How Tigran Petrosian Managed To Stop Chess Time

As we start our journey in the magical world called chess, one of the very first things we learn is the ultimate importance of time. "Each move should have a purpose," "Don't waste time," and "Develop your pieces as quickly as possible." These and other similar quotes can be found in any chess textbook for beginners.

As we get stronger, we also learn that it is a very common chess strategy to sacrifice some material to gain time. GM Mikhail "The Magician" Tal once quipped that the time he didn't have was more important than the pieces that he had, and therefore, he was happy to trade his pieces for time. I don't remember the specific game he was talking about, but it could be the following famous masterpiece:

This game is an excellent example of a classical strategy: get a powerful center and good development in the opening, then open files and start an attack against the opponent's king. Yes, at some point, this strategy cost Tal his queen, but he was happy to sacrifice it to achieve his goal of speeding up the attack.

Now imagine that a chess player does just the opposite: he gives his opponent a lot of space and control over the center, and instead of developing his pieces, he moves them to the initial positions, almost as if they were setting them up for a new game. What would you think about the chess skills of such a player? Before you answer, let's take a look at the following game:

Look at the position after Black retreated his pieces by 10...Ng8 and 11...Bf8. White has a lead in development, much more space, and a better center. Besides, his king's already castled and, therefore, completely safe.

But what can Black show for all these disadvantages? Practically nothing. Yet, miraculously, GM Tigran Petrosian won this game! Notice that he was playing it against Pal Benko, who was one of the leading grandmasters of that time. Besides, the game was played in a Candidates Tournament, one of the most important tournaments in any grandmaster's life.

So, what happened in the game, then? How did Petrosian avoid being demolished?

While White indeed had all the textbook's advantages, Black had something that changed the situation completely and essentially nullified White's advantages. The secret ingredient of Black's strategy is that the position was completely closed, and therefore, White couldn't possibly start an attack.

So, Petrosian slowly finished his development and eventually outplayed his opponent. This situation, when classical rules of chess suddenly stop working, reminds me of a mysterious space object, the black hole, where theoretically time slows down and almost comes to a full stop.

Petrosian was one of the first chess players to understand that chess rules work differently in closed positions. Just like Albert Einstein, he created his own theory of chess relativity. While I am not sure if the Theory of Relativity can be explained in very basic terms, Petrosian's version of chess relativity is easy to explain (but not play!)

Firstly, you close the position so the opponent cannot open any files. Then you maneuver, slowly improving your position, and annoy the opponent in the process! Petrosian even had his pet variation in the French Defense, where he demonstrated his theory on a regular basis.

The Winawer variation of the French Defense is a very interesting line, which usually leads to a very tense fight. Who would forget the following legendary game?

That was typical Tal: sacrifices to speed up his development and open files, followed by direct attack against White's King. Even though the game was drawn, it was probably one of the most exciting draws in chess history. As Fischer put it in his book "My 60 Memorable Games," Tal set off a dazzling array of fireworks! 

Now, let's compare it to Petrosian's treatment of the same variation. Just try to guess Petrosian's following four moves, and please mention in the comments how many tries it took you to get it right. If you managed to guess all of them in 30 tries or less, you can be proud of yourself!

Notice, I don't insist that these four moves played by Petrosian are the best; they just illustrate his theory. It is almost like he tried to break every single known rule of opening play there. Here is how the game ended:

If you think that was an outrageous play by Petrosian, you have seen nothing yet. Just check the following game:

In the position shown on the diagram, White has practically finished his development, castled, has a nice center, and has more space on both sides of the board. Black has just one developed piece, the e7-bishop. Yet, about seven moves later, Petrosian already had a huge advantage. Isn't it some sort of sorcery?

Here are more examples of Petrosian's laughing at the classical rules of chess in general and the importance of time in particular:

Now, when you are familiar with this unusual way of playing, you might ask yourself, how can you use it in your games? And that is a very difficult question to answer.

Basically, it is the same as asking how you can use our knowledge of black holes to improve our life on Earth. The most probable answer is that unless you are a scientist, such knowledge probably doesn't have much utility in your everyday life.

The same can be said about Petrosian's way of playing his chess version of a black hole. It is fascinating, but unless you are a very experienced player, you just don't do it in your tournament games.

On the other hand, if you want to annoy I mean surprise your opponent with the Bongcloud or similar junk, play Petrosian's line instead. It is more fun, and you can also learn something in the process!