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Tigran Petrosian vs Carlos Guimard
"Tiger Tales" (game of the day Dec-15-2012)
Gothenburg Interzonal (1955), Gothenburg SWE, rd 14, Sep-07
Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation. General (D37)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Nov-12-12  Anderssen99: OhioChessFan: White has 57.Qd6+,Nc6 58.Rc1,Re1+. 59.Kh2!!,Rxc1. 60.Bxc1,Qc3. 61.Bf4!!,Qg7 (To prevent 62.Qc7+. If 61...,Qxb3?? - to establish material equality - then 62.Qc7+,Kb5. 63.Qb7+ wins the N.) 63.Bxh6 with an easy win.
Dec-15-12  Kikoman: A beautiful move by White h5!! :D
Dec-15-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Richard Taylor: I tried to work out the whole combo in myhed so tosapek adn itwas veryhard to remeber aht hte c5pawnws and where the knightwas but it was possible. But OTB it would be almost impossible without an hour to spare. But it was a great combination using positional and tactical nous. Petrosian was quite young then so maybe he dis see most of it. Very creative.

This shows he had a deep overall view of chess (as do all the great players). Spassky even said (notes about Tigran on here)you never knew when he would play like Tal.

Could Tal play like Petrosain and Botvinnik? Probably but his "bent" was combinations.

Yes h5 undermines White's k-side

[Another amazing game is Fischer -Petrsian that was a draw but both players got two queens!

Dec-15-12  Abdel Irada: <dabearsrock1010>: I knew the Bears were among the oldest teams in the NFL, but I had no idea they were *that* old.

Then again, I never considered that perhaps Pope Sylvester II proclaimed the NGL (National Gladiatory League) in A.D. 1000 as an act of thanksgiving because the world didn't end, pitting the Bears against the Pagans in Gladiator Bowl DCLXXVIII. Then, upon his election, Pope Sergius IV carried on the tradition with slight modifications, resulting in the earliest NFL Thanksgiving game.

Dec-15-12  morfishine: The Tiger sure earned his stripes with this game
Dec-15-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Richard Taylor: <backrank> Yes, I was wrong, I looked this game up in the book by P H Clarke of Petrosian's games and it is 20 moves and Petrosian did indeed calculate all the main lines including that finish to 20 moves!

I've seen a combination by Emmanuel Lasker that was calculated 25 moves.

There is Kasparov's great game of course and a number of others

Dec-15-12  Abdel Irada: <morfishine: The Tiger sure earned his stripes with this game>

That's it. You've used your allotment of puns for today.

One more, and ... let's just say you won't be joking about "stripes" any more.

[Cracks bullwhip]

Dec-15-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  maxi: Perhaps this one and Petrosian vs Gufeld, 1960 should be among Petrosian's Notable Games.
Dec-15-12  morfishine: <Abdel Irada> All kidding aside, I think Black's position is free enough and he possesses force enough, that there is an improvement, namely <42...Ree7>

The idea is to activate the passive Queen rook by swinging it over to the King side

Dec-15-12  Howard: Not to brag, gentleman, (I ain't that kind of guy.) but I personally was the one who nominated this game for GOTD. But I CANNOT take any credit---if you look at the kibitzing for Petrosian--Spassky 12th game, 1966, someone named ARKIN strongly recommended the Petrosian-Guimard game. So thank HIM--not me.

But then I'll admit this---I've always been a Petrosian fan, so my nomination did contain some biasness.

Dec-15-12  kevin86: Tiger Power!
Dec-15-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  PawnSac: Well, black IS up a knight, so one can understand his trying to avoid the draw (60. ..Kb5 61.Qb7 Kc5 62.Qa7 Kb5 etc.). It’s just unfortunate for him (and lucky for Petrosian) that Na6 falls to white’s last remaining resource in this beautiful contest. Going toe to toe with Tigran is like wrestling a bear. I suspect Guimard was exhausted and caved in at the very end. But even if it ended a draw, it would have been one of the most exciting draws in history.
Dec-15-12  Gilmoy: Black's Ns get beautiful outposts at b4/d5. White's play is quietly startling: he lets it happen, ignores them, and lurks on his own Qe4 outpost. Slowly it dawns that Black's advanced Ns are a flaw, or at best an incomplete grade: he has no open lines to inject any follow-up sorties to benefit from his Ns' forward control. So his Ns end up in his own way, and his set-up lacks oomph. Be careful what you wish for!

With time and patience, White's QN takes a mazy tour: <2.Nc3 16.Na2 17.Nc1 23.Ne2 25.Ng1 26.Nf3 30.Nd2 40.Nf3 45.Nd4> (where it becomes a sac-bait). It's fairly amazing that Black never could create a threat during this, but that emphasizes Black's passivity.

<27..h6> is like ice melting: it telegraphs Bg5. <30.Nd2> subtly devalues that: it turns h6 into a pure structural weakness. White already plans the "sac" of R for B+P+long diagonal, which further devalues Bg5 itself: it's a (tempo) trap! After <37..f5> Black's K-side has sprung leaks. Backward e6 is an obvious target for slow pressure -- but any pin-dogpile duel is a springboard for tactics, if you can step out of it beyond the other guy's horizon.

The K-hunt is startling: "of course" White has the Rd4 whenever, but first he uncorks an Immortal Zwieschenzug deluge of checks. The final deflection-sacs <55.a5+> and <61.b4+> surely must have been well-studied by all subsequent WCs: it evokes Kasparov's c3+ (that Topalov missed).

Dec-15-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  beatgiant: <maxi>
<should be among Petrosian's Notable Games> From the FAQ Chessgames Help

<The lists of notable games are calculated by finding the games which most frequently appear in our users' game collections.>

Dec-15-12  Gilmoy: <PawnSac: ... avoid the draw (60..Kb5 61.Qb7)> 61.Qa4+ bags the N anyways <Kc5?? 62.Qa5#>: Kb6[] 62.Qxb4+ K(a7,c7) 63.Qa5+:


click for larger view

Black's K is trapped: it cannot simultaneously defend d7, c6, and a7. So White inevitably forks the R (Qc6+ or Qd7+), or gets Rd7+ and mate.

Hence 62..Ka6[] 63.Rd7 and Black can't even trade Qs to stop mate: Qb1+ 64.Kh2 Qe4 65.Qc5!


click for larger view

Black must give his R: 65..Ra8 66.Qa3+, or 65..Re7 66.Qa7+. It was fairly easy for Black to judge this whole subtree as a loss, so really <60..Na6> was his only hope (and apparently he played it instantly, without bothering to calculate whether it, too, was a loss -- or as one last swindle-try).

The sheer carnage is part of the charm: with <46.h5> White is offering (ignoring the forced check-recapture on g6) all six white units satisfying y >= x (heh) for three black units (f5, Ne4, Rd4). The forced loss of a 4th Black unit (Na6) makes it all work.

Dec-15-12  RookFile: Black was doing ok in this game until the long diagonal opened up for the bishop on b2.
Dec-15-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  beatgiant: <RookFile>
You mean move 35? White had the extra passed a-pawn, the bishop pair, and Black's weakened kingside. I don't know about you, but Petrosian would have surely beaten me from that position.
Dec-15-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  profK: There must have been faith...why do I say that? Because the combination rests with the final death blow of 61.b4+....Could this have been seen 20 moves earlier? I don't think so.... Judgement and fancy play a big role in long combos !!
Dec-16-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  maxi: Thank you, <beatgiant>. Well, maybe now that this game has made GOTD it will be more appreciated and be eventually included as a Notable Game. And everybody should check out game Petrosian vs Gufeld, 1960 that may also deserve that honor. It is not a flashy game, like the one where he beats Spassky sacrificing two exchanges, but the ideas are interesting.
Nov-01-14  Albanius: This is actually a Queen's Gambit Accepted, Deferred.

Similar positions occurred repeatedly in the 1963 Botvinnik-Petrosian WCh match, with Petrosian using it as his main defense as black.

Feb-02-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: All right, let us see if I understand this correctly. When I have an isolated d4 pawn, it is bad. When Petrosian had an isolated d4 pawn, it was good.

See? Chess isn't so hard after all.

Aug-18-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  gezafan: See how boring Petrosian was? (sarcasm)
Jul-14-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  fiercebadger: Petrosian didn't lose a game in this event, and some games are incredibly tame draws. It seems to me that in this game he decided he needed a win! he keeps pieces on manouvers around and the pounces on the weakened king side. power play!!
Jul-14-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <An Englishman>

Yup. Also, when you take a knight from c3 and send it to c1 via a2 in the middle game, and leave it there breaking the connection between the rooks for six moves, you get creamed. When Petrosian does it, it's sheer positional brilliancy.

Nov-02-24  Messiah: Incredibly good game, terrible pun.
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