leads to the unexpectedly sharp activation of both the inest bishop ar dis (ohich begins eyeing the h2-square) and the despondent knught at d7 (which acquites the splendid ¢5-square), Now it is no longer the Spawn thar is weak, but rather the pawns at 4 and ef, In addition, it transpires that the h- pawn has advanced too far and that the white king is a posential target. In short, a complete change of seene, “Of course, f Tal had fully realised what the winning of the exchange would lead to, he would have been sansfied with the win of a pawn 32 Haff! exft 33 Sixt. 1 thoughe that this situation was beter for Black than play with equal material, but in a very cramped position.” (Petrosian) However, a rough analrsis shows thar here too Whine would have retained an appreciate Bist 4 Wad BT 35 bel go 65 97 Bet Sich 36 Be? We? 3 cxf Bei 4 Wed and wins A 4 WE Bala? 35. Wait Dxhs 46 Wel! Whi 37 Goch Bott (G7 2g} 38 Bet) 38 2 ig3 39 Bi Give 40 BAG and wins: 13.2eS 34 Wied Bee 35 bt. wi 6 Bet We? 37 Bit! Sinca? (97_ Wd) 38 hod Ered 99 Bhs Bats 40 Wie and wins. Even so, Back would have retained some conanter-threats, ane thes might noe have ap- Pealed to Tal, who also, by hus on admission, “at the Gime, on account of my youth, thought that one shouk! abvays win the exchange.” 32...enf4 33 Ad? Seb ‘The pesation has become much sharper and Copyrighted MaterialCoopyciiphtasd blatasia Tigran the Minch ‘Whine mast now play accurately, which is rather difficult. Any experienced player knows how a change in the character of the play in- fluences pour prycholagical mood. Lip te here, individual moves did not play a dectsive role and in the main they were merely aimed at implementing the plan in general form. But fow concrete calculation is required, and al though ‘Tal did this brilliantly, the shasp tum ansenled him. In ackition, Mikhail Nekhe- mevich did not Bike defending. 34 Wata? A mistake: It was correct to play 34 WIS or 34 Wh3 3 35 De! (bur nor 35 pxf Hdd 36, f4 ela 37 Wit Wh, sharpening the play), ‘when White's advantage & undisputed, In this case the exchange sacrifice would have pprowed insufficient — so difBoult was the initial posi- Gon for Black. 34..2ned Gust one flippant move by White has changed the evaluation by almost 180 de- frees) 36 oS with ccd, But, of course, White should not have allowed thar which occurred in the game. 37 bY? came inte consideration. 37..4b8! 38 Ed] ot ‘Threatening Ra7+ and ..d3 with a mat- White's 32nd move begins to come tc. The white king is in danger of coming to grief. 39 d6t (39 D2 was passive: Wes) 39...03 In the time scramble is was hard ro decide whether fire: 39.2749 wouldn't have been better, “Then there could have followed 40 Mein) S43 40 Zed! (ue now 41 Wied? 3, as in the game) 4c 42 Bet Was 43 45 with sufficient counterplay, or even 40 Sz Dd3 41 Weed Gini? (41S ich2? 42 Wead!) 42 Wisi? Wad 43 dT Seite 44 eh ds 45, dg) Wand (45 iboe 46 htt) 40 Rds ips 47 Wibt and the powerful passed d-pawn guarantees White against defeat, 35.,.fixebt Without hesitation retaining an ulera- Powerful position in the centre. Possibly Tal was hoping for 35..@od24 36 exdé Fisfl 37 Eisfl ho (37..WsaS 34 bo) 38 let — the d Pawns are only rominally doubled, bur they are in fact passed! 36 tet NG 37 Kael? After 37 Gixd6 Wait Black would have supported his knight bp 7-46 and weukd have had an impregnable formes plus counterplay 40 Wa? The last mowe before the time control, and. evidently a losing one 40 Wei aus exsential, for example: #0..Pob2 41 Has! WaT 42 ich Wee 43 Bis (43,06 44 Wis), 40 WaT 40 Bhd (41 hi) 41ucxd3 42 Wedd Batt 43 242, or 4015 41 WA fir is dangerous to ply 41 Si Wace 42 Sheds Wha+ 43 der What 44 he? WichSe 45 WS WER 1 feed 42 Wrote hs 43 Heike Wald 44 Wed Bats 45 bho Oe? 46 Wer! Wes 47 3 WS cE Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparoy on My Great-fratmcess e680 48 Wet or 48 d7 wath a draw, 40..007+ 41 oh 15 ‘The sealed move. After the adjournment there were salll some fascinating events to ‘come. 42 6+! OF course, Tal does not mess a tactical chante. 42 ExxfS? was totally unsuitable: 42_ Bef 43 Was Wht 44 Who Wired 45 7 ‘We? and wins. 42..%8 (nor 42.Wai6e? 43 Wet and Waid) 43 Wot Gab? 44 Wan Sind1 45 ‘Waa? 46... Wind? After 45.Dc¥! 46 We? gxf Bek would have had excellent chances of converting his extra piece, although White could seill have steed up trouble: 1) 47 Wed 7! Ge is weaker wo ply 47_dh7? 48 Way Wa7 49 Bais Whe 50 ast Wee 51. d7 of 48 Se4 49 Bais Bea 50 a7! He? 51 HS with domination, ensuring a draw) 48.26 (43 Wib6t 2h7) 48 Wcdé 49 a7 Wes 50 Watt for 50 Rat Was 51 Wecbie bp 52 Wed g7 53 WG Des) 50 ps 51 Wel Hy7 52 Exfs Was 53 EG WaT 54 ‘Wot+ 17, winning; 2) 47 HixfS Wace? 48 dee? Bes 49 Ext, and now nos 49, Exe7? 30 aft @b5 51 EG! Bc5 52 Bahiit thp7 $3 Hyer dei sa Eps with a drow, or 50 g7 31 Beit #7 (B18? 52 Blt Gls? $3 BT He? 54 a7) 52 Eahé Gib5 53 Bbé BeS 34 a7 Gra 55 20 Esxb4, climinating all the pawns with a draw, bur only 49.971 50 Eibé Zixe7 51 Hib Hes, 52 gf ZxaS 53 Bb7+ dee 54 Zbte dps 55. Eyo+ GF etc. (56 Exbé pi), or 50 Heft G07 51 Hsho (51 Bibs Sits 52 Bibs des 53. a Bue? 54 Eb? Eck 55 a? Bas) 51,i04l! and _bet-b3. Ins this decisive knight manoeuvre (a non- human movel) that Petrosian might not have seen in his adjournment anahrsis. Otherwise ix is hard to understand why be didn't play 45 Bch 46 Wa7! A very strong reply, after which in the end the resourceful “Tal pains a cbraw. Blue it is in- teresting to look at the further errors by the two players: no one has seriously analysed this, part of the game, and several important mo- ments have remained off seroon. 46...Wxt6 47 Wed EB! (not 47 Was 48 Bia: Was 49 Was, picking up the b4-pawn) 4g Na? Alserions mistake. Drawing chances would have been retained by 48 Wai b3 49 34, sim- ing to exchange the a-pawn for the b-pawn, 48...2a87 Retuming the compliment. After 48_b51 the sory position of the white king would have proved decisive: 49 Wel (49 Wat Wht+ or 49 Bb3 Bxa5 50 Bebé Hal eee.) 49.7 50 2b3 uaS 51 Whbt Batt 52 Gh? Er. But now an objectively drawn endgame is reached with three pawns against two on the Copyrighted Material5 ‘ Tigran the Ninth same flank, although the mistakes do not end 49 Wel Exa5 50 Wxb4 B05 (or WS 51 Et Bal $2 Bxal Waal+ 53 2h? West 54 dhs Weds 55 dha Wh7 56 Wes with a draw) 681 W4 wh? 62 Sh2 Sd5 63 St Wigs 54 WIS Deb 55 digi Ec5 56 Wi2 Ze5 57 Wa a5 88 dh2 dhe 59 bgt Daz 60 WAS? (for an instant beaving the e3-squane undefended) 60...2c2? Again Perrosian could have won, bot for this a knowledge was required of higher com: puter geomeny, which was then unknown: GO WI! G1 hz Haat 62 Was+ Sh? 63 HsiS Bal! (very preity!) 64 HdS Bet 65 Bus WeS+ 66 Dyl (66 Bhi We 67 Ws Bp5, cs 23 Bp5) 66 Wed! 67 Was (or 67 3 Eps 68 BbS Bd) 67 Exp 2+ 68 Set Wadd 6 Binds By! and wins, All this was ‘personally’ weri- fied by the rigorous Jundor and rite. 1 Wade dh? 62 WS Bet?! (6205 was nevertheless stronger) 63 Exel Weel+ 64 Sh? Wo? + 6b Sha Web GE g4! txgd+ 87 ‘ixgd Wg5+ 68 Gh3 WS 69 Wet+ doe 70 Wels Wie 71 Wxta+ dats 72 94 Ot7 73 H5 i The foBowing example on this same theme ‘was prefaced by Petrosian with these words: ‘T repeat, that the first and main difficalry in making 4 positional exchange sacrifice is a psychological caucion: after all, you have 1 igve up a rook for a minor piece. The second difficulty is that the exchange ib given up when this is not forced by circumstances. “Therefore you muast anticipate beforehand, in good time, how events will develop and take the necessary measures.” Game 4 26 631 (a clever resource in a difficult pasi- tion) 26...2até Tf 26_e¢ there follows 27 Wd4! ‘The et pawn is amacked, and if 27.143 White sacri- fees the exchange. Ch if 27..Wc7, then 28 Hel, with a very sharp, tense game,’ (Petro saan) 27 Zell (the only chance; 27 Ze2? Sd} 28 Ret Goes 2 Wedd Opie) 27.43 28 Bfez fixe) 29 Wxe1 ZeB 30 cb 2r Copyrighted MaterialGarry & won My Great Piedmcesania "Black is a clear exchange to the good, but it is mot felt at all! (Petrosian) 30,,.2HB 31 Sled 4% Draw agreed on Gligoric’s proposal. 1 wall give another instructive example, which, as Tigran Varsnavach stated, was very interesting in the purely psychological sense, Game 5 L.Portisch-T.Petrosian San Antonio 1972 24 Ag?! (it was more logical to increase the pressure by 24 Het, then Jf or Sp) 24...061! A surprise! ‘After my reply Portisch thought for about 10 ménutes and all uhis time ‘he kept looking at me. He couldn't make out whether I had sacrificed the exchange oF blundered. In the end he decided that 1 had blundered, took the exchange and... enced ups in a bad position.” 25 £e7?! (or 25 deeé fe6! with a comfort able game) 25...15 26 Jxf8 QiafB “During the las nwo meres the situation has changed sharply. White has a took for a éshop, bur po active play, because all the lines are blocked and nooks arc only womh some- thing when they stand on open files. After —£7-e5 the knight a8 o6 kooks very well placed, ‘but that is all. In some cases Black will have an vextra piece: in play." (Petrosian} 22 27 e2 AhG? (firs 27_hS was bemer) 28 Ee2 ReB 29 Hed Sta? 30 Zot D6 31 17 1471 According to Petresian, a prophylactic move such as 31a! woukl have been more unpleasant for White. 32 Bce2 Eff 33 ind Simad 34 Wad )d7 (forestalling the c4-c5 breakthrough} 35 7+ (Black overlooked this simple defence) 36..h8 36 Fick Bac 37 Wad Och 38 Wis WS 4K Thus, the positional exchange sacrifice was one of the prominent elements of the inimita- ble Petrosian style. But what comprised its basis? Let us see how the Ith world champion handled the opening. Miractes of Prophylasis Sonce the time of Borvinnik it had become evident that the initial srage of the game de manded thorugh snady, Without solid open ing preparation it was impossible go count on any serious success in professional events, and practically every leading: player made his ene taburion to the development of opening the- ory. Tt is interesting to follow bow much ‘opening theory has progressed from the hae 1s to the present day — during this half century truly incredible progress has been achieved, and is still contimuing today, Here Borvinnik can be safely called the ploncer. Although Alekhine, Eanwe and Keres also did much fraitful work in che field of the opening, ir wis Hoevinnik who was distin- gubhed by his large-scale, global xpproach. He developed systems and entire crends, along which chess thinking ber progressed. Senys- Jov, although this has not received due recog nition, was also distinguished by his highly ffon-routine approach, and many opcring, tendencies are associated with his discoveries, Perosian did not perhaps eave such = global mark on the development of chess the- ory, like Botennik or Smysiov, but on the other hand be created nao systems, typical od Copyrighted MaterialTigran Ninth his style, in the King’s Indian and Queen's Indian Defences, linked by one thread — he dedea of prepping. Vt is in his approach to the solution of opening problems that the fexnares of Petrosian’s chess ideology, his general post- tional conceptions, are clearly seen. Petrosian's system in the King’s Indian De- fence, which ro this day remains a eather un- plcasant weapon in Wire's hands, is defined by an early d4-dS and, chiefly, by det-g5, pinning the knight at {6 This move looks poindless and 70, 60 or even Sd years ages it would hardly have enjoyed the particular re- spect of the experts, But in the 1950s, views on chess, on opening theory, and in general on basic chess reference points, changed markedly. It appears to be not so difficult for Black co climinare the pin and carry our the key idea for the given pawn structure: move the knight from £6 (to 8, d7 or h5) and ad- vance 7-6. However, in so doing he loses: time and begins to experience discomfort: firstly, be has no wealben Ihisresclf with ...W7-It andl then cither play ...g6-g5, seriously weaken- ing the bight squares, for which he will have 1 [Pay sooner of later, of clse move his queen to e8 or d7, which somewhat disrupes the coor- dination of his forces, Of course, after 14466 204 pé 3 2ic3 dé 4c4 Sp one can also mention the Avetbakh Varution — $ the? 0.06 eS, aswell as 5 hd 0.0 6 Jtg5 (or 6 45 and with roughly the same motifs, but Petrosian’s plan with 5 he? 0-406 VES 057 dS and AgS has proved to be far more popular and uncommonly en- ‘during. Today, thanks to the numerous games: played and the development of system's the- ‘ory, this idea of bong-term prophylaxis against wT is now very standard, but then, in the 1950s, it was a genuine discovery. Here is the source game, in which Petro- sin, as be himself pur it, ‘ure abe eo demon- strate in practice that the bishop sortie to 5 is full of venom.” This occurred in 154 on board 1 of the USSR Team Championship, where ‘Tigran Vartanovich helped his aative “Sparak’ to become champions of the coun try. Game 6 T.Petrosian-A.Suetin USSR ‘Team ‘Cup, Riga 1954 Tod 216 2 Dc3 gG 3 a4 db 4 d4 ag? S he? 0-0 6 203 e5 7 db iba On 7. Bab = Goome No.9. 800 Later on the auger of the variation began playing 8 fp5 hé 9 thd, for 1) 9.g5 10 &p3 nS 11 0-0 a5 12 Bet it 13 Gicd (13 Realy) 1.5 t4 Fed Biwet 15 Fivet Fined 16 Weed (5 17 3 at 18 cS feed (18 fxg} 19 hag! and 2 pf) 19 ‘Wed 265 20 Hoc] with a slight but enduring awlvanage (Petrosian-Suetin, 25th USSR , Riga 158), 2) 9a6 (Fischer's plan) 10 Od? Web 11 0-0 @h7 12 b4 Gigs 13-Bel 14 Wer 15 Shi! AMG 16 5 DHS 17 ob bG 18 cx guid 19 gM with a clear advantage (Petrosian- ‘Gligoric, Yugoslavia Candictares 1959), B...2c5 9 We2 a8 10 dg (10 2ki2 dened 10...N6 11 de3 (here, having forced ..h7- h6, it is possible im reveat to 3, since 112g is parried by the sharp variation 12 divc5 decS 13 3 G\f6 14 Give Sod5 15 exdS SeS 16 4 Sd4+ 17 Sh 11...247 ‘Suctin preferred a well-tried and, it hus to 23 Copyrighted Material‘be sid, mounne continuation, with Bole- slavsky’s recommendation of 14 exf4 in mind.” (Petrosian} 12 Gd2 15 13 exf5 gafS 14 14 axl 15 dixf4 506 16 Ene id? Thus, we see before us the results of pro- phylaxis, After freeing himself from the pin, Black has nevertheless carned out the the- magic £75, but chronic weaknesics have appeared in his position, However, it appears. that the activity of his pieces should enable hin to equalise ‘The knight at 05 isa fine piece, and the one at Sabo sands well, whereas for the moment Black's weaknesses (the Ei-pawn and the e6- and gé-squires) are not felt. And again we encounter an example, typical of our previous theme: the correlation between king-ecrm fac tors and the conerete dynamics of the pasi- tion, It is useful and interesting to observe how skilfully and accurarely the young Petro- san (who was then sell only 25) begins to ex- tinguish cymamics and change the evaluation ofthe posnon in his favour. 17 G3! {first the eS-knight is eliminated) 17... ‘Another srnall “but” is nevealed, If the pawn had been at h7, 17,2ig6 would have heen a good move. Bur now after 18 Ste} Blick dees not have the attractive advance of the fpawn on account of the loss of a piece." (Petrosian) 18 Wd2 Bae8 19 Sme5! Unexpectedly changing the pattem of the position. Ir would seem to bea pity to take on eS: new the white knight cannor go to d4, from where it would have attacked the i5- pawn and threatened 10 invade at efi, Hur in fret che eS-knight was so strong, char White «cannot get by without climinaung it. With such a knight sill on the board, the aforemen- toned weaknesses would simply be mythacal, since the black picecs are too well developed, 19...dee5 20 Led bb Instead of a weak, wolated (S-paen, there are now hanging c- and (pawns, Whar are they — a strength or a weakness? And again Petrosian made an extremely subde evaluation of the correlation between temporary dynam ics and long-term weaknesses, OF course, the pawns look very fine, buat they only seem to be $0. It only needs one of them to advance, and obvious holes immediately appear: e5-e4 weakens the M- and d4-squares and facdiranes the exchange of the dark-squared bishops, while 5-f4 is even worse, since after dxch the white knight occupies the ef-square, Therefore Black is forced to deferad passively, ‘hoping thar it will be hard for White 0 find = Plan to strengthen his posinon, 21 2B (as Petrosian pointed out, the inume~ diate 21 Sd was more accurate, but this i= minor point) 21,.2e7 22 Adi) Wde 23 er Pressing linke-by-linle on the hanging pews. 24 Copyrighted MaterialTigran the Ninth nn rit itt $$ Tt Bs. veep iopeortant the 74.04 does not achieve anything, sance the d3-square is under control: 24 JL dhe5 25 Bez, thon Wel, and Black's weaknesses are very obvious. ‘There- fore Suctin waits. As docs Peirosian = things never embarrassed him. 24 bh1 Bet After 24.21fi 25 Wei! with the threat of aad and b2-b4 (aot immedueely 25 a3 in view of 504 26 Sive5 Wrecd 27 Wicd Hak 28 Weed Wace) the mobility of the & and f pawns is seill mythical, Ard so Black makes the apparentiy strange move 24.. ial, “consid: ering himself obliged co forestall a2-a3 and b2 ‘bt: if 25 a3 these follows 25...04," (Petrosian) 25 Be2! (exploiting the deflecion of the rook, toad, White intensifies the pressure on the £5- pawn) 25,..818 26 Set2 (with the threar of We2-h5) 26...0b7 Again both 26.04 and 26 6 are bad, and White's firs achicvernent is scon: the knight is foreed ‘voluntanly', wathout the help of b2-b4, te abandon the cS-squure and switch te df, in onder to defenc! the (-parwn. 27 We2 S06 28 c8! bac 29 Luck But now White has broken up the oppo- nent’s pawn chain on the queenside, and the umber of weaknesses in the enemy position begins to exceed the acceptable norm. How- ever, the position is still far from sinaple: Black has some defensive resenatees and slight play with his 29,..SbB 30 b3 Woe Petrosian condemned this ‘inexplicable manocuvee, removing the queen from the rain part of the battlefield,’ and recom- mended MQed (31 Ghet? Jtb5). However, after this White would again hawe had the wn- pleasant 31 Wed Afi 32 Sc? Wy? 33 Sy with a clear advantage (here the weakness of the et-square abso ells), Even after M1 @c8 | ‘would tet evaluate Black's position as host. bt is extremely difficult, of course, but it is still possible to resist, 31 WhS Was?! “Having lost the strategic battle, Black tries to save the (S-pawn tactically: 32 Sd cx 33 haiS? BatS 4 Bats Wefl+ (Petrosian) 32 oA! At the appropriace moment! Petrosian’s caution was legendary, but when the time 2s Copyrighted MaterialGarry & won My Grast Prsdeceasaya, came to make sharp, commirting moves, he did not avoid them. That is, be alaays played by the position. Judge for yoursclé: the queen ata’ and rook at b8 have clearly forgonen about their king. 32.04 “Forced, bur now Black's seemingly power ful pawns are casily blockaded.” (Petrosian) | think thar if 32.04 Tigran Vartanovich would have played 33 guft Bxc3 34 ff wath crushing threats, Hus after 32...f4 the bishop af ¢2 joins the attack anc Wigti is a constant thneas, 33 581 A highly competent move. The e4-square has been chronically weakened and there is no need ne hurry with 33 Wig6e!: after 34265 4 Whi+ iT 35 a3 Wh? 36 Be? es a7 gefS Hxhi the evaluation of the position could have changed in Buck's favense, 33...We 34 Lede? Petrosian attaches an exclamation mark to this mowe and explains: “The stan of a forcing, manoeurre leading to the collapse of the black position, In the oppenent’s time-anoubbe White quickly won.’ The canclision of the parte is not annotated, but at is here that some. ‘very interesting (and very typicall) events be- gin. Te is @ pity that many games af the great masters from the past remain not fully ann: tated, 9 otherwise we would have the good fortune ta see many amusing adventures. “There is. so doubr that White has a strategi- ally won position, and all its advantages would have been retained by the quiet 34 13 vor the enore resolute 4 Hpt! followed by pl- 5. On the other hand, the exchange on c6 ts hasty, immediately allowing Black to create some counterplay. 34...cxd6 35 Ag6 Bf6 36 Se4 137 Avblunder, [tis not chear why Suctin dad not play 36_xp, After 37 Whe White has good compenation for the pawn, of course, but the outcome would still have been totully unclear. ‘37 gh ata 37igt did not work on secount of 38 Wr Bea 99 pats, 38 Bgt?? A blunder in reply, which could have changed the result of the game, ng White of a deserved win! 38 pxh6 ‘WpS would have won easily. 38... R057? 26 Copyrighted Material= Tigran the Ninth Even sel Here this is even better, because Black will no longer have a knight at c5. Here je is, fime-trouible! After 38. ef! Pee- rosian ‘would have faced a difficult test: 39 ite tbe 40 pxhs (40 Weta 265 41 Was Bhd 42 poche Soff) 40. Sch 41 hagt+ SehT 42 gh Wagh 43 Augie Hagh 44 Kxph ‘Beph 45 Fadé Ba, of 39 Wht 2h 40 WS (40 Welt Bet 41 Wa Repl+ 42 dxgt Welt) Wyle 41 Rpg? fxptt 42 eng? Baf2 43 Gif Wel, and in both cases it is nor clear whether White could have saved the gare. It is surprising chat these evens were not reflected at all it commentaries on the ‘yarme. 390 gxh6 (new everything is in place) 39...hxe4 40 Lxe4 1-0 Despite the mutual tirne-trouble mastales, this is a very instructive game, Ir signifies the toumph for the basic idea of the Petrosian Variation — deep prophylaxis, based on the effect of long-term factors of the position against temporary, potering ot dynamics The following ‘Indian’ game is also instruc: ive, althoagh ir too does not demonstrate the idea of the variation in jrure form, since Black immediately went in for the blocking of the cenme, by playing c7-c5 and ..c?-c5. Nowa- days we know that this restricts Black's active ‘possibilities, but at that ome many thought that twas also possible w play this way and thar Black, with his lint centre (ch-di-c5 against e4-d5-e4), has counterplay in the form of b7-b5 and 7-5, At the amateur level this would be all very well, bat grandmasters: ‘of Petrosian’s class Jeamed how to exphedt the advantage in space. Abo with the help of pro- phylaxis. Game 7 T.Petrosian-H.Pilnik Candidates Tournament, Amsterdam LANG Gth reaped dé S96 2 of ch 3 dB 06 4 ic3 dB 5 96 6 3 dg7 7 Sg5 Copyrighted Mat “T_th6 was more subile. At such an early stage White woukd hardly have given up his dark-squared bishop. The bishop at g5 com siderably hinders Black's _{7-£5," (Petrosian} 8 de2 De? 9 id? bd7 O.a6l? 10 a4 be) 10 a4 be Pilnik does indeed play the opening without any particular subtlety, as if saying that for the present Black has a solid position, ard let's see what happens, He was intending to go 27-26, -b8 and ..b-b5 (if immediately 10...06, then 11 al), but here he was suddenly taken aback by a non-routine move. 41 2bB! 41.,.dimb5? Black faces a difGeult dilemma, [in the event of 11_@ib5?? 12 axbS he has an unattractive 2?Garry & won My Great Predecessnia, posinon, and so Pilnik preferred 11,.Sixb5, obviously expecting 12 axb5 with an unclear game alter the posable 12_04) 13 (40 a5 14 beat Pha 15 WLS bd — ie is quate hand eo break this fortress, But an extremely unpleas- ant surprise awaits him. 12 exbB! (vacating the c4-squam; today such an idea has become typical, but then it was a pettuine revelation) 12...0-0 13 bat ‘Very strong! It transpires thar Blzck has great problems, piven instance the krught at f6 was far more amportant than his bishop ancl a had to be elisrunated. Now Black wall be unable to block the e-file, siete the height at c7 2 a rere long ‘way from the cS-square. Tn view of this, perhaps Blick shouk! fire have played 13,..2iceH? (instead of 13...6), t0 eqy and somehow approach 5 with his keght. However, this toc looks rather unimpressive, 14,..8f6 150-0 2108 16 Sed At Ir is quite conceivable that Pilrak comsid- ered hin defences to be sufficiently solid, ‘The capture on bA opens the e-file, on which Whine has an outpost at of, Black will not even be able to oppose nooks, since the cBsquare can be contrulled by the white bishop. On the other hand, bucS és abo rather unpleasant for Black. After ..bec5(@) White easily creates a passed pawn on the queenside, while after -dxe5 he places his knight at 4: and combines the threat of a4-a5 with the advance of his passed d5-pawn.’ (Petrosian) In shor, White already has a strategically woo position But the win for him still de- mands considerable effort — 1 should remind you thar the game oad played in a Cardhdates tourament forthe world champaonshap! 13.,.h6 14 2xfB! Avconerete approach! “Weaker was 14 dite} 2d? followed by 15..cxb4 and 55," (Per rosian) Also after 14 20h in the furure the black knight would have been able to goto d? and, after cub, 00 c5, blocking the c-file. ‘Thar is, Petrosian subthy sensed that in the 17 93 White can strengthen his position urihin- dered, and so Black, after defending his di- pawn, takes on b4." (Petrotian) T?...cxba This i understandable: oaherwise sooner oF later (say, after Sy h2-h4 and Wh3) White would have taken on 3, and then - as in the noge 10 13 bel! | chink thar Pelnik decuded oe wexb4 in the hope that for the momend the weakness of the ch-square would mot be fatal and Blick would be able to gain countesplay con the kingsude. 18 Wb3 dig? 19 Efct Also good 6 19 Be3 ff 19 Wabd?!, then 1.eft 20 dee dS) 1..h5 a) Bic? fol- lowed by Gebt-c6, bur Petrosian carrics our his plan, choking thar it is a rock that wall te best placed on off, In the given instance this is a matter of taste, 19...45 2a Copyrighted MatCopyrighted Matar Tigran the Ninth 20 He3 DeB 21 Webs HdeG 22 Zeb Was (22_Bac6# 23 bxcé with the threat of Bas. b? and af-a5) 23 Het 06 Piinik also carries out a definite plan. He has defended his d6- and b6.pawns (in the eveot of him plying —a7-a6), placed his knight at {6 and is threatening ..“Ad7-c5, after which it will be not at all easy for Whise to breach his opponcar's defences, Potosian prevents this. 26 ANT! HebB (avoiding 24.8417? 25 Rh3 Bch8 26 Mad7! or 25 Ect 26 dieob G5 27 a5 and of-c7) 25 And a6! ‘Whar should White doe next? Although all his pitces are finely placed, for the moment Black's weaknesses are defended. Without the move Sled, purting pressure on the pawns and completely restricting Black's forces, he can ‘hot get by, bus what te de with the e-paun? 26 Zell! A unique move — anosher triumph for the idea of prophylaxis! White defends his pawn in advance, through the knight. “The obvious 26 £3? has the significant drawback of weaken- ing the dark squarcs and the second rank — after 26..axb5 27 axbS b4 Black gains serious counterplay. Cn the h3-8 diagonal the bishop cocupies too strong a position for it to be switched to the modest role of guarding the ef-pawn! (Petrosian) OF course, the mok at vel is also modestly placed, but there #s nothang che wo be dane. Fantastic logic! This more might simply not be notced, but when it is made you ndersiand just how strong it i Incidentally, the computer finds it very dif- ficult here: it ansists on 26 13, while 26 Hel, from its “point of mew" reduces White's ad- vantage, It is beyond its powers to remove a rook From an open file! 26...0xb5 27 axbS Gin77t ‘Black should have ‘marked time’, bur Pibnilc flinched (a human always aims for the initia- tive), decided to bring out his queen to {6 and as a result host his bé-pawn. In my view, mone tenacious was 27 hd 2K Pict hog 2) hep ‘Bek 0 Wd Bat 31 Wed eh, although even: here the b6-pawn will most probably be lost. ‘Black's posiion is of course extremely un- pleasant, bud to beeach it immediately is not so. simple. 28 Ded Zaz 29 kg?) (oow AT is no longer threatened, and the bishop can quand the et 23 Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My Great Pawn, in order to free the rook at el for the defence of the 2-pawn) 29...W16 30 5° g5 31 Wb3 Bbee 32 h4 ‘The knight is driven back, and ar this Black's attack comes in an end (however, it never in fact began}. SP PENT 23 EAE RAT 94 Ee Dea Parrying the threat of ...Waf2+. The con- version of the extra pawn docs not preset any great dbffsculty for Petrouan. As Ihe lke to joke, ‘you have a pawn — brains ate not needed" 35...Wd8 36 Raat (6 bt Petosian) 36...Exa14 37 Yh2 S06 38 13 (here the weakening of the dark squares can ne bonger be exploited: 38 2h?) 38,..0b8 39 Wb3 Od? 40 b6 Deh 41 Wh? Rad 42 WbS Baz 43 Eo? (threaening @n5-c6 and b6-b7) 43...95 Fini again flinches, and things end in a 30 light-squred tiumph for the S-knight over the badd iB-bishop, 44 Sw3! gxhd 45 SWE+ dg8 46 gxht Ea6 47 b7 Hay 48 cB Gxb7 49 Wes Ad? 50 Fudé 1-0 Incidentally, when looking through the tournament book of that Candidates touma- ment, | remembered another innovanory idea of the th world chanapion. Crare 8 D.Bronstein-T.Petrosian Candidates Tournament, Amsterdam 1956, 1th round 17...Axcd! A bold exchange of the "King’s Indian’ bishop. This is ako a kind of prophylaxis! “This imeresting straregic idea is a stnking ex= ample of a concrete penctration into the posi ‘tion, Black eliminates the knight which could have played an active role in emplomensing the 2g! breakthrough and, particularly impor- tant, White's dark-squared bishop is denied the opportunity of occupying the weakened al-h3 diagonal." (Amein) 18 beed S68 19 of Lhe 20 S42 Spf 27 ih? Wel 22 Rgi Wo6 23 Bd2 Ad7 24 92 Hae8 25 05 De? 26 Bab) AcB 27 Bg? Hog? 28 Sbgl Sce8 29 h3 NB! 4-4 Nipping g-g4 in the bud. Draw agreed, al- though Black's position is even slightly the more pleasant. Copyrighted MaterialSever important games for dhe Petrosiin Variation were played in the 2éth USSR (Championship (Thiliss 1959), where Tigran Vartanovich, again going through the encine event uneletcated, wor the first of his four gold medals. Moreover, he finished a point ahead of Tal, who was already twice chamoion of the country, nor koag before had won the Interzonal pournament, and was soon also to win the Candidates tournament {in cach of these last nwo events Petrosian finished third). Game 9 T.Petrosian-Ya.Yukhtman 26th USSR Clranesonstip, Thilis 1959 1 d4 446 204 gh 3 cd Ag? 4 od O65 die? 0-06 283 05 7 d5 Sind The alternative is 7.2¥be7 (Game Nine) or TiaS 8 Bes hao hs Sos 10) Welt 11 2d? Gh? (11a? — Game Nad?) 12 2 65. 13: Abo2 (13d 14 b3 SAhG is correct) 14 bal Ad? 15 bi with the initiative (Petro. 5...98 An aggressive plan with the munoeuvre of the knight to (4, The Petrosian-Lusikow game from the same event went (e510 By (d72 (1087 was more accurate) 11 @ib5! dhe (we have already seen 11_déxbS? 12 vexb5) 12.03 Wal? (127 13 Fick! ab 14 ban 13 get GBe7 (UST) 14 Be ab 15 ot Wel 1 ha! Bb 17 We ska? 18 bi bé 19 dt bS 2) a3 (a typical idea, restricting the knighe ar 7) Bhs (0.bee4 21 bed Blot 22 Fib2 Was 23 343 with the idea of Jhp3 and (2-6) 21 gh Oph 22 Bed Het (22 ood 23 bad Bb 24 Wed and De2) 23 Stet 23 bet Be 24 bach G4! is unclear) 23... Weis! Fight was better) 24 bl Bich (4_bact 25 bcd! o A4oesb4? 25 c5f) 25 becd dach 2 cxbS and White won on the 42nd move. 10 £93 SS 11 Dd? Sud 12 0.0 De6 ‘The knights are quite meely placed, and iver garnes showed chat Blick doce not have a bad position. But accunste and energetic play is required of him: the light squares are already weakened, and it may happen that his activity comes te an ene bat the hole at (5 retains, In addition, White can grichaally prepare an of- fensive on the 13 dig’ (exchanging the mam defender of the f5-square) 13.05?! A second-rate move: Ir would appear thar Yukheran did not quite understand what White wanted: the knight at { seems to be paralysing his entire game, the hole ar d3 is alzcady yawning and it is still a very long way vo 15, [nm beer games Black ved the jam bit connmaton 13 died? 14 Wapd BS 15 WS ha 16 Saft cxf 17 29 Witt 18 Sings Werf 19 cxf Beck? for 198 fe8 20 Fibs He? 21 Bact Back 22 Buc? ExcT 23 bt Gils 24 Goa7 robs 25 Bt 3 26 Bibs with a ar Copyrighted Materialslight advantage) 20 bec3 Bice 21 Bet aby? 22 @)6 3 with an unclear position — by eeaking up the white pawrs, Black has gained real counterplay. Now it is interesting 1 observe how me- thodically, although not without the help of his opponent, Potrosin explests the weakness: of the -square. 14 131 “The bishop will move from g3, making way for the pawn Black's knight cannot be maantained at £4, and without st he cannot hope for any activicy. By conerast, White's plan ts simple: be must try to play a knight to 3, when it will be close to the -square,” (Petrosian) 14... Hed3 15 Wez cB ‘This is what Yukhiman was hoping for — counterplay on the ¢-file, However, it proves to be not quite sufficient. 16 Gh hS 17 Sxc8 Buch 18 a3! A very bmportant and instructive move. Te appears that here it is not needed all the same, 2-4 cannot be played. However, White's aim was a different one: to create the threat of Sbxfl and g2-93. After the immediate 18 xf there is the important interposition 184 b4!, for example: 19 Wh3 exf4 with good counter: play (20.03 Ga6.21 Wixb7? S105 22 WaT Hath, or 1) dspS inc? 20 Sind Gical 21 the Bick 22 fixdé Be? with compensation for the exchange and chances for boas sides. 18...cxd5 After 184 19 isfs Gist 20 p3 2h5 21 Gg? War 22 WS Black constandly has to think about the weakness of his 6, while if he plays 22.654, then after 23 exf Hai 24 Ddet the knight establishes itself at e4 and the weakness of the light squares becomes trasisparcrat. 19 ends Tf 19 Sixd5 then it is essential mo play 19 h4 (19.5? 20 Habit) 20 Sixf4 Gixé4 21 Ws Bid 22 ends We? of 21 Gist exft 22 Ebadi Hel with chances of equality, 19.2105? Capinulapon! Since Yukheman has opened the ¢-file, it makes sense to use this somehow. After the sharp 19.55 20 Sixt Daft 21 Wo Ebs 22 Gut! (22 Snb5 ad! 23 Wiad Whey 22.2 23 Bed Aidt 24 Wed Whise would have ectained the advantage, planning 25 205 uf 26 exfS and Get (weakness of the light squares!) Bur after 19 Wii! it would have been hard for him to find anything stronger than the modest 20 Jixfd (20 Hab! hd) 20. Aint 21 gh (21 act WH) 21..Ge2 22 Was Hats 23 Babi. 20 S12 (with the threat of p2.g% now things become very difficult for Hack) 20,..947! Desperition. Such extraomdinary measures are usually unsuccessful and merely aggravate the sination, by incrasing the number of weaknesses. Black's sctivity quickly evapo- rates. 21 g3 96 (even so, it was prefcrable to ply a2 Copyrighted MaterialCopysigghtasd batacia Tigran the Ninth 21d? 22 Stuch Doves 23 fayct bag 24 Doll cre) 22 fagd hugt 23 be3 ‘To some extent Black's pawn strucnate re- sembles a sieve. 23.,.57 (a lstgasp tn: White simply takes the pron) 24 Sixb5 Wb6 25 a4! Was 26 Ded (the game ts decided, and Yukheman's desperate thrust docs pot change anything) 26..15 27 ExlS SxfS 28 extS Wh? 29 ‘Wo2 bd 20 Send W731 EN 1-0 Yukhiman's play was unconvincing, of ‘course: for all his tactical talent, he was rather weak in positional evaluation, although, like every finalist in the USSR Championships of that time, he had nee at all a bad understand- ing of chess subtleties, This makes even: more imnpressive the difference in class berween the strong Soviet masters and grandmaster Pecro- sian, who had not yet even achieved the height of his powers. *Petrotian’s style,’ wrote world champion Botvinnik after this tournament, ‘to some ex- tent esembles the style of Capablanca, Flohr and perhaps Smyslov. Players of this type rruke use of their main strength ~ superiority in positional understanding; therefore they aim to obtain positions where the time factor and the tactical clement are not of decisive importance, where they can formulate solidly: based plins, leading with ton consistency to victory, OF course, if Petrosian were only an expen in the field of positional phy and were not in addition aclever tactickan, he would not ‘have been able to gain such a convincing vie- tory inn Thidesil® In Averbakh’s opinion, sacha description hardly conveys the distinctiveness of Petro- sian’s style and this lack of understanding of ‘his play also told in the Botvinnik-Petrosian match, Tigran Varanovich himself said: ‘Ir is asserted that my favourite player is Capab- lanca. They have even panned a label om ec “follower of the Capablunce sryle”, In fact, for me there cannot exist any onc idol in princi ple. Thus if [were to name a few names, 1 would give Nimzowitsch, Capablanca and Rubinstein” He knew from childhood the games of the first two, while he became ac- quainted with the secrets of Rubinstein’s play in the late 1950s — and he came to the conclu- sion thar “no one previously hal such a deep positional style." But what Petmsian definiely had in com mon with Capablanca was his extraordinary speed of thought. He, like the legendary Cu- ban, was one of the best blitz players in the world (along with Bronstein, Tal, Koechnoi, Fischer and, later, Karpov), When in the sum= mer of 1958 the 15-year-old Bobby Fischer anived in Moscow, Petrosian, at he put it, “was summoned po dhe Central Chess Club, to deal with a youth who had defeated the Moscow masters in blirx play.” Tigran Var- tanovich wasa four-times winner of the popu- lar blitz toumaments for the prize of the cherease Movkns newspaper, and in March 1971 he won the All-Union grandmaster bite tournament, scoring 144% out of 150). The Sage of Svetorar Once we have begua talking about the King’s Indian Defence, it is impossible not ta men- Gon a prominent expen on mt, the outstanding ‘Yogoslay grandmaster Svetozar Gligoric (bom 1923), who was among the contenders fore the world championship in the 1950s anal 19s The Second World War wiped out four ‘years from the chess liiography of the talented master, during two of which he fought against a3 Copyrighted Materialy Kasparov en My Grearcfregecnssons acy — — the Nazis as a member of Marshall Tito’s par- tesa army. ‘Mftce the victory Svetezar rerumed to his favourite game, not only competing at the hoard and avidly reading chess literarure, bur alse founding a chess club in Helgrade and ongausing a champronship of the capital, and then als of the country. He quickly became the No,t player in Yugoulivia, one of the mast chess-avid couneries in the world, where there wat an abundance of top-chiss players throughout the 20th century: in place of Vid- maz and Kestic came Pirc and Trifunovic, then Gligorkc, Rabat, Matanovie, Puderer, Twkow, Matulowc, Parma, Manine, Lpalbsopevic_ Gligonic became internationally known af- ter his sensational triumph in Warsaw (1947): 1, Gligone - 8 out of 9, 2-5. Bolestrsky, Smystov_ - 6 ete. Me was immediately con sidered a dangerous rival to the Soviet grancd- masters, and for a ome the USSR sports au whorities were watchful about sending ther tc tournaments where the young, and ambitious Yugosly was plasing Although, at that ume he was mot even a grandmaster: he was awarded this tile only in 1951. Tn the absence of the USSR, the Yugoslav tam, led by Gligoric, confidently won the frst postwar Olympiad (Dubrovnik 1950). This success and medal places at many of the subsequent Olympuals were a vivid indication of the extraordinary popularity of chess in the country, Indeed, in the second half of che 2iheh century Wugosliva became a genuine chess Mectat where ee did 40 many international toumament: tuke place! And, of course, it ‘was mo socident that it was here that the reve lutionary idea of creating a kine of bible for qualified players was bom -— the periodical Isfermater and the five-vohime Esrehpondis of Chess € arranged in accordance with the famous Rabar Index: A-H-C-D-E 1oomade omy fimt acquaintance with Gligoric’s play back in my youth, when I read Bronstcin’s legendary book on the Candidates foumament in Zurich (1953). Espeenally en. gaved in my memory is the following fascinating yame = a highly complicared example on the theme of blockade: in order to depsive the enemy pieces of mobility, Black hacl ter sacrifice tan pawns. ‘This prewved a high price and the outcome of the battle was unclear to the very ened. Game 10 A.Kotov-S.Gligoric Candidates Tournament, Zurich 1953, 3th round 1 d4 S06 2 of g6 3203 bg) 4 04 dB “The numerous spectaculir wins by Bobe- slavsky, Bronstein and Geller induced me alse to make my opening repertoire shaper, After incloding in it the King's Indian Defence, mr results with Black improved significantly. At the Intcrsonal tournament in Saltsihaden (1952) [ emploved it against Geller himself — and won! And then for many long years 1 was faithful to chis opening’ (Ghgoric} 5130-06 2e3 05 7 d5 AAs it soon transpires, this move is: prema- ture, Black avoids 7_3h5 8 WA2 6 9 04M) 4 10 RAZ LG 11 Dge2 Bhs 12 Let! (GellersGhigone, 11th round). The attempt to combine both plans - 926 10 dd} oS! Gf 10d? Geller suggested 11 cxf gafS 12 Diget is pared by 11 decd! Bxch 12 Hd5- Re6 13 ibe WUT 14 Ge? Bach 15 db WT a4 Copyrighted MaterialCopwighted Materia Tigran the Nini 1¢ Shel with some pressure (Kapov- Kasparov, 21st marchgame, Lyon 1990), “Therefore 7.06! is more active, for exam. 2 BW? ced 9 cud Ghd? 10 Fige? a6 11 13 (11 gt — Game No.8) 11.8385 12 Bd B13 Die2 Adii 14 cxf gafS 15 y3 cl (folowing Ghgonc) 16 Fich5 Srch5 17 fred ft 18 BA? pt 193 dT 2 0.0 Best 21 bb) WG 22 he? gh 2 Leg fed 4 A3 Hack. 0-1 (Gboonghiu-Kasparov, Thes- saloniki Olympiad 1968), 8 2d3 ‘Two rounds bier in the game Kosov- Najderf an improvement was unveiled — 8 yl iving the knight of the h5-square} Be 9 hd 10 exfS pefS, but later Tal suggested 10 gxfS! gxfS 11 exfS xfs 12 Sid3), when thanks te his control of 64 White has the advantage. Ie is importance that the fol- Sowing docs not work: 12e4 13 fxed Werr! (3 Sec8 14 eS) 1 ext Wedt 15 We2 Wad 16 Gdz and wins (Ta-Bolestaesky, 25ch USSR Championship, Riga 1958), Din ofis, bp, 9 Miah a 9 AAA 6 lO a ef 11 OUM0 the 28.04 breakthrough may prove highly effective: Taé 12 yee kB 13 Eig! 2x7 M4 cxb5 cf 15 fact fret 16 Gone axbS 17 Sixb5 Sua? with excellent counterplay for the pawn (Korchnni-Boleslavsky, 24ch USSR Championship, Moscow 1957}. 8,,.0h5 9 Sige? #5 10 exf5 gx A tense position, typical of the Simisch Atmck. White és not ina hurry to determine the placing of his king and mow be has to tale a very important decision — choose = square for his queen. V1 We? Tt is also logical oo play 11 Wa2 (with con- trol of the f4- and gi-squares), when Black can reply 11.7 12 digS Wes with the idea of 13 BibS eff 14 fred e515 0.0 Sind 16 ‘Wedd fred 17 Wed Wes 18 Beit Bait 19 Bit Sd? (Pachman-Ivkow, Sarajevo 1964), of else frighten Whiee with the threat of a diver- sion on the quecnside — 11a6 1204 (12 0-040 BS) 127 13 des Wee 14 0-0 Fadi 15 Bc2 Ba? (Hort-Coligoric, Nikue 1978), while in the event of 12 Figi Web? 13 GinhS WahS 14 0-0-0 (14 00 @d7 15 4 Mba 16 ad is rather more solid) he can cary out the same blockading idea as in the game: 14.41 15 fret FF 16 SIZ Bad and mow 17 99 3 18 pt Wes 19 g5 Be5 with compensation for the sacri- 11...64! (a positional sacrifice for the sake of activating the g7-bishop and occapying the e5- Square, whereas White's pawn on e+ will re- strict his forces) 12 fred #4113 S12 A moder grandmaster, armed with the ex- perience of his peedcocssors and fearing a blockade, might go in for such an extreme Measure as a piece sacnfice — 13 e5l, since afer V3..dixe5 14 Sixh7+ dhe 15 S02 White fas an obvious advantage (Knaak-Veliminovic, Sombor 1972). 13 fee! in stroeiger, although after 14 35 Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My Great dixh7+ G8 15 06 Black is in danger: he has an entice flank shut out of the game, He has to choose berween 15804, 15262 and two contersacrifices = 15 Wh4-+ 16 g3 Deg) 17 Figg) WahT or 15..20h 16 dxoh beech with a double-cdped pare. 13,..2d71 14291 ‘With the intention of exchanging the knight ar ¢5, although this docs not solve the problem cof activating the We? and Jid3 bartery. Alas, 14 68 is wo lee on account of 14,25! 15 Sch7+ Gh8, Broniecin craluuscs chit position as hopeless for White. [ think that be is being too bur after 16 Ch0 Wigs 17 Std Brg? 18 Det So 19 Bhet WS 20 Sais Ex 21 2c3 Whs 22 Sct Bet Black's chances are indeed dearly bener — largely ci thanks to his powerful knight at e5. 14...8g5 15 211 Dest "Black has won che firs bantle, by pushing back the opponent's forces, but he has not yet ‘won the entire campaign, After regrouping, the white picces come out again to more ac- tive positions.” (Hronstrin) 16 £03 We? 17 Sine5 WaeS 18 0-0-0 66 19a 19,007 ‘Gligorie likes well-prepared breakthroughs. A more impatient plier would hive been tenable ty refrain from 19.06 2) B35 21 exbS axbS 22 xb5 236 with an amack along the a and b-Giles anc! alowg the long diagonal.” (Bronstein) It is more solid to play 20 ad! Jed? 21 Hel, although, of course, afrer 218h5 Black has compensanen for the pawn. But an altogether impatient player would have been unable 0 restrain himself from paying 19..b5t7 20 exb5 afl, foccing evens: 21 a4 axbS 22 Sixb5 td? 23 Bhel dixb5 26 Gcb5 @h5 with unclear complications. 20 £03 a6 21 Sibi (with the idea of 21...b52122 Bn 24.4317 ‘Tine phy. White's plinned manonuvre DME could have bed te the ruin of Black's entire blockadkny strategy. Gligonic shows ham- self co be a genuane chess astist, by giving up a sccond paven in order to deprive the knight of the G-square and expand the sphere: of the blockade," wriect Bronstein and he awards nwo exclimation marks to the move in the game. a6 Copyrighted MaterialTigvan the Ninth oo yi tte rrr In my opinion, this ix going too far, Gli- porie’s speetsculir idea obliges him eo play with extreme accuracy (he is after all rwo pawns down!), and meanwhile the implernen- tation of dhe 4kd2-£3 theear was not so simple ee the position allowed Black to make de with therapeutic measures: 21_Hlaek? 22 Bel (22 Guz Sas! 23 Wat Bact or 23 3 Walt 24-2061 Aa? 25 Ect b5 with cquality) 22 hs 23 Bait Hips M4 G1 WS 25 Bhet ‘bS with cousterplay, of even 21_edl? (with the idea of _Rtp6 or _th5) 22 Gd? dad! 23 b3 (24 Wrat Det is cyl) 25..Watt 24 Qib1 Hef, when the attempt 25 shel Ghd? 25 eS? enlivens the play, bur docs not promise ‘White any advantage - 26.dixe5 27 dixh7+ hk 28 hd Eph etc. Incidentally, in the aforementioned game with Gheorghiu | too did not experience any difficulties, by retaining the f-pawr. 22 gxfa Shs 23 Sd? Sta 24 201 “A classic example of a blockaded position. ‘The immediate targets are four whine pawns, ‘but the influence of the blockade is far deeper the light-squared bishop has been transformed into a pawn, the knight's own pawns uke away all ins important squares, and in adklision the queen, wich a mobile picee, is almost completely constricted.” (Brorsstein) 2__.b5t ‘The long-awaited breakthrough. ‘One can only be surprised at the potential defensive strength of White's position and the skill of Kotor, who maintains the balance, albeit oath great difficulty." (Bronstein) 25 h4 SO 26 Zo) 2G 27 Dba Dabs “At the entical moment Gligonc docs not display the required resolve and he conmnucs systematically strengthening his position. Very strong was 274 28 Qia5 ded 29 b3 when Black has at least perpetual check, but can play 29,.dtd?, cominuing the attack.” (Bromatcin) However, in the event of 27..b4 White could have set about evicting the blockading knight from f: 28 Re¥ a5 29 Wa?, Now it is no good to play 29_ie? 30 Batt, and 29,Jip7 0 Bes Wii Goat Boc5 diuch 32 Ginc5 and wins) 3 e5 dueS 32 Frec8, and 29 Sieh 30 Ebi! (30 bS Hibs 31 Bea Wet: 32 Wott Bute 33 dvb? Df or MO 64 Wied 1 et) Wes 32 Bidet WH is un- clear) 3.84 31 fe? of 32 Gel ad 38 d3 We? 34 bi = this fortress cannot be breached, and White can calmly strengthen his positon: M_Hp8 35 82 Dei Mi Bhi Balk 37 HAS eS 38 Baht, of fied 35 Migs Wes 36 Wacd+! bach 37 Bxh4 bo 38 Sel! Sh7 39 Axcd Mes 40 Bhi Wer 41 haz Bd 42.3h5 Beh 43 Bohl Bits 44 Sips ete. There only remains 2)_fixhtd 30 Dua! Syl MW Bed (ir is weaker tm play 31 Geet 32 V8 Dae! 45 Sd} Ext) wath compli ccated play: 31.66 32 (4 Wet 33 2a Wed 4 Wied Bold 35 Wa? Ae Wo Bhd Pied > a? Copyrighted MaterialGarey Kasparoe on My Groat Predecess pfs a 37 Wed 25 38 Wg) DeS 30 Wed at 40 Bar a3 41 b3 of 31 Fie 12 Sos Bi 1 et Bit MW Dif 35 cht dined 36 ReneS Bf 28 hel Kotov has planned a sisnilar way af Ihteak~ ing the blockade (trac, as we will see, an im: perceptible error crept inte his calculations), The pawn must be induced to advance 10 bd: if 28 dtg3, then 28 txcs! 29 dexeg a5! 30 Wht Sp? 31 dace Mage 32 ys Wie and Black is alright 28...b4 “The desperate counteratrack 28 bxcd21 20 Sset dib5 30 ic} Wed? 81 bcd Bexct 32 Ha Bhs 33 Bet eS is refuted by the “hu- man-+computer’ tandem with 34 GH exc 35 cxrld Peed+ 34 Eine? dhve2 37 chee! shai! 38 BgSt ich 39 Wied dacS 0.6 Sve 41 dist and the white pawns are eresistible. 29 G1 Bae (Black has wasned time with his rooks and this should have boen punished) 30 ig3 Sg a1 Wh? The desire to retain the h4-pawn diverts Rotov from dhe correct path. After 31 We! Bxg3 32 Brg} the exchange 322i) 33 Sxedind3) Weg} would have activated the congealed whine pawns — 34 (4! and 24-¢5, so thar Gligoric would have had eo sock a way 1 save the game after 32.05 33 Bell, for cxam- peed oie dhxg5 35 bogs Wigs M6 3 Sik 37 de® Wes 34 Snes Wa 39 ‘Waid Bt 0 Bet ho 41 hee Bh7 42 has, oe 33 dtat M Hyd! dat 35 Exit dat 6 Bis Wer 37 Whe Asha 38 <5 a7 30 Bhs and Black is in great difficulties. 31...2293 (a forord exc! 32 Exg3 G02! 33 Wre2 Wig3 34 fict Here, in contrast to the variations with 31 ‘Wea2!, White's queen and bishop are in each srber's way, and Black has time to defend against +64 and e4-¢5, By this point both Players were in time-troubhe and were marc concemied about the safety of their defences, 34.05 35 Fd3 edd! (now ef-ed loses ine strength, and the powerful bishop: at d4 equal: ises the chances) 36 hS Wha 37 Ag? Ege 38 3h1 Wo3 39 211 94 40 bc2? Pseudo-actiaty by the king! Bven 40 dc was better, to say nothing of 40 Wd! and eZ Bur the last few moves before the con- trol, with the flag about ro fall, are subject t+ their own Laws, a8 Copyrighted Material40..037 ‘Throwing away the advantage that has sud- denly been acquired — 40_.b341 41 axb3 axh+ 42 dub} Wy7 “with winning chances’ (Beon- an): 43 bo Made! 44 had (44 dad? 7) M4. 45 Pb bd 46 Get Bak 47 Goh Walt 48 dict Webs, or 43 dc? be (uaa?) 44 bt Shad 45 Eh? for 45 W2) 4587! and White is in difficulties. 41b3 4% The sealed move. After adjournment analy- sis the players agreed a dre. Later Borvinnik advised me to snody the King’s Indian Defence from the games by the classic interpreters of this opening, including Gligorc. And my attention was drawn to an other original idea in the Sarmsch Variation, which was conceived in the bite 1950s, ‘This, incidentally, was the most successful and fruitful period in the Yugoslav grandimas- jer's camer. Five umes in succession (and eleven in all) he became champion of his county, Ise finished fourth in the Alekhine Memorial tournament in Moscow (1056), Played belliandy in the traditional Yugoslavia- USSR matches (defeating Petrusian, Smyskor, Keres, Korchnoi, Taimanow...j, shared Ist-2nd places int a double-round tourament of eight grardimaspers in Dallas (1957) ard in the Por tore Interzonal (1958), and at the tourna- ment in Zurich (1959) he finished only half a point behind the phenomenal ‘Tal, but ahead of Pieler, Larsen, and many other famous players, Add to this his best score on board 1 (#920, abead of Borvinnik) at the Olympiad in Munich (1958) and it will become clear why (Gligore’s result at the Candidates tournament in Yugoslavia (1959) - a share of Sth-6th places — was assessed by the press as {a sente, not in accordance with his consistently high achievernents in recent years.” So, in his games with Tal and Sherwin (Por- tomoz: Interzonal 1958) Gligoric employed the counter 7-45 in front of his king, which since then has become a universal defence Tigran the Nineh against the g2-g4 attack when there is castling: on opposite sides (and nat only in the King's Indian), This idea was tested by the experts at the wery highest level, then for a lang time it faded into the background, but im the 100s it ‘was again seen in games of leadiey grandmas ters. To illustrate ins wealth of content, | will give oneof my oan games, Gasre 17 V.Ivanchuk-G.Kasparov Dos Hermanas 19%, Sth round Tricks ee ERD 190-0 6 £ed 05 7 Dgez After 7.d5 o6l (7c5 — Gaew Nato) 6 Wd? cmd5 9 cad ab 10 p4 Dib? 11 hd, ThbSe is even stronger: 12 digs WS 13 gxhS ZichS (with equahty) 14 Sbe7# Zeb (TalGliporic, Portex Intersonal 1958), since 15 dndé> ‘Whol is bad for White. 7...06 8 Wa? (8 dia cxd5 9 cxd5 Pek — Woh aon 2, Game No.9) 8,.bd? 9 dS xd 10 exd5 a6 The modem move onder, polished by tur: ament praxis, 11 g4 hs “The enly move that conforms te the bagic of events. It exploits che opponent's delay in Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov an My GreatcPradeces say mory 4, which aaa once a fearful weapon in the Simisch Wanaton,’ (Glgoric) W2ha This set-up underwent a terous test in the 10th game of the Borvinnak-Tal march (100), where White employed the sharp plan with 12 Kiy5l? haga 13 fxgt Pe5 14 Gigs Sved 15 b4 (13 hd 35 15..Qed7 16 hd Se 17 Bh? and after 17.054 18 bS Whé 19 Wit Waia+ 3) Bf? $th5 20 bét he gained the adh-antage. Bur 17..Wb6! and fee would have been ‘better (Tall. After 12 g5 @ih7 13 bd ir is possible to ery hoch 13b5 14 Sip) Hibs 15 Suds dT té O00 Hes (Polapayeviky-Pearosian, 2th USSR Championship, Thaisi 1959), anal Ut 14 gai Hiab 15 Bg) bS Suabo-Cligonc, Bel- grade 195%), or even 15.7 16 af evil, In the opinion of Tal and Gligoric, “Black's pluses are worth the sacrificed exchange,” bur the compurer monster coldly replies 17 Wait and demands detailed evidence, I woul! not play his position againar a machine, but against a human = by all means. At the end of the century there appeared 13 Rei fh 14 pais Wath 15 0-00 (Karpov Dolmatov, Gi 1993} of 14, Est 15 0-0-0 (15 et Wek? 16 Bc? He5) 155 16 ba! Bibb 17 bz Ba7 18 Bet Mes 19 Mer! (long with the b3-pawn — an important aid for White in the struggle for an advantage) 19 be 20 Bib) aS 21 Bch3 Bee wich « compli- cated game (Karpor-Topalov, Jed manch- 40 Copyrighted Mat game, Vara rapidplay 1995}, Instead of 16.2ib6, 16,218! would appear to be mone successful, forcing ¢he f1-bishop to occupy a passive position: 17 dig? Bd? 18 db? bet 19 Gut bs and Black's chances are at least equil (Campos Moreno-Coras Fabrego, Carlonia 200}. 12.05) AA novelty of the 1910s, ‘The pioneers played the immediate 12437 wath the ixdea of 10.0.0 (13 pxhSet Wht) hd 14 bt BiG) ond BpS Gheewin-Glyorie, Portree Intersoral 1954), while if 15 ha hag 14 yet (Tal-Gligoric, Yugoslavia Candidates 1959}, then 14, 4di6! 15 5 Qed (15S) 16 Bgl 16 (Geller) or 16.27 with equality. But 13 Sgt! es better (Timman introduced this move back in the 1960s!) preventing, the cocupanon ef gS. Por example: 134 14 Bet! (4 0-0-0 BS Mehs (14169 and fg) 15 Did 6 16 5 Bee7 17 4-0 fi 18 eet Eiaft 19 dhe? WHR (19. idiRH 20 Fah) 20 bl with advantage to White (Timman. Kasparov, Amsterdam 1996), of the seme what passive [Shad 14 fixes What 15 Bed Be 16 0400 Be 17 hd We7 18 4ip3 Back 19 deb! ft 20 Be? Be7 21 Rdht ps with chances oof equalising — (Piket-Ivanchuk, Monaco rapidplay 1506), The energetic move 12..b5', beginning play ower the entire board, was the modernisation of the plan wath h7-h5, 13 Lg5 Was! 14 D1AT Tigran the Ninth Hf 14 @g3 there follows the chemutic 140h7] 15 gahS (afer 15 Me? Hes 16 Bsdé Bleck can play 16..b4 17 Be? Wb6 18 Bad ba 19 Sind Witt 20 Wibd Sg5 21 hp? SaO+ 22 S00 Wa 23 Bh? Shs with a powerful tive) 1SPisgs 16 Wes 17 Who Vie (Kramnik-Nijboer, Gron- ingen 1991) 14,..b41? A couple of months earlier the game Piket~ hier emeras 1996) went 14_ iid? 2 2iec5 16 22 RAT 17 exh (nos ven- turing 17 gt GihT 18 ReT on account of 18..b4! 19 Si chf8 20 De? hot 21 het Ech, which is probably advantageous to Black) 17...@iuhS! 18 ‘he? Bick 19 did 7 20 Me? 68 21 Gd eet 29 had a5 with more than sufficient compensation for the paran. 15 ga The greedy 15 gxhS# GichS 16 Ste? eraight entice a computer, but not a humans 16.66! 17 Bxtt dha+ 18 D2 dxf followed by wc, Bal? and so on. 15...2n71 16 gxhs Ivanchul, bike Kramnik, prefers the haven ofa drew rather than the unclear position after 16 Sec? heal 17 Six fH Hih 18 ie? Ris 19 e3 kph, when the darksquared bishop is not inferior Wo a rook, 16..imgS 17 WagS 216 18 Whe 2g? bed As we see, the 11.5! idea proved perfectly sable, harbouring reserves fox improvement. Of Gigonic’s liner successes | should men- on his share of Jrd-5th pleces with Keres and Peerosian, behind Tal and Prscher, in Bled (1961) and his splendid play at the Clympeads of 1960 and 1962. Here, notably, Ie rice de- feated Fischer, taking the score in his indivichsal meetings with him to +4-1=6 (the future world champion rcoouped his losses only irs the early VODs, gaitung five successive wins), At the 1964 Olympiad the leader of the Yigoskn team sconed fewer points, bur an the key match against the USSR with the black picccs be in- flicted the only defeat on the jgrear Borvirnnik, ‘This duel had a very cunous psychological context. Gigoric was such an inverersie King's Indian player that after opening | d4, hs opponents, over the course of 25 years, could anticipate exactly whar position would aise on the board. “By rejecting the factor of surprise, | myself allowed my opponents the opportunity to demonstrate unexpected ideas," = that was Giligorie’s credo, However, there are no rules wichoot exceptions: against Bot- vinnik “already at the board I decided to devi- ate from my favounte King's Indian Defence, fearing some opening preparation by the for- mer world champion.” Game 12 M.Botvinnik-S.Gligoric Tel Aviv pep one 1964 1 d4 D6 2 ed 96 3 5ic3 ABI? Unexpected. ‘Although 1 occasionally played this opening. here [ managed to gain ten minutes on the clock: that was how long Botvinnik thought for, in deciding which variation to choose.” (Gligoric) 4: Af4 Ag7 5 03 ‘Lsimply mined up the move order, playing 5 3 instead of 5 40%, thenetyy allowing my op- ponent the opporuaity to employ a variation that 5 advantagcous to Black" (Botvinnik) §...0-0 (S25 - Gem Nott) 6 Bel «5 7 dxeS LeG! 41 Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My Great ‘As ts well known, 7..Wa59t 8 cxd5 Bde is inferior, and now pot? Wad Wrad 10 Greet Buds (C2 -Reshevsky, AVRO: tour- nament, Holland 1938), and not 9 Wd Pind (Toluh.-Borinnik, Heh USSR Champion ship, Lcningrad 1939), in each case with equal- iy, but 9 dct! BEY3 Deb 9 Dght? 4 made this move automatically, fomgerting that e2-e3 and et had already been played (uithout these moves, @y5 or BAM ie nee bad), explains Hotvinnik, who then gives the ‘poor’ 0 Wat Det 10 Ste? Bact? 11 baed dse4 with equality (Ragoxin-Botvinnik, Beh matchgame, Leningrad M40) and the ‘best’ 9 Be2, although after 9,24! Black has active play for the pawn (Lyublinsky-Smyslerr, Mos- cow 1944/45), Gligonic adds 9 Bd Gist 10 exd4 decd with equality, 9..dgat ‘decided on this after 20 minutes’ thought. Tad net want 0 allow heed, and I didn’t see any other way of exploiting the departure of the white knight from the centre. At the same dime, | didn'r kneww what | was doing: falling over a precipice or taking a brilliant decision thar would give me good chances.’ (Gligoric) 10 13 “Tt was still possible tm give preference to the quict 10 JLe2,” (Borvinnik) Bur after 10d? 11 dine? dl oc 11 We? cS 12 bg 4 White experiences some discomfars, 42 10...05! Gambit play! “Each time, when | found a successful teply to a prepared nomelry, the commentators asserted that this reply had been found at home,’ laments Giligoric, “Non without bittemess [| remember och comments being made about the piece sacnfice wn my game wath Botvinaik. In fact, such decisions are dictated not by some “boldness”, but by a feeling of extreme danger, the realisation that you may be completely outplayed ~ sc you sacrifice, in or- der that this does not happen.” Taking account the granclmaster’s yorious fighting past, here he probably fele more like a desperate partisan, hunching himeelf with a (premade against a tank. 11 2g3? Boramaik does not comment at all on this important moment, while Gligoric writes: "It ts vchear that 11 fxg4? cxfa 12 exd5 ind5 is ad- vantageous to Black, It was something ebe thar | was unsure of: what would happen after 1 exd5 cxf (but oor 11 edd? 12 WedS Sat 13 Sit Bai? 14 Seed and wins) 12 ddee6 (12 fxd? G5) 12187! with strong ‘counterplay for the sacrificed pocee.” ‘Today it can be added that after 13 of Radi 14 Bad for 14 Wed baotl 15 fut? Eapt) Mu heeit 15 fet Git Black does indeed have an excellent game (Dorfman-Tukeakow, 4hh USSR Championship, Frunsc 1981) and that it is stronger to play 13 Expl? Ware} 14 Be2 Ged 15 BhI (moe 15 HA Halt 16 Copyrighted MaterialCopyrighted Matern Tigran the Niner We? Guh2 Tukmakov) 15,HadH 16 Wcz swith the idea of Mf 17 gpl Bes 14 abe Be 19 fi Wee 2) 2 Wot 21 Bice! cor 16%e5 (Kihulifman-Shipov, Russian Championship, Krasnoyank 2003) 17 ¢T Bd! (Shipor) with a very sharp struggle. 11...d4! 12 fugd decd 13 Wad Zinc 14 Baxc3 he “White thought it hest to exchange queens, in order to safeguard his king, which is caght in the centre. Foe the moment he has a material advantage, but his pawn formation is clearly worse than the opponent's. In addition, thanks to the fact that Black's pieces are well placed he soon negains everythings" (Bovinnik) 15 S03 (after 1542h3 Set! 16 Hh} Pied 17 BbS bé the rook would have found itself off. side) 15... 2ed! 16 Zcl Sixch 17 Lez of 18 Did (this is the lesser evil) 18,.2nd4 19, end4 Suda 20 b3 ‘LE 20 b4, then 20..2o6 with the unpleasant threat of 21..a5.' (Gligoric) However, a mote forcing path is 20.26! 21 b5 @1 Hbt? ‘Dabs; 21 a3? Bb?) 21 Set 22 ad Hack 25 Bee dena 24 Bt Qt 25 Bec xed 26 5 Bt or 22 5 Hack 23.03 Gad 24 He? Bes, ‘winning a pawn and the game. 20,003 21 Ed) Exdt+ 22 xd) ode 23 Rez aS (23.HU2? 24 LA with cqqualitys 23..2e6% Borvinnik) 24 h4 Qe 25 Bhd: Bol 26 deb S04 (not 26,02? 27 Bc) 27 dint Bxfa 28 06 Bd? 29 Be (20 4 De} 29..Dxn2 30 d12 30.,.2b21 and after a number of cron by both sides, Black won on the 79th mee. In 1967 Glgoric performed successfully in the Interzonal in Souser (+7=14, share of Qnd-4th places) and again qualified for the Candidates event, fier staning with a win in his quarter-final match wich ‘Tal (Belgracle}, he was leading 3-2 after five games. Bat then Celi- gore’s phy suffered a psychological slump, ‘whereas ‘Tal, by contrast, began playing with his former strength — and be won this difficult match (5434). “Naturally, the public sup- pomed their “Giga” - thar is bow he is called by his fiends and numerous admirers mn Yugoslavia Bur the match atmosphere — friendly and cordial ~ was eqpally favourable for both sides. And this was pomarily tc the credit of my opponent,” Tal later recalled. 43 Copyrighted MaterialGairy Kasparov on My GreatReadnomed armorial From the late 1950s Gligoric combined in tensive chess appearances with professional joumalism = for seven years he worked as a poltical commentator and reporter for a lead ing Yugostay daily, He also had enough energy te ike an active part in chess organivarion (1 think that it was me accident that the historic ‘Match of the Century’, USSR. v. Rest af the World, took place in Belgrade). Bur after the match with Tal he soberky admatted chat this was the limit of his possibilities, and from ahen on, despite participating in a further two Intereonal tournaments, be effectively opted out of the battle for the chess coown and plyed samply for plersute, while remaining a formidable oppenent for any yrandmaster. “This is shown by the following instructive game with Petosian, ‘The history of their indi- vidual meetings is quite bloodthinay: +11- 8519 in favour of Petrosian, who went ahead only after three successive wins in the mid- 1970s. ‘The Yugoskw had an overehelening score ‘with White (+5), bur suffered a disaster wath Black (+3-11). However, om that April day i 1970 it all turned out differently, Cramer 13 T.Petrosian-S.Gligoric Rovinj-Zapreb 1970, 5th roped fing fence F297 1 4 DG 2 4 96 3 cd Ag? 4 ea do £e2 0-06 513 05 70-0 Petrosian avoided his favourite 7 a5 4¥bd7 8 ig5, because his opponent was very confi- dent in his handling of the variation &..b6 9 fiht 5 10 dig’ 4b5. A month eather White had also achieved nothing after 8 We2? a5 9 Bi5 (90-0 eS with ecpaaliny) 9h6 10 Set Bit 11 ahd? Soe5 12 3 Bis 13 eds Bh with equakty (Petrosian-Glgoric, Kapfenbery 197M, 7.866 8 5 De7 9 bs (Taimanov's ener. gett move, which is currenthy very popular) 9...0h5 At that ame 9.e8 or 0217 was more often chosen, but Gligoric preferred ‘an active reply; Black begins a barde on the part of the board where he is stronger." 10 Hud AA nowelty, devised at the board expecially for his all-knowing opponent, Strangely enough, the move 9G NS was nor known to Petrosian: yet many garnes on this theme had been played in the ‘pre-Iqjiemate’ era, Nowa. days games immediately appear on the Inter: pet and thus the life of novelties is measured in hour, Modern professionals do mot have the right in be forgetful — it is ‘life threaten- ing!" ‘The following has occurred many times: 10 3 5 1) By5 (10 Stel Shes 12:5 13 gl go M4 Bids GBp6 15 ch hS M6 hS ET Mare lovie-Gligoric, Ljubljana 1960) 116 12 f4! (12bb 13 Be6 Binet 14 deeb of 15 bSt Taimanov-Gligonic, Sane Fe 1960) 13 65 bo 4 Prob Sixes 15 ded fig 16 haps Web 17 Bs Wee6 18 Binc? WS with equalnty (Pachman-Taimanow, FEavana 1967), Against Uhknann (Zagech 1965) att Gli- goric (Lugino 1970) Larsen unsuccessfully tied 10 cS 4464 11 dixf4 exit, The drow- backs of this plan were also revealed in the game Karnsky- Be: (New York rapidplay 194 12 Eich a5! 13 cxdé cat 14 65 15 Be7 axbs 16 Wa? dst 17 dxf des 18 Exb7 Was etc, But in the mid-1990s the main line emerged 10 Bet! becoming papular bangely thanks to 44 Copyrighted MaterialCopwinhted Materia Tigran the Ninth some wins by Kiamndk, However, here too Bick increasingly often achieves good play: 1025 (10,45 11 &ip5 is also at the cenme of attention) 11 bbeaS (11 dad 004 12 2 dest Kramnik-Gelfand, Dortmund 16) 1115! 12 D2 Gio 13 ch Bsad 14 cxdé cxdés 15 at Bb6 16 Bat Bud? 17 Wed? fret 18 bs B65 19 3 Ea8 with equality (Kramnik Smirin, Moscow rapidplay 2002), 10,..24 11 a4 Tf 11 3, then 11.85 with the idea of hs and ..y8-f6 is good, while Gligoric recommended 113 12 Ba3 a5 (125 is also interesting), having in mind Gike 13 tbeaS ZieaS 14 2b5 dd 7 (14_c62 15 Obey, 1405 15 b3 xb} 16 Webs AAT 17 Site Hag) 15 Gb} Had with a sharp struggle (Anand-Gelfand, Dortmund 1997). 11.5 ‘The pawn chains erected by the rwo players ate about to collapse, and then the bishops will disply their power. Therefore the cx- change 11.Aixe2+ 12 Wee would have been a minor vicwey for Black, giving him a per- Beetle accepaable after 12.5 13 25 fret 14 cxdf cxdé 15 @ideed B65, 12.413 “This move gave me a slight peychological shock, which sted some five minutes Pet- haps this bishop should have been exchanged? Having overcome my confusion, 1 spent twenty minutes searching for the best reply at this critical moment of the bande. And I found what was evidently the only correct move.” (Gigonc) Clearly being a follower of Tarrasch, the Yugotke grandmaster firmly believed in the existence of the best move in any position and in the fact that he was able to find it It was this confidence that helped him to defeat Pet- roan, who was racked by doubts ard dissatis- faction. 12...95 ‘The exchange 12..faed? 13 Bideed woukl have incladed the ¢7-knight in the ply — 13_4365, bus after 14 g3 Gih3+ 15 sy? Whiee would have driven the other knight offside and gained an advantage: 15.87 16 dip Bete 17 Bnet Wigt 18 Wet fixed 19 6 25 20 ibs, However, the move in the game also does fot solve the problem of White's domination of the chsquare, Perhaps, therefore, 12hhS? 13 05 Qs 14 5 iG was more promising, and only if 15 Jta3—15...g5t 13 exfS Sixth 14.937! A weakening, provoked by the fully under- standable desire to play Bde, after excluding thee variation 14 @ded2 Pihat 15 Malt (15 a5? @h3H) 1ScexM, which would debght the black bishops, But 14 det! and ib was more solid, maintaining White's influence on ‘events in the centre and quite geod prospects. 14, Edt? After profonged thought Gligotic sacrifices a6 Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My Great a pace in the style of Tall T thank that on this occasion it was Petrosian who gota shock imagine receiving such a ‘gift’ with the clock ticking away. 4 course, he expected Mh (14 Site 18 Fided dd te dbnp5t) 15 ig? and was not afmid of the dashing amack 15...047 16 Stxgt Soni? in veew of 17 taxi? het 18 2G Beas 19 Sed Dich? 20 Beet Dall 2 Sell, However, beer the unexpected manoeuvre 15.7! was found, giving Black sufficient counterplay: 16 iba (16 Pet: 16 bee ae 17 hs Sa ama 7 Pnd4 cxd4 18 Gib5 of! 19 Bad Boxes 20 We pt 2t Wd We? 22 Ba AS (Keeme-Kavalek, Teesside 1975), of 16 Seed gd! 17 Gh3 WeT (Mannion Sein, Las Vegas 1997) 45 gxt4 (thus condemns White to a difficult defence, but there is nothing else: 15 Sgt? kage 16 Wigget Bade2e! 17 Sie? 5, crapping: the queen) 15...0iata+ After 15..cx4, spare from 16 Bidet Bixi3+ 17 Wat} pt 18 Wl, transposing into a pose tion which could awe arisen in the game, it is also possible to play 16 Spt (16 Rete 17 Za3 jet) 16..6! (Geller’s recommendanon. 16..Bxptit 17 Wied G is not good on ac- count of 18 Adel! Qe2+ 19 Bruc2 fre? 20 Were? Sixal 21 gS) 17 Sexe Wrcf 18 Whit Dez 19 Freez tre2 20 Wee? Sexat 21 Det! with sufficient compensation for the -exchangr. 16 Wat3 46 Copyrighted Mat According to Ghponc, it was more cautioas to oy 16 Fini cxf (nor Mut? 17 Bing St dhnc3 18 23 Sig? 19 By3 and wins) 17 Jb? gf 18 ht, ‘rerurning che pece in ander 10 restore the balance’ (1K yxf3 19 Epet chs 20 Wei eS with equality), but 18 2hd4!? comes into comsilerabon, The immediate Lig! 8 more accurate, and if 17 Qh], chen 17 gf 18 WS 5 19 Tg) Lge 20 Sd? WaT 21 Bet Back with equaliry (Seririn). However, here too after 17 Dame exf4 14 Bde Black still has to sock real compensation for the pucce, 16...g4! Gligone’s pretty idea, although ir involves a risk, is parchologeally very effective. It is one ‘of those “Fal insrances', when the opponent finds a defence. after the gare. 17 en? ‘T did nor expect such a passive reply. However, such manoeuvres are typical of Pet- rosian’s orginal seve: in one of his games (4a greb 1965), with hus king on bY and pawns on (2, g? and h2 he unexpectedly pbved Wel gt, defending his h2-syuare and freeing his hands ‘on the queenside, where he mn fact decided the in his favour, writes Gligoric, recom mending 17 WS 25 18 Gided cxf 19 Sha (19 Bet BM) Sb? Bet and Wh4 with equabty) with the return of the 2 19..dexe4 20 Wet dined 21 Bas We wath equality, However, 18 Sleetl? exft 19 Ebi and 2b? comes into consideration,Copyrighted Material Tigran the Ninth I think, nevertheless, that 17 Whi? was noe ‘the fruit of Petrosian’s origial styte, bur the eonsrquence of exireme dissatisfacton wish: his play. Upser by the unexpected tum of events, he was umable to force hamself to solve some difficult (but perfectly solvable!) prob- Jems. “te is often debaed whar is meant hy a ‘chess player's “poor form", writes Peerosian. “T realised thar by hiding my king in the comer T would come under a strong amack, and yer other than a probable draw after 17 Wad cxf 16 ES 19 Bidet po Db aS hxc 20 Wicd Bxed 22 Echt Myst 23 Wis Wags Ot hhag3 Haft 25 Mw fa a5. 26 bead ExaS 27 Bet Aig6 28 Be7 Me5 20 ths Bact 30 Bg7+ hs 31 Sav Sigh 32 Sg7+ U preferred an exten: tally certain loss, Is it mot such an unforrunate choice our of several possibilities thar is an indication of poor farm” Irseems to me thar 17 Wal? exft 18 Pidet is more interesting (a3 has already been men- Sioned, this position could also have risen by a different mawe order}. However, Petrosian was hoping to liberate his queen from bl bp advancing his h2-pawn, but a convenient op- portunity for this wax missed on the very next move and was no longer present afterwards, 17...0xf4 18 £b271 ‘A series of bad moves, once it has begun, is sometimes hard to hab.’ (Petrosian) OF onurse, one wants to exchange the powerful ‘beshop at g7 as soon as possible, bur the place for the bishop was ar d2, where it could hawe defended the rook atl and given the queen the opportunity to came back inte play. Petrosian thoughe that 18 Za was best, bur after 18 Wh 19 Died eS 20 a2 Bs 21 Sel acd followed by eT, Hed, 14-61 and a move by the bishop from e3 White ‘would have had to find a way to avoid a caras- trophe on the back rank (the fnult lying with the Bgl and Whi ‘sweethearts, Therefore the immediate 14 @xle4! is correct, and if 18 Wht 19 Bd? Bed even 3 Bde 21 Ea is possible, while if 18.005 19 Baa Wea — 20 Bel Wy6 21 bat pxh3+ 22 Hh? 6 23 Eigt Becht 24 p39 Spt 25 ExcS! and Sige, Or 1863 19 dd? Wh and after 20 2ig3 bcd 21 Hel Ses 22 Bad Hack 23 Dal! White avoids the dangers by malking use of the tran- St point ¢3. 18.016 19 Stet Gf 19 die dsb? ae wh? then 20,..Wit! 2] 22 Wad os unpless. ant) 19...°3 (the trap snaps shur) 20 Sided A difficuit choice. “Black would abo have had a strong attack after 20 ha.” (Gligoric) He evidently had in mind 20_gxh 21 Gof (21 Wait? We5+; 21 Qe Wp5+ 22 eho Wess) 21 digg 22 Bid? (2 Bed hs) 22 Ws te. Ir was ako unattractive to ply 20 Soft el 1 Wel Wd 22 dd xb? 75 Sb? Eifél with the initiative, or 20 461 Whe 21 3 (this is better than 21 Ad) Ash? 22 Soub2 Wiel or 21 Hed hdd 22 Bact Hackl 25 2d Rave} 24 Dave Md3 25 hI Mxfl 26 Sxl 3) 21 Apt 22 Ba? Bact with excellent ‘compensation for the piece. Threatening a posable MWh3, shutting in the white queen for ever.” (Petrosan) 21 ha? ‘The direct meute te the seaffokL For some featon everyone has overlooked the move 2] @at, which maintains the inengue: 21Rxb2 22 Gb? Wh} (killing the resource h2-h3) 23 Bek act 24 Rect Bich 25 Bact (and if 25.85, then %4 43), oF 21..MH3 22 Ang? isp? 23 4g3 and it es mo apparent bow 47 Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My Great’ Black can exploit the stilemated position of the queen at hl. A more cunning idea is 21. Shot? 22 Sect (after 22 Belt duet 23 Bhct Bac boch 24 @c3 Sd? 25 Bat Rach! 26 incl Zse8 27 fixed Me, and 24 Brett Bixeli 25 ie3 Sve? 26 fed MR or 26 Hixe3 ‘Wie! arc dangerous) 22 Hack! 23 cho Werh6 24 Deke} Bes 25 b3! (but nor 25 Bed Bfes 24 Macl Sixed 27 hi? gi! 28 ined Bnet 29 Wei eft W bai? Heed 1 Mxed Bi and wins) 25.Wg7 26 hugs Rivet 27 Gives WeT 23 Who Hct with advantage to Black, although iris rather early wo speak of bim win- ning. 21.de6! 22 Bed fabo fatal is 22 Hdl Back, ot 22 hogt Watt 23 bf] Bcd 24 Live} dived 25 Reet Wed 26 Wott Wty (22...gxh3 23 Wald Aga! The queen is again driven into the comer, and the final agory begins. 24 Whi h2+ 25 G92 (5 SA Fay 26...Wh5! 26 Ad? Ada! 27 Wet 127 Hact Block mates with the elegant TT dhe! 28 Rha Bele 29 dig Wes 27..Ea08! 28 Deed Anb2 29 B93 Le5 30 Ban3 Gh8 31 bhi Mof 32 B11 ngs 33 Exga? Raed 0-1 Asevere paychological defeat for Petrensian! Incidentally, at the start of this tournament Gligoric also won a King’s Indian duel apainst Smysloy, and in the end he shared 2rd-Sth 4a aicaterinl places with Smysov, Korchaoi and Hor, be- hind the inrepressible Fischer, Petrosian fin- ished sixth, half a point behind the quartet, after losing only one game in the 17 rounds (see abowe). So should he have talked about his poor form? It was more probable that on that day he was simply not ready for a fierce Struggle — such a condition is familiar to pro- fessionals After becoming an intemanonal arbiter in 1972, Gligorc swbsequendy controlled a number of events, inclucling my matches with Korcknoi (London 1983) and Karpov (Mos cow 1984/85), Alas, during the days of the standalous conclusion te: the Mosewar march, which was terminated after numerous delays, he was unable to oppose the dicrate of the Sewict authorities and the FIDE President Campomanes. When, for the umptcentls time I demanded an explanation of whar was hap- pening, the Yogoslay grandmaster sadly la- mented: “You irvw, in this matter J am no more than a doorkesper.” Indeed, whar could the chief arbiter do here, if im Baguiry (1978) even the FIDE, Presideor Fue had boon un: able to defekt Korchnot agains Sovier ag: gremion? In my view, che is one of the tnu- les with madem world chess: genuine ex- ports have been pushed askbe by polisicians, 1 ply again Pieces — this os what Glgone called his book of selected games, exphining: “Chess is a strupple with oneself, | never play against the opponent, 1 play against his pieces.” The judgements of this chess fighter have not Jose their value even today: “Chess has entered a highly professional era. Every year hundreds of games thar are impor: tant for opening theory ate played. ‘Those who take part remlarty in competitions are obliged to process the constantly expanding informa- ben and to spend an increasing amount of time ar the board fimowr at fhe computer — C.K), analysing new pares and preparing for com- ing encounters. Your way of life has to be completcly subordinate 10 your chess activity. Bur all the same you can’t retain everything in Copyrighted MaterialCopyrighted Material Tigran the Ninth your head, and therefore many try 1a male life easier by restricting thetr opening reperotre. “Nowadays it not often thar one impeo- ites at the board Many aim to employ a definite variation, well prepared for play agamst a specific opponent. However, no-arse is guaranteed against opening surprises. In this case one is forced to seek the best sokugon at the board. On finding myself in such a sinaa- ton, | would tsually cope with the problems, by following the principle of “the decisive moment”: you have to find the correct, sorne- times even the only correct move or entire plan, chat will refute the opponent's idea. Usu- ally J was helped by the conviction that novel: es by ty opponents in variations well knawn to me were unlikely to be posttionally well- founded, and therefore 1 could and should find their defects ancl their refutation.” T should add hat Gligoric, on the basis of his own experience, considered the optimal age of a chess player po be 33-36, Brut poday, with the appearance of powerful computers and the Internet, chess is rapidly growing younger. There has been a revolutionary change, not only in the process of preparation, but also in chess thinking itselé: now there is line sense in relying, as before, on general evaluations of the type ‘unclear’ or ‘with com pensation’ ~ you have te think very concretely. Instead of deep reflection and philosophising at the board, what has come to the forefront a the ability to calculate intensively and to main- tain extrcme concentration ef thoughe throughout the game. Compurct programs help young talents to quickly acquire the nec- essary knowledge, since = tenacious young Memory can store a great amount of informa- tien, and deficiencies in positional understand- ing are compensated by precise calculation and the abibty to mainasin the tension of the struggle. By contrast, the beain of a player older than thirty, tied out by the constant effort, gradually gets rid of the information that is overfilling in and increasingly, in the interests of self-preservation, suddenly switches off ar the most inappropriate mo- ment. Ar the time when I am writing these kines, Svetozar Gligoric has already named 80, bat be is still full of spirit and is respected throughout the chess wneld. A modest litte Pawn Move Let us now turn to another variation which also bears Petrosian’s name = in the Queen's Indian Defence: 1 d4 @\f6 2 c4 ef 3 O03 b6 4 a3? of 4 Dc3 JLT 5 a3!? His contnibation here is possibly por so significant as in the King’s Indian, but in iss time the plan -with a2- a3 was a revolutionary step, This was also played by Simagin, bur ir was Petrosian who beeathed life inte this idea and pave it wide international recogninon, From: the viewpoint of classical chess, the move a2-a3 in the Queen's Indun Defence looks completely senseless. In fact it incorpo: fates a very deep peophylacec adea, By pre- venting JUbd, White maintains the pressure of the cA-hnight on the dS and ct-squares = ically, this is « stragele for the centre! ‘As for the bishop, witich is accustomed to the route fi-b4xcd, Mack is forced te develop it . That is, in destroys the flexible construction with M6, Witb7, —db4nc3, d7-d6, ..Dbd?7 and soon (Karpov and many other leading players play this constanth: they ssinnply lilee this Mlexable posicion), Hy deviating from the traditional Queen's Indian set-ups, White sharply changes the character of the play, immediately forcing the oppoacnt to solve the problem of control over the central sprue, OF course, during the intervening decades a number of ways of combating this cunning, venomous variation have been found, but even so 10 this day 443 (or4 eI LT 5 a} is mo less than the classical 4g, Moreover, in the 1980s there was even a pe- fied when the Petrosian Variation practically supplanted the Nimzo-Indian Defence and the Queen's Indian with 4 23, 49 Copyrighted MaterialCopyrighted Material Tigran the Ninth 7k? A. more critical alecrnacive is 7g6!7 - the fiedem interpretation: a hybed of two de- fences, the Queen's Indian and Griinfeld. ‘There can follow & 2b5+ (Bhi? Po hogayevsky-Koreknoi, London (984) 8ooi 9 Bd3 Bet 0 ct Biec3 11 breed cS 12 Bes Wd6 (Rasparoy-Korchnol, Ist matchgame, London 1983; my only defear against Korchnoil) or 9 Stat!? Sp? 10 of @inc3 11 bcd dat! 12 ha We7 13.65 Se? 14 es ho 15 Wet 0-0-0 16 Wed c5 17 Baz kbs with sharp play (Kasparov-Timaman, Amuecndam 1991). Largely because of this new reply, White lost interest in 7 €3. But for Smypslow —p7-g6 would have been too revolutionary! Besides, what is the difference: why not play .dle7 bere? 8 AbS« (ir is important 1 ctrate at leat a litte disorder in the black ranks) B..08 9 dd 05 Not a bad move, although later Black be- (gan avoiding the resulting posinons. After OL.(LO White invmedistely seixes control of the eentre by 10 e4 Breed 11 bxe3, which, bow. ever, & not $0 terrible. Hur the main salve is 9 2ier3 10 boc3c5 11 40 (Game Natt), 10 Gadi? (an addinonal chance; if 10 24 the simplest is 10..xc}, akthough there is also TO, vcud47t 11 Bod ened 12 5 with the initia tive) 10,,.Wd 5 A rigky sorte. It was mote cautious to play 10..cxd5 11 b3 with a minimal advantage for White: Video Wxcd Taner Mes 12 Abs be7 13 We? aS 14 Sid? was also tried, with an obvious advan- tage to White (Gheomghin-Karpoy, Moscow 1981). The position looks almost symenetric, but in the placing of the black pueces there ix a barely perceptible lack of harmony, and Petre sian begins methodically exploiting it. ‘12 £02! De6 13 Bet 13... Wd67t Senyslow makes the most ‘solid’ mowe on general grounds, failing to sense all the dan- gen lurking in the poster: a symmetrical structure ofter: leads to complacency, The only way to retain chances was by 13WS 14 We2 Eck (after 145d87 15 Rett Dat 16 Wade War 17 Wed End? 18 Stab7 Qxu3+ 19 dedi] Hixb7 20 Hct dds 21 hed Heh 22 Hel Black has an inferior endl game: 22 dd? 23 Bae fh 24 Bat, or 22.0.0 23 bet Det 4 Bet Bis 25 Htc? Hac? 6 Bc? HS 27 a4 bS 28 a5 a6 29 Bot) 15 Stet 615 bc3, then 15.85 and 0-0) 15_ Wd? 16 Bcd 5 17 dd 00 16 O40 Rds 19 Bhat Be? 14 We2 5e8 150-0 he Black has definite problems: 15_.g6 looks bad. Even so, pethaps this was dhe lesser cvil, although after 16 dc3 04017 Eid) WS 18 bet White would have retained a stable advantage, 16 Eid? 0-0 17 Led Whe Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My Great2padebbetbbaterial ‘The white bishops, mained on: the kingside, create obvious difficulties for Black: 17.85 (recommended by Peosian) 18 SthT+ (18 baa WhS 19 h7+ dhs 20 Bare Gib! 21 axbt fsf} 22 pf diy Mh 19 Ba? dat (19_ Gide? 30 hea) 20 Bed Heda 21 bt Wh 2? Bod wath a great advantage, close to. decisive, It follows that this symmetry is only appar- ent. Note the qualitative difference in the plac- ing of the tw sides” pieces, About the bishops it has already been said — Black's are clearly inferior we White's. The knight ar of is rather passive, and it would stand far beamer at ft, The black queen rushes abit the board, nee knowing where so go, It finally hides at b8, but here too White finds an elegant manoeu- vie. 18 Waa! ‘A simple move, but one of miurderoas strength. The switch of the queen to the king: skkc crables Whiec w obtain am irresistible attack.’ (Petrosian) Nowadays this manocurre has become typical, classical. It is not alno- pether clear how Black should defend his king, although at first sight there are as yet no direct rounds for concern, 18, ide Hf 18_.g6 Petrosian studied 19 ded, but it is ako good to play 19 Wg4 h5 20 @h3 Head (20..SAgs? 21 Sing6) 21 gd BS 22 et Redd 23 Bad Wea 24 Bed) Weed 25 pehs g5 26 Be3, of the very logical 19 h4l? (threatening 52 b4-h5) 19.45 0 Wed Wh? 2 bd Sith 22 Wed, in both cases with powerful pressure. It is evident that there are already too many weaknesses in Black's position. 19 Wed provoking more weaknesses; here too 1 ht was possible) 19...98 20 Wpd AB (if 20.0672, then 2t Maps! Gigi 22 ‘Whee Sis 25 Ray) 21 Wh 157 ‘The decisive mistake, catastrophically weakening the e6- and g6-squarcs. The last chance was 21.0512, although ir is most Ekely that this ‘terrible’ move was not ever consid ered by the rwo players: 1) 22 Stage fyi 23 Woot his 24 Wigs (24 Deed Bedl+ 25 Bod Bast 26 Bet Wes 27 Waph Give5 Is Whit pt 29 Bees Back WO Weé+ 218 is unclear) 24, Tad1+! (bur not MWeT? 25 Wie Sgt 26 Woe Gen 27 AveSt) 25 Had! Side 26 Whit with only per: petual check; 2) 22 Seal (0 think thar Petrosian would have phyed this, increasing the pressure on (7 and on the e-pawn) 22..Hxdl+ @2.c4 23 Phd Eadt+ 24 Rxdt Hes 25 Bam 23 Bact Bis 4 Bar W825 Wee 2.ulifod7? 26 Wapé+ hs 27 Wichst dey? 28 Watts Bh6 29 Mxe5!, of 25_Hud7? 34 Wrg6+ @h8 27 Wehi+ G7 28 Wats Shs, and bere 29 Woit @h7 30 Wh3+ yy a Wete SG 32 Sic5 Sixe5 33 Axes Rdl+ 4 Wat Wet is unclear, although the Copyrighted MaterialConwrighted Materia Tigean the Ninth uncommonly paradoxical move 2) Jtbje wins, for example: a) 20.20N3 30 Med Wat 31 Badal fa very pretty stroke!) 31.24 32 exdd Wid 33. Biot Hed? Wh7+ dps 15 Wet, oe AuuhgS 4 Wot hs 15 Wes: by Sida! 30 Wipe dif 31 What hip 32 Weed! Wot 33 Beoe diy 34 Wpr+ det 35 Rete G7 Ms Wall+ Sed 37 pa Rdt+ 38 By? Ws! Purely computer-tike: resource- fulness, unnerving for a human, but the ma= chine does not fear such counterattacks: after the continuation 39 2S G9 A; 39 hay 30_WEl+ 40 Gyh Wylt 41 Ges Wahoe 42 ‘Bet Whs 43 dips White's king hides from the checks and the outcome is decided by his pasted pawns, “Therefore after 25 Wy¥ here only remains 25,88, agrecing to a difficult defence after 26 Bixa+ (26 B52) 26 Wedd (or 26...d xc 27/3) Bf 28 Ags) 27 hal Wal+ (27 est 28 Wer Wat+ 29 Ser Bigs 30 bs hee a shxot and Worf) 28 Gh2 ct? (2A dri) 2) ef and dS) 29 Wal 9 Sid? Wy is unclear) 7.Hid6 WO BeS Gwe 31 hve’ heed 32 Wed Wal (32. We 35 What ye 4 Aixt7) 35 bY a6 Gif 33.25 or 33_thos, then 4 Wei) 34 at dps 35 Wi enc, Te is sunpeising how quickly Black (and this was the great Smysiow!) ran into very dificult problems already a move such as 21_e5!? had to be made, Tn fact, as T have already said, whar tells is White's enormous advantage in the placing of his pieces (say, the cfi-knight against the -knighe ir is clear that one knight is restricted by the other and has no future at all}. Tn addition, Block has lost the batele for the centre, 22 dod Dadi + 23 Badd a7 Black is still harbouring some hopes of a successful defence, but the folkwwing energetic blow dispels this lbusion, See hew spectacular the end of the game is = this is another refura: tion of the mth thar Petrosian was not very confident in complicated, highly tectical posi tions 2404! ‘The situation demands a decisive blow, and Petrosian (1 think, without particular besica- Gon) lands i. Tn the event of che direce 24 BAT? Eats! the white queen at h3 would have remained out of play, 24,1914 (not missing an opportunity to act- vate the queen) 25 Ze! It is probable that 25 EU7 was also good, Ibut there is no longer any need for this, 28...Wig4 After this some ample tactics prove deci- sive. 25 3Lf% was more tenacious, requiring ‘White to calculite some more complicated vanations. { don't know how Petrosian would have played after this, but the ‘hu- muntmachine’ combinapon casily finds the pretty 26 JixeGe! Qxof 27 exfa+ QT 28 fxgirt dngh 29 diate txt 30 WaT Side 31 Wert dg6 32 Hest dhs 33 Wis hg? 4 Wyse She 35 Ads For similar reasons 25 HB would also have lost, although here too White would have had to make several aceurate moves: 26 exfS! Waxed 27 fg6e ‘Paps (or 27d 28 g7 eh 2) Wei du w Edit Rdé HM Sines) 28 Root da? 20 Wis+ he 30 WehS+ QiB GOdd7 WH Bees) 31 Wis! Bait 32 Det Sie 33 Whos tek 4 Whose demi 35 Winst di7 6 W7+ exes 37 Wat, ‘Now ix all cnds mone quickly, Iris probable that by now Seyyslow was repulbed by the sight of his position, 52 Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My Greerciredepessanatorin| 26 oxfS! Wred 27 fxg6+ de8 [after Tibet 28 Beci+ 47 29 Bxoé! the white Anight makes a haghly effective fork at e5) 28 7 (the remandes is of mo interest) 28...05 QR.deuT 29 Mdt+ us 30 Wes Das 3 DeSe) 29 WahS+ Gd7 30 Bd1+ dG 31 neS dd 32 Gadd 1-0 So, prophylaxis — this is the way that Petro- sian solved opening problems. It is notewor- thy that the above games were played before he wor the title of world champion, that is in ‘hit peart Of greatest activity, when his creative eredo was revealed most vivdly. He aheays aimed to place hus pieces ideally, do everything to testrict his opponent's posstbilitics, and at the appropoate moment exploit the superior placing of his army. And he succeeded in this, even in barles wah the most cursmnding players of tus time! After his victory in thar USSR. Champion: ship Petrosian also performed successfully in the Interzonal toxmnament (Stockholm, Jams ary-March 162), sharing second place wah Geller, behind Fischer. ‘He played with oaly one aim — te fingsh on dhe first six. ‘This mask proved well within the powers of the talented Brandmuster. He, like Fischer, went through the tournament undefeated. “If Petrosian played more boklly, hie woukd be the strongest Player in the world!” Fischer said to me. In- deed, sometimes Petosian suddenly forgets about caution, and then he is terrible no be~ ‘hold, Gre can only hope thas in Stockholen be ‘was completely “sitting om the fence” and that on Curagao be will bea genuine chess “tiger! (Kotor) I don’t know about a ‘tiger’, Ibut in the manthon Candidates tournament on the is- nd of Cursgao (May-June 1962) be again went through without a single defeat, took frst place and finally qualified for a match ‘with Borvinmik, ow to overcome Batwinnik? ‘Tigran Petrosian’s skill in exploiting long-term positional factors is well koown, bus for many, even quite strong players, the very concept Sonp-term ional factor’ sounds vapue — for them in is something non-concrete, with- out any peecise mathematical base. OF course, everyone knows about concepts such as pawn structure or the weakness off certain squares, bur their significance fs often hand to evaluate, And in our age of dynamic chess it can happen thar no anention is paid w them af all, although ic is quine obriens that ‘one should value both a good pawn structure, ard the possiblity of cxploiteng weak squares, Bur the mov diffscule, 1 think, even for a very sarong player, is the ability po correlate all these long-term factors with the concrete dynamics vof the positon, Say, in the Chelyabansk Varia~ Bon (Led ch 2 403 Bes 3 db excl 4 Giecd N65 Pede5 6 Dabs dé 7 ps a6 B Ba} bS 9 Sst gxf6 10 a5) Black bas a yawning hole ar d5 plus a weakened pawn seructure, but in compensation he has a mass of dy- nama factors — hinw to comelate one with the athe? How to understand which is more im- portane? Er is here that many players un into: Peron was perhaps one of the first who feamed not simply to exploit long-term fac- tors, but also to subtly correlate therm with the dynamic fearuns of the position. He as though sensed where and when the opp fent's ininative would in the end evaporate, whereas the flaws of his adversary’s position would remain. One of the most characteristic s4 Copyrighted MatCopyrighted Material Tigran the Ninth examples is the famous Sth game of bis match with Mikhail Botvinnk (Moscow, spring 1963), As Petrosian hirnsclf writes, it was cx pecially memorable for ham; it was his first ‘win over Botvinnik in official events (the star of the match had gone in favour of the cham- pion: +123), and in addition he managed to win, $0 to speak, from level ground, World Charmplonship March, Moscow 1963, 5th game Ted g6 2 dd S46 3 2.03 d5.4 3 Bg? S 03 0-0 6 Le2 It is interesting that Petrosian should em: ploy such a quiet, modest variation agains the ‘Grinfeld Defence, in which Black has more than one way to oquulise. Hotvinnik chose the most direct. 6...decd The challenger had also reckoned on the main theoretical reply of that ime = 6_efi 7 04) bé 8 end xd 9 63 JUb7 10 S02 Pbd7 11 We2 a6 12 Bact Het 13 Ridt Wer 14 ‘WolF Bide 15 2A c5 with an excellent game for Bleck Gokolsky-Buranak, Leningrad 1938), having prepared the improvement 9) be! with the possible sequel 90h 10 a4 Hic# 1 at rnanagic, Sarajevo 1963), 7 dxed cB 85 06 Well of course! "If Black had wanted to ob+ tain a complicated position, be could have played 74Md7, transposing into Smyslov's interpretation of the Queen's Gambsit Ac- cepted, of else 8 eM followed by @di6. But in that period of the march Botvinnik happily went in for simplification, especially when he was playing Black" (Petrosian) 9 dxe6 Wadl+ 10 dxd1 Axe 11 2xe6 fxoG 12 G02 As Petrosian adtnitied, dusting his prepara- tions for the gate he wit not concemed about the prospect of this ending arising. ‘The most impatient of the press centre habiruds began no get ready to go home. Bar the retulting endgame very complicated. ‘White's pawns create a more favourable im pression, thanks mainly te the isolated black Pawn at eG. OF course, it is hard to imagine shar Whise will ever be able to creare a serious threat of winning it. Hut the fundamental de fect of an iscdated pawn is not just that it may become a target, but equally that the square ot squares in front of it may become strong Points for the opponent's pieces, One of the white knights will occupy an ideal posision at ed. (Petrosian) 12...006 Ther most naman mewe: Black assures that rapid development and piece activicy will mace than compensate for the weakecss of his e6- pawn 12.515 13 Bled (or 13 Dads end 14 Bai Md 15 &y5 Bas with equaliry) 58 Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My Grea. 132w6l? (the match bulletin) or 1307 was recommended, “although even in this case 14 Bal Rods 15 49g5 leaves White with a sight initiative.” (Petrosian) However, 1 think thar after 15.27 16 Gils Gibst 17 Gypet bb 18 Mbt Meo 19 ka? G5 20 Bed BAT and Bf Bllack has nes particular problems. Rather than the gime continuation, T also ptefer 12..hG!? OF cenerse, ints hard wo decide on uch a noedeneloping, purely prophylactic mowe, preventing the knight sorte to g5 (in fact this is ant Ulusney loss of tempo: after @ig5 Flack trust all che same spend time on ..e8, since after ..ct-c5 the light squares arc concha- sively weakened and the g7-bishop becomes “bad’), For example: 13 ed? 25 (13.26) 14 Sided Pit (14 Find: 14 bil 15 Bal Bas and 08) 15 Hdl Bact+ 16 Gucd HeS ot 13 HeS St 14 Bal Gas! 15 Sheds jhxeS 16 M4 exdS 17 feeS BS with double- cdlged play, In short, after 12.61 Black maintains the dynamic balance without difficulty, Bor it probable thar Kornnik did not even consider such a move. Why shoukl he? As ir is, Black has a normal, solid posinon. Its out of such mricto-insecurscies that a defeat is someumes 13 dt (a small phis would have been re tained by 13 DyeSe Rife 14 Hdl, when it was possible to phy 14.b6 15 Dyed Peet 16 ned b6 17 Bhi Bade 18 Bd? Bus 19 cd Bedi crc.) 13...Rada 56 Copyrighted Mat A-simpler altemative was 1390171? (Plobr, Petrosian) of, as before, 13..h6l?, preventing, the key manoeuvre 2ip5-e4, 14 Bxd& ExdG 15 gS! (ximing, with gain of tempo, for the chershed c4-square) 15...508 Te transpires thar the seirure of the d-file was illuserry (1505? 16 Broth is bad). 16 Siged Sixed ‘Preferable was 16.6 17 @hofiet Saft 18 Bet MyT (eT) (Perosian) | agree with this, but in any case it is already apparent that Black's dynamics have evaporated. However, the most probable outcome of the gare still remains a dra: the game cannot be won with conily the one weakness af eG and the good knight at e, 47 Sixed bG 18 Hbt (onhurned preparation for Sd? — 9 wanspres that Beck's pressure on othe Jeng diagonal is also ilhasory) 18...2ib4l? 19 Ad2! 19.205 ‘ie is clear that the variation 19. isa? 20 Bat Gilet Tt Abed cxbt 22 Hx? Bch? 24 2b7 would suit White: the opponent would be condemned to a prolonged defence.” (Pet- rostan) 20 a4 Ee8 (after 20.2 21 46 Bas 22 Bed White's chances are also slightly better) 21 b3 Af8 (Creating a tactical threat to relewe the simaa- ton by 22.04 23 Het xb 24 Exc&i b2 25 Bet bret W 26 Sescl a6 with copuality.Copyrighted Materia Tigean the Ninth 22 5c) ke? “The commentators unanimously con- demined this move, But later Black could have achieved approximate eqpuality, whereas after 22.07 25 Sp5 it would be not so easy for him to defend. (Petrosian) For example: DReT M4 eft ho? 25 h3 Eih 26 with the ides of 4Mf2-<13 and b3-b4 (Speclman) or 25 263 ib 26 Bed Pha? 27 bd, It was more interesting to ply 22.06! (Taf), in onder after 23 be cd 24 b5 axb5 25 axbS to create counterplay on the a-fide and against the bS-pawn. Black has nevertheless played his beshoye to 7, but the similar position after 16,..b6!? (with the knight at efi and the possibility of .cf-eS and EFT-of) wouk) have been better for him, That is, step by step he paves way and little boy lutke bis problems increase. And yet the player with Black was not some avcrage master, but the great Botvinnik, and chis was not the Moscow (Championship, but a match for the world crvwn. The positon is so com- Plcated thar finding the correct set-up at the board proved difficult even for the world champion! 23 ba! A commiting, but undoubtedly correct plan of creating a second weakness on the © file. Petrosian decided on it only after great hesitanon. 23.04 The advance of the e.pawn would appear Copyrighted Mat to give Black counterplay, bur this cuts both ways! on the one hand the pawn is passed, but on the other hand it is weak, 1f 23...047 the following kine seemed convincing enough to Petrosin: 24 bxeS bach 25 hd ibs 26 05 edt 27 hdd Baer 28 dct Baie 29 dic? 245 30 Bbl (1 would add 30 ddl), alchough after 27_@a4l 28 He? (bur mot 28 Buea? Hidd+ 29 BeS Ph? Spelman) 28_h6 29 Ha? x5 M0 Bch BacS+ Black gains a drow. ‘Whereas in the event of 24 Red! b6 25 bach iwc 26 a5 Ine would indeed have faced a teeli- cous defence. 24 6 Gt? It is probable that Botvintik underesth mated the following clever play by White against the c-puwn, Serious consideration should have been given to 24.0? (many commentators thought that 24003? was also acceptable, overlooking 25 Fxc¥ fia} 26 @d5, winrang) 25 He2 3! (Averbakh) 26 Bxcd Het ff 26 bet 27 baz Bot 28 Bivit Ect 20 Siti Bhat Pecrosian was ine tending 30 3%} 27 ddd Exad, for example: 28 a2 Deed 29 Dead inet U0 dyed Wes 31 Baa? Zxb5 (Petrosun) 32 Zh7 Hc5+ 13 dds b5, 28 Dit+ Geis 29 Sets dT wy) Ras ABd6!, of 24 Rd? Me7!, and although in each case White bas a minimal advantage, Black would have retained good drawing chances, 25 Bcd! Bad 26 Re2 Axcd+ (if 26.7, then 27 de5i and £d2) 27 Hxc3 dba 28 57Garry Kasparov on My Greatctgadeoaedotmerial 28.,.807? Probably the decisive mistake. It was also hopeless en play 24_dbe77t 29 Hd? <3 30 Pet Bet 31 ive} Bg 32 ddd b6 (P-H.Nicken: 32 fo? 33 ett Bead 34 Bet+ Be? 35 p54) 33 Ha? Eb (iwi M4 Met ded D4 15 Be2 with chances of converting the extra ‘The only defence mero was 2R_e5t 20 4a? c3 0 Bet Heb, for example: 1) 31 bit 32 dds Bhagat 33 bcd a hs Hc? 35 dene? Ws 36 ah 2 37 de? ot 38 Gd?! Sind? 39 dnd? debs 40 dead hot 4t Get and wins (Tal), cg 41hSF (Gpeckman) 42 bd! dead 43 eff ab 444 boaG bS+ 45 ddd dead 46 Deed ete (Dvoretsky}, bur ‘by retaining all the pieces Black can resist" (Petrosian: 31.hast 32 ded} Hast 33 dict Had 4 hh3 Ha 35 Be? Bal with a dere, 3) 31 ddd Bade 32 dct Ma? 33 bd Bac? (pot MMS? HW Bacdt+ fxd 35 Ged Bxcd+ 36 xc? Wes 37 he 38 ‘ed dixad 39 ca and wins, 2s in variation 1) M4 hee? ded 35 Buc dhicd 36 Gch eT! 37 #4 caf 38 cxf Sb4 39 pt Dead 40 Sack Eras 1 AB gen 42 pS sich 3 fh Reals 4 Broth Sule with a draw, of 35 Breck Bos 36. Bet Se7 with sufficient compensation for the pawn (Speekman). Indeed, after 37 et rbd SB Sd (36 Sic Sct) 8 dad 9 od dd (39_g5? Dvoretsky) 40.14 ex 41 exit a6 42 bxaé nah 43 65 px 4 ofS bot 45 bo PG $6 Fis N47 Dy ho 48 DN7 Belo 49 £7 ‘Hoo 30 AW doth 5) Phot ddd, or 45 ded bo 46 (6 Bad 47 £7 thod 48 Siy5 ho (no 4a dedS? 49 Bich? dee 50 WF Seats 51 Gite ches 52 Ha dips 53 Diese dha 54 2903 and wins) 49 2K7 Black gains a drow: ca) 49_sdedS S00 gS SAB St Doct Bol i bs essential t0 advance the pawn to b3; 51.5? 52 Shd7+ bid 53 hed ba 54 Ge dips 55 #2 and wins) 52 Da? b3 55 Gve+ for $3 Dibit Bes 54 ied WS 95 Pic chit 56 2 BE with adraw) 53 Gie6 4 Dyes hs 55 Ded ‘hes 56 Plots dita 57 te? dips 58 dea hes 59 ho dfs 60 dict dps ot ah dvs 62 ht het 63 sheet it 64 Geet dct 65 deyS eas $e 66 Dd? b2 with a dew; by 40.abUiTI (this is simpler) 50 (BW dx fh 51 Siete de? 52 Done deft 53 Giha bt 4 203 b3 55 deed HS of 53 Gard BS 54 Bed byes 55 Gig) be 56 thes bts 7 abd ded with a.draw, 29 Hd2t c3 Alas, the e-pawn cannot be saved: P_dind? WO) Mad? edit 31 deed dc 32 Ed? of 30_Bds+ 31 decd Hat 32 Bact, al- theagh, in Petrosian’s opénion, this eoak encl- yame would have given Hlack the oppornanity fora tenacious defence, 30 Sed fin5 31 dda BdB+ 92 dic Edt (32_Bu2 33 bby 33 Siee3 ‘The last chance was 33..dbnc¥, which is what Petrosian feared, since “the rook end- game, altheagh apparently so unpromising, ‘would offer Black his best saving hopes.” Truc, after M4 dxcd it is dubious 1c play both 34.0h1 35 43 a7 (a recommendation of the march bulletin) 36 bea! Hat 37 des Brat 18 dit esc, and M_ ds 35 Bim! Bat Mo Ba? Eset 37 Gch? Ha? 38 EHH Baf2 39 EG+ Bef 40 gai} with a won pawn ending. However, a rmore tenacious attempt is 4_g5!? (eschner), and the wirsning path is sll rather thorny. 34 Ge4! (Bronstein called this ‘a courageous decision’) 34,.ziahZ 35 dd4! (by renaming the pawn, White has achieved total domina- don: Bc7+ is threatened) 35..ed7 Copyrighted MaterialConyrighted Materia Tigran the Ninth 36 93 36 gt h5 37 Heit beget 38 Gifsr det 39 Pings BhS+ 40 hed (Petrosian) was also deci- sive, but in time-trouble che challenger played as safely as possible and comfortably con- verted his advantage into a win, 36...ib4 37 We5 ENS+ 38 G16 e7+ 39 S97 06 40 Zee! Sh1 41 ett ‘The sealed move. The adjournment sessian, which took place the following day, did not ase beng, 41,201 (410h5 42 aS) 42 BeG 2d3 (42, dbd(c3) 43 Hse5) 43 d+ bes 44 ‘Geb Be? 45 EeG Edt for 45,Hxad 46 2g with the varation 45..Qb7 47 Be6 bps 48 Ddse 49 Beit and ich Parosian) 46 DigS Hd8+ 47 dt7 Bd7+ 48 bg 1-0 In my opinion, this is a very significant example, After all, the quality of the games we study should always be padged in conjunction with the strength of the players (it seems to: me that thés is often ignored), Just think: such a ‘simple’ win over the world champion! How hard it was to weigh up those long-term factors in the position, if ewen Botviranik thought beforehane that he would gain a draw ‘without any problems, ‘The subsequent bathe im the match was very difficult, By also winning the 7th game, Petrosian took the lead, bat chen the initiative passed to Botvinnik. Alhough the opinion that Borvinnik exerted strong pressure seems to me to be an exaggeration, Nevertheless, in the Meh gane (Vober 2, Game Nall) by strength of will, so to speak, he broke Peero- sian's highly tenacious resistance and levelled the scopes. Many observers must then have bebeved that the deciding role would mow be plyed by Botvinnik’s colossal match experi- ence and competitive character (although a careful analysis shows that he did now have any substantial chances in this match). The tuming point proved to be the Lith game. | think it was the fact that Petrosian immediately took the lead again that finished ‘off Botvinnik, After that win, Botvinnik could hardly have expected that in the very next game he would not simply be defeated, but ourplayed in every respect in a complicated senagghe. Gane 16 T.Petrosian-M.Botvinnik World Championship March, 1 d4 O06 2 04 g6 3 Dc3d54 Wha On this cccason, in contrast to the Sth game, this is one of the most double-edged and ar thar time litle-studiod variations, inaro- duced by Botvinaik himself in a game with Levenfish (8th USSR f ip, Lenin- gd 1933). In the depths of his soul be was 59 Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My GrearFepgapemscnmte cig! probably pleased ar such a tum of events, but he soon cncoumered unpleasant problems, 4..dect 5 Wet Ag? 6 ef 0-0 7 bed e6 8243 d7 9 Led DbG 10 Web (10 a3 SF) 10, ho 11-d50? 11 2d would have transposed into a posi- tion from the sensational game Botvinnik- Fischer (Varna Ofympiad 1962), which con- tinued 11... Wi! (Modem 2, Gaser No?7), 11..0d7 12 Wad Axf3 13 dnt Oe 14 0-0-0 Sint Many suggested 1 c5 15 dxot Shec6, bat after 161 Wee 17 Se2 White remains with the two bishops and an active plan with £2.44 and ed-e5. ‘Borvinnik likes more secure posi- tions.” (Konstantinopolsky) 15 gxt3 Sb6 (if 15.6, then 16 dxe6 bxeé 7 ba! Bes 18 hs Wie? 19 for 17..n5 18 Fp 16 Wb3 16.0771 14... We was more fleaible, with the adea of 17 I 6! fan ‘X-ray’ on the e-file) 18 dé (18 BS end, or 18 debt Mae¥t and exdlS, in each ease with eqpulity) 1ecdi 19 Edi, and here por 197A (Konstantinopolsky) 21 Ba? (20 24? Seb! but nor 2h? 21 Eggi! hpi 22 dish Zick 23 ho with an arack) 20Had§ 21 h5, or 20..h5 2t Het! Sh? 22 Bell with the iniiive for White, but 19.5! 20 Bd3 Wes with equalicy (21 ft aco 17 h4t (not so miach even an attack, as an attempt to foree a weakness} 17.8 ‘The attempt succeeded! White has the ad vantage after 17.06 18 65 cudS (18 Sxc3!?) 1D haegt boyd 0 Skxbo! avbé 21 finds (Ron- santinopolsky) 21 Wed 22 abt Bide 23 Ws Sis 24 ak Wl6 25 Wabs 06 26 Wadler Edo 27 Pe3 with chances of corwerting his extra pawn. 18 14 With the obvious intention of continuing 18, 18...067! [eis strange that the commentators cid not mention the other natural underninng move = Tc6! The immediate 19 {5 is parted by the boki 19_ixcl! (Black only needs to de- fend his gi-pawn, and for this the bishop & not necessary) 20 Wexc} (20 bec3 cadS 21 fagé fag 22 exd3 Huc8 23 Eh! Sh7 is weaker) Bends 21 Bbt Wad (21 Slack 23 Wd) 22 60 Copyrighted MaterialTigran the Ninth 36 Ed2! An important move, and again in syn- ehrony with the machine! The exchange of a pair of rocks is weeful: nev it is exsie to ere- ate the desired addinional weakness on the qucenside, 36..Snd2+ 37 Bad? Bd8+ 36 de2 5 39 061 (an accurate continuation of the plac) 39...2d7 40 axb6 axb6 41 Hat bg7 42 The sealed move, and also a ‘machine’ move, forang the black rok eo occupy a pas: sive position, One has to admire, of course, the progress of computer technique, bur even mote so Petrosian’s mathematical accuracy. Ii is this logic which ean niw be explained to a computer: that és, all the moves so fir into a common plan, that they are understandable even to the machine. Cn the resumption there follewed: 42..8b7 (42_bS? 43 Zot) 43 Sab tte “The attempt 43_b5 44 Be ct would not have saved Black in view of 45 bal with the threat of e4-c5." (Konstantinopolsky) Or sim- Ply 45 bod beet (45..b4 46 Bell) 46 Hed etc. 44 BoB (Hiarcs suggests a dul solution ~ 44 BiB and Frite = 44 Zp, bur ehe key idea is the same here, and the evaluations are identi- cal) 44,,.2105 (Or 4427 45 Bibs Bee 46 dicT and wins, And here a distinction appears berween the (great player and a machine... from the last cen- nary. 45 bed! Withoor thinking! For a human it is olvwi- ‘ous thar if White goes chasing a pawn by 45 SiseS+ hxc 46 Bou? (46 ded), Black gains sounterplay — 46,./¢d4! ete, But an old ver sion of Hires spent a ling time straggling with this problem: variations with gain of ma- terial were the most difficult test for com puters of the 10s, and only an analysis of hundreds of thousands of variations gradually brought 45 eI! into frst ple. Need it be said that the modem Jutioe and Frice solve this Bittle pouben instantly! 45.007 46 Ec6+ 4t7 47 a6! [only Hiarcs insisted on 47 dct) 47.098 48 EY6+ dg? 49 ted be 50 SoG dH for 50.04 51 bed becd 52 eff) 81 Eanes: After winning a pawn, Petrosian exsily con- verts his advantage into a win. >. —_-. 6a Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My GreatePradecessorteors) 51... 52 Edi @e7 63 ded She 4 Ed6 b4 55 Sa6 SbS 56 Sa7+ web 57 14 ot8 5815 1-0 After then winning the 18th and 19th ames, Petrosian won the march by a score of 124-04 and became the 9h world champion: in the history of chess, Borvinnak admined thar be had been unabibe fo adapt to his opponent's surprisang, cautious and highly technacal srybe. “Petosian possesses a distinctive chess talent’ he wrote laser. “Like ‘Tal, he does noe aim to play “by position”, as it ‘gas understood earlier, Hut whereas Tal aimed to obtain dynamic positions, Petrosian created positions where events developed as though in aslow-motion film. It is hard te pet at his pieces: the artacking picors advance sewty and they pet stuck in the bog that surrounds che camp of Petrosian’s proces. If you finally suzc- ceed in cresting a dangerous attack, you either awe fds time lef, fatigue sets in.” ‘To the delight of the new chess king and all the contenders to the throne, from ehis cycle onwards FIDE abolidhed rerum matehes. “I consider this deciion to be comect and fair,” Petrosian declred at a press conference after the match, ‘After all, the challenger is pro- duced as the result of an objective qualifica- Gon process, Why after defeating the cham- should an additonal examination be at- ranged? If the challenger were to be produced without qualification, then the champions fight to @ return match would have to be ce- tained.’ How very true! The Challengers Mistake After three years of peaceful rule, Tigran Var- tanovich faced another difficult tear — a march for the erawn with the young and very dan- gerous challenger Boris Spassky (Moscow, April-fiane 1966). Ror a long mime players were of the opinion thay Petrosian played uncer- tainly in positions that were rich in tactical resources. And Spasshky based his manch strat- egy on this: with either colour he aimed to create complicated, double-edged situations, hoping that here he would be able to outwit his opponent. But the first half of the match quickly demonstrated ennvincingly to the chal- Jenger that he was wrong. After six draws, in the Teh game Spassky decided to employ an ikea, which has nowa- days become standard in matches for the world crown: he played one of the opponent's favourite openings — as Petrosian pur i, "in the hope thar, in fighting, against his cwn weapon, he would fight not ooly against real dangers, bur alse against non-existent ones," Alas, this pln suffered a complete fusca. Game 17 B.Spassky-T.Petrosian World Championship March, Moscow 1466, 7th game ‘Torn Attack DOI 41 i (foe dhe first and last time on the masch, the challenger avoided 1 of) 1.26 2 S63 06 3 AgSI? A surprise! As Bronstein wittly oom. mented: “Boris invited Tigran to play in the yard of the house where the barter grew up. In any event, this way of avoiding the quiet ‘Queen's Indian Defence is not sp hanmiless for ‘Black. 2.5 If 305 4 3, then 4b64 is weak on ac- count of 5 d5l, as in the games Pearnsian- 64 Copyrighted MaterialCopysiiphted Matacia Tigran the Ninth Korma (Munich Olympiad 958) and, surpris- ingly, ‘Yesupor-Karpov (4th matchgame, London 198). Also quite pood for White is 4,.Beti 5 Ghd? bo 6.3 dte7 7 a3 0.08.00 (Perosian-Tasrunov, Leningrad 1960), while if 4.896? he usully sacrifices a pawn — 5 Bhd? Wah? 6 Bxfft (nor 6 Redd 65 7 cf We5! Spassky-Miles, Thur 197H) &..gexf6 7 de2 with sharp play precisely in the style of Spassky! However, it is useful two include 3...h6Gl, as played Fong ago by Nimznwitsch (Paden 1, Game Noh), Alekhine, Botvinnik and later Karpov. The retreat 4 dthd ex Black's possibilities, while after 4 Axi Wait he has a solid pesition: the tao bishops compensate for White's spatial advantage Karpov de- fended in this way against Korchnoi after a different move onder — 3.6 4 ef bo (Hust- ings 1971/72) or 2 digS cf 3 e4 he (19th muichgame, Moscow 1974), and even despite these two failures he cwatinued to employ this exible plan. 4 Sbd? fe7 5 03 Sbd7 6 ddd cb 7 cd 7...b6 ‘The altemative is 7... e7, whereas 7.0407 is inaccunte on account of 6 eS! Fines 9 ebxeS Bd7 10 fat 5 (1016 11 WS 11 bat eA 12 Bed with an arrack: 12.b5 (12.5? Petrosian-Hannik, ‘Thilisd 1951) 13 443 Bes (1 14 Biy5) 14 pt bs 15 pei (15 Baer Petrosian) 1$exfS 16 igh par (16 thé) 17 bs! Shade? 18 Medd cxd3 19 hapt (19 Qeh7) 19.hag6 (19. dings 20 Bah) 20 Wald bucd 21 bxe3 29 dings WS 23 bs Dee 24 Weis G7 25 Get Zech 26 Basa! 1-0 (Petro sian-Lyublinsky, 17h USSR. Championship, Moscow 194), ‘Therefore Petrosian is not in a hurry to cas- te kingside, Such play based on nuances, the ability to determine the pdority in the devel- opment of the pieces = it is this that comst- nates chess aerobatics! 80-0 £b7 9 05 SixeS 10 deed Ad? 11 fa?! “Following a well-known course. Bur there isa very big “bur”: Blick has not yet cashed, and this denies White the opportunity to use the ¢S-pawn as an active weapon = on the contrary, it becomes a target,’ writes Petrosian. “More sensible was 11 dixe? Waxe? 12 (4, giv- ing up any annibitious plans.” This is whar White must play! After this Black largely chooses berween 120040 fil lowed by 17-6 (Garda Pedron-Korchnoi, Las Palmas 1981) and the show 12.86 13 exfti wié 14 cf 140-0 Gpasshy-A. Sokolov, Bugojno 1986) of 13 Wht WT 14 Wer O08 (LSokolov-Ivanchuk, Biel 1989). 11...c7! ‘More vigorous is 11..g5 12 tg h5, fore- ing 13.b3, when Black's positon is highly at- tractive.’ (Petrosian) “True, bur 13 fl bd (Klare-Geller, Sochi 1977) 14 02 is less clear, 12 23 (nor 12 Wie? eS 13 Ags Bs 14 bt 65 Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kasparov on My Great-@redeoes saat... hé or 13 dip HS ancl wins; 12 Wh5? Cruch) 12...h61 13 bAt? White is already forced t0 sacrifice a pawn for the initiative. Incidentally, this was the ac- tual game continuation, rather than 13 Mp3 g5 14 ba, as pewon in the fine volume of bafrmater and in Colin Crouch's book Haw: a» Def i Gren (2000), 13.951 Bbck also launches an attack, avoiding Verb 14 oxb4 Stabe in view of 15 xls, and “for the moment Black's extra pawn does not play any serious role, whereas White's at- tacking chances, iewobring Wit(hs), Hel, det and £26445, are more than real.’ (Petrosian) Here Spassky would indeed have been in his element 14 Bg hs 15 ha ‘After the natural 15 3, in view off the in- evieable, sooner or later, g5-p4 White would again have been unable to hold his e5-pawn.” (Petrosian) Also possible 1 the immediate 15g 16 hued bpd 17 Din? Sive5 18 Sk b5e (U8 Gepd Bal 19 bacd bxch 20 Gives Raed 20 dived Wares 22 Watt 28! is no better) 1B 19 Ppt Bd 20 Bag (20.24? Sweetin) 21 Wigt 1 and 87 ‘with advantage to Black. Instead of 17 4th? Tal suggested a bokd piece sacrifice — 17 xb cot 1B cub, As Suetin put it, Sin a match for the world cham pioeship such an extreme decision would pot 66 Copyrighted Mat by any means occur to everyone.’ And indeed, after 1oudsb4t 19 Bet (19 Wage 20) 10 Wade 20 Wap Bet 21 Wy? Bik 32 bea ibe and did? Hack can repel the atmack and remann with a decisive material achvantage. 15...gahal ing the p-file. After 15.94 Petrosian did not Bhe 16 @\p5 Bie 17 +, but in addidon White also has counterplay after 16 Od? PweS 17 bed bed 18 bse bs 1928 (Surtin). 16 £4 (bur not 16 Bch4? cf 17 hed Baht 18 dish Wre5) 16...0-0.0 “Black fearlesshy castles into the fire of the enemy baneries, rightly assiaming thar his at- tack on the kingside ‘ill prove more rapid and. dangerous.’ (Tal) An unteresting alterative & 16H 17 pxhd {07 3? heft) 17.0-0-0 18 a4 (18 bse bse 19 ‘Wad? dat) 18.600? 19 ext dé (Croach) with the initiative for Black, for example: 20) Sixd6, ‘Writ 21 a5 of 22 axbé axbi! 23 Bc? Bate 24 Wilt Ddgte 25 Pht Sigal and wis. Ba aa? fhe general opinion was thar 17 bocd bad 1a hn ‘was necessary, bat Petrosian woukd have been unlikely to agree to the opening of Play on the queensde and would almost cer- tainly have rephed 17.fwe5!, since Black's: amack on the gefile is far more sericus than White's mon of the » For ex- anple: oss (18 tee sista Ey, —BihgS and Set) 18.@d3 19 Wadd Wel,Copyslighted bMatecia Tigran the Ninth then ..Eh{d}gi ete. 17...0f! A procedure which has become standard. Hlck blocks the queentide, by which he nips the opponent's imitative in the hud and se cures the safery of his king, freeing his hands for play on the g-file (and in sume cases also for ...8-g7, winning the e5-pawn}, Petrosian ence again subaly realised thar White's posses sion of the d-square would not give him any: thing. The abibty to weigh up such factors of different scale is precisely what distinguishes preat players. 18 de2 ‘This leaks to an urusual impasse, but the tactical stroke 18 2.6! recommended by many commenton, would also not have helped. “If Black swallows the bait = 18.cxf 19 o6 fds 20 Beecd6 Whad6 21 ex 74+ Eocdl7, he is already two pawns up, but after 22 dal White's chances are in any event no worse (thir it questomable tm riew af 22_h3! 23 geht Ay 2? Bockt and WA in apparent more memaioas — GAL It is curious that Spassky saw 18 JUG and he pointed it out immediately after the game, Bur he decided against playing his bishop to h3 (if Black avoided taking on 6), where it would hare been not very aestheti cally pilaced, resemblicys some kind of strange, Large pawn, However, at hi the bishop would have fulfilled the important function of de- fending the g2-pawn.' (Petrosian) Hut things would not have come to this, Black replied 18.d4! 19 cast (19 Poult ShS a6} (Lexi 20 eG dé Met 21 exd?+ Eid? 22 b5 Wd5 is also bad) 21 exd7+ Hind? 22 Sadé Wado Bil! 25 Beott? dds 26 DG Wai or 25 D9 ‘Wo! and wins) 24 Wee! 25 3 WH! or 25 5 ‘Wd 26 8 Wed ete. 18...061 The point of Black's idea. After this move the opponent is unable to create an attack, and the play is now all one way, 19 dh] SdgS 20 Zgt So4 21 Wiz White also hax a pitiful position after 21 ‘Da? Suctin) 21 gh 22 DES Whps folkrwed by ..AW@8-f8-g7 and the chrear of ..h4-h3. 21.,.Bhg8 22 a5 bS 23 Zad1 23,,.u/81? Hining at the plan 24_f 25 exféc5, ‘The 6F Copyrighted Material= ‘ Tigran the Ninth followed by Wh3 or Wa7+) 40.04! (the final breakthroeaph: 41 fred £31) 41 Wd Here the game was aeljoured and Hlsck sealed his next mowe. 41... Oar? A human decision instead of the machine- like 41_MWd7! or 41_We5, It is suprising that, with such an abundance of winning moves available to his opponent, Spassky did not resign without resuming. 42 fxg 13 43 Bg? ‘An ilkfated took,’ ‘Tigran Vartanovich sympathsed. ‘Ie did not in fact bring any benefit to its army, and now in desperation it Sacrifices tself, witheut saving anything.” 43..0eg24 (or 4321+ 44 Eyl Who with mute in seven moves), and in view of 44 ‘he2ing2) WH White resigned. ‘One of my beer games. It demonstrates my creative views < the utmost reemiction of the opponent's possibilities, strategy over the en- dice beard, the surrounding of the enemy king, and the grachal tightening of the encirclement around ie.’ (Petrosian) A warning signal for the challenger! How- ever, as though mohing had happened, Spassky continued 20 draw his opponent into: complicated, dynamic positions wah a wealth of wnusual tactics. Anel | think it was only the lessons of the Weh and 1th games chat helped him finally to draw up the comect match strategy (however, there was no longer enough time for perestroika, and he succeeded an solving the “Petrosian riddle’ only in the 1969 merch). World Championship Match, Moscow 1966, Joo game 4 S43 S46 2 g3 of Sod 2g? 4 dg? 0-0 5 0-0 Se6 6 Se3 db 7 da 06 Bd5 Sao 22 oh 10 We2 10...05!? Nowadays the traditional M208 is fash- ionable again At that time this variation was only just gaining in popularity, which reached ios peak in the bste cighaics to early ninotics (al- though oee ofinin sees a knight ar aS even sow). Its theory has now advanced very far — to the Ahh-25ich move, and Black's mctical possibili- ies usually compensate for the ugly position of bis knight on the eclge of the board, But at that time HLeS was considered the most critical moe: after blocking the centre, Black begina Preparing 17-65 and Wub7b5, 17 bS (11 a3? and 12 bé is more active) 11.2394 12 04 ‘Since on the qucniite: Wake Is sticking ta defensive tactics, he must seek counterplay on the kingside.* (Boleslavsty) 12.15 13 ext5 gal 14 Sd 1? ‘blectively che caucious 14 ith? seces Copyrighted MaterialGarry Kesparoy on My Grees-Fredecassars aria better sfodbund iy Buel ond Aidt — GK) Bat Petrosian’s idles is very interesting and is dis- Gnguished both by ies strategie depth, and by its far-sighted psychelogieal intention af crow ing the enemy fire." (Suetan) 14...b5 “Unsuitable is Med 15 db? ddd? 16 Bbod4 cad 17 b4, when White wins a piece.” Guctin) Bur after 15 dexb2 16 Web2 b5. Black has an acceptable game, for example: 17 e318 Bt eS 19 Fixc4 4 ere. 15 (at? Although Black has enanaged te play both ATS and 67-65, White is relying on the fact that he will nevertheless have a definite advantage on account of the bad knight at a5, anc he takes a double-edged mowe. ‘In the same provocative manner. Grom the stand- pein of restricting the opponent's counter- play, 15 dib2 was better,’ state Suetin and ‘Vasyukov, while Boleslaysky adds that ‘after the possible sequel 15.20b8 16 0 66 17 ed Bhs 18 Bet it is mot easy for Black to find an active plan.” The critical position. If 15.“h6 16 dtb2, ther 16.0441 17 gt is co White's advantage — be gains the cf-square for a lenght and the second knight will support it from £2. His po- sition is the more active, aldhough the fact thar it is halfopen keaves Black with counter- chances. Hut Spassky basically wanted to open up the game as soon as possible and provoke a enisis, so thar the folkwaing move is fully in accordance with his match strarcgy: 16,0471 ‘Both during the ime and immediately af- terwards, it seemed that this thrust was narural and strong It would appear that White's seemingly passive play should allow Bleck to take the mast vigorous measures, disregarding any weakening of his posstion. But the qurs- ton is: is not Black's initiative illusory? “The course of the game shows that i is far harder to breach White's position than i might seem. Ard it is this that demonstrates the world champlon's great far-sightediness.' (Suctin) 16 Sb? OF course, not 16 feed? Bxal 17 ext Sid4+ 18 Wh) Saf and White does not have sufficient compensation for the exchange. 16,..exf3 17 Axtd 17....dimbz In the opinion of both Suctin and Burgess, 17_G4e5 was better, retaining the g7-bishop for the defence of the King against artacks on the g-file (after 15-f4 and gxff}, However, this does not change the character of the play, for example: 18 Sp? Wp 19 212 £4 20 peta ‘Wels 21 Dies We 22 Sh with advantage to White: 22...hi? 25 dich} Wohi 24 Zeit of 2286S 23 Bact Wh 24 43 and, alter the exchange of a pair of minor pieces, the remoteness of dhe aSlenight begins to play a decisive role, Therefore Spassky hurries with: his counterplay, hoping for ..f5-f and a7. gr 7a Copyrighted Material