Remembering Petrosian!

I was introduced to the games of Petrosian through Mihail Marin’s book Learning from the legends where he focused on exchange sacrifices by the legend. By restricting opponent’s pieces and sensing the danger from afar, Petrosian combined his strengths and went on to become a world champion!

Chess.com's lesson category has a Guess-the-move feature called Play Like Petrosian. I highly recommend that you try it out. 

On this day in 1929, Tigran Petrosian was born. I thought of sharing some of my favorite moves from the games of Tigran Petrosian.  In addition to his play, his life is an inspiring journey in itself. Read more about his story here. 

Some quotes from Petrosian that I like: 

"Never make a move without an idea! Even in blitz games, think" - This was told by Petrosian to Gelfand. 

“In general I consider that in chess everything rests on tactics. If one thinks of strategy as a block of marble, then tactics are the chisel with which a master operates, in creating works of chess art.”

"Chess is a game by its form, an art by its content and a science by the difficulty of gaining mastery in it. Chess can convey as much happiness as a good book or work of music can"

"Some consider that when I play I am excessively cautious, but it seems to me that the question may be a different one. I try to avoid chance. Those who rely on chance should play cards or roulette. Chess is something quite different."

I heartily recommend Petrosian's book "Petrosian's Legacy" to every chess player. It is a must read filled with full of wisdom and interesting game annotations. 

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Thanks a lot!