Tigran Petrosian Python Strategy

[Wayne Komer]

Tigran Petrosian Python Strategy

Quality Chess has an entertaining blog by Jacob Aagaard. He has recently been writing about a new book of Petrosian’s, стратегия надежности (1985), writings which Quality calls “Python Strategy”. Here is the blurb on the book:

Tigran Petrosian is a titan of chess history. All agree he was a genius of strategy, defence and sacrifice, but didn’t he take too many draws? Possibly so, but when Petrosian selected and annotated his best games, that flaw disappeared, leaving only brilliance and profound chess understanding. As Garry Kasparov said: “My games with the 9th World Champion broadened my understanding of chess. Had it not been for these two defeats, I would possibly not have reached the top in chess.”

This book is an English translation of a Russian classic that is a favourite of many grandmasters, including Mihail Marin and Levon Aronian. A literal translation of the Russian title might be ‘The Strategy of Soundness’ but Python Strategy is a better fit for Petrosian’s more ambitious games. As another World Champion, Max Euwe, once wrote: “Petrosian is not a tiger that pounces on its prey, but rather a python that smothers its victim.”

Tigran Petrosian was World Champion from 1963 to 1969, as well as a superb team player for the Soviet Union. In Olympiads he won nine team gold medals and six individual gold medals, winning 78 games, drawing 50 and losing just once.

ISBN 978-1-78483-002-1 - 392 pages - Expected Release Mid-June 2015

http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/produc...ran_petrosian/

If you have a few minutes there are other things to read at the site including a discussion of the time increment and the blue and red book collections of Petrosian’s best games. ChessTalk readers will remember the discussion of Petrosian game collections from the thread:

http://www.chesstalk.info/forum/show...ight=petrosian

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Tigran Petrosian Python Strategy

Tigran Petrosian Python Strategy

From the Compiler’s Preface to the forthcoming book:

In December 1983 Tigran Petrosian finally decided to write a book. He agreed to do so when
urged by Viktor Chepizhnoi, the chess director of the “Physical Culture and Sport” publishing
house. Chepizhnoi’s arguments were convincing, but the Champion already understood perfectly
well that the moment had come: he had already collected and classified practically all the games
he had ever played (they came to around two thousand). For roughly a quarter of them, annotations
had been written, albeit in a compressed (“Informator”-style) arrangement.

For this book Petrosian wanted to annotate roughly 30-40 more games; together with those
published earlier, these would constitute the nucleus of the work. But his life took a different
turn. Tigran Vartanovich had been feeling unwell for some time. His play was off form, his games
showed some strange kinds of errors, some inexplicable blunders. An examination showed that he
was incurably ill. His robust frame endured two operations and he returned home. New plans, the
desire to play, to write, to work... Up until his final moments he didn’t realize he was dying. Word
came through that Petrosian had been admitted to the Interzonal Tournament. He asked his wife
Rona Yakovlevna to find out where and when it was going to be. He was already back in hospital,
his strength was giving out, but he refused to believe he would not get up again.

On Monday 13 August 1984, the ninth World Champion breathed his last.

The book that Tigran Vartanovich would have written might well have been quite different from
the one before you. I merely know that he did not want to alter anything in his old annotations,
which reflect the spirit of their time. He wished for chronology to be strictly observed...

From the most varied sources it was possible to collect an extensive amount of material, the
majority of it written by Petrosian himself. A number of games are annotated by his closest
assistants Isaak Boleslavsky and Igor Zaitsev, and also by some other Grandmasters. In what
follows, all games are annotated by Petrosian unless otherwise stated at the start of the game.

As a rule, Petrosian’s annotations were written “hot on the heels” of the games – for bulletins,
special issues, magazines. In preparing this book he didn’t want to adapt them to a present-day
format. Hence expressions like “the investigations of the past few years” must be taken as relating
to the time when the game in question was played. In some cases where the notes to games were
incomplete, the compiler or editor introduced some minor corrections, additions or alterations.

The introductory articles were written by people closely acquainted with Petrosian. Grandmasters
Nikolai Krogius and Svetozar Gligoric spent many pleasant hours with Tigran Vartanovich; they
took part in many chess battles together with him. Nikolai Tarasov was linked to Petrosian by
long years of friendship. They both put much effort and energy into reviving the publication of a
chess weekly. The first issue of 64 appeared in 1968. Petrosian became its first editor, and Tarasov,
a journalist by profession, took charge of the young editorial team.

I am sincerely indebted to Rona Yakovlevna Petrosian, who greatly helped in the collecting of
material for this book. I hope this account of the ninth World Champion’s contribution to chess
will make for interesting reading.

Eduard Shekhtman