Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. His playing style earned him the nicknamed “Iron Tigran”.  He was a Candidate for the World Championship on eight occasions (1953, 1956, 1959, 1962, 1971, 1974, 1977 and 1980). He won the world championship against Botvinik in 1963,  successfully defended it against Spassky in 1966, and lost it to Spassky in 1969.  He won the Soviet Championship four times (1959, 1961, 1969, and 1975) and is generally recognized as the hardest player to beat in all of chess history.

“In those years, it was easier to win the Soviet Championship than a game against ‘Iron Tigran’.”

– Lev Polugaevsky

“It is to Petrosian’s advantage that his opponents never know when he is suddenly going to play like Mikhail Tal.”

– Boris Spassky

“He [Petrosian] has an incredible tactical view, and a wonderful sense of the danger… No matter how much you think deep… He will ‘smell’ any kind of danger 20 moves before!”

– Robert Fischer

“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. However, it is necessary to learn to play well and only afterwards will one experience real delight.”

– Tigran Petrosian

In the seventh round of Tilburg (1981) the ‘Iron Tiger’ crushed the ‘Beast Of Baku’.

Kasparov versus Petrosian (1981)

Black To Play (Move 30)

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For the annotated game (PGN file) – See Comments