Tigran Petrosian

Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (June 17, 1929 - August 13,1984) is a former world chess champion.

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An ethnic Armenian, Petrosian was born in the city of Tbilisi, Georgia, USSR and died in the Russian capital, Moscow. He learned the game of chess at the age of eight. A significant step for Petrosian was moving to Moscow in 1949, and he began to play and win many tournaments there. He won the 1951 tournament in Moscow, and began to show steady progress.

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His results in the triennial Candidates tournaments, held to determine the challenger to the world champion, showed a steady improvement: 5th at Zürich in 1953; equal 3rd at Amsterdam in 1956; 3rd in Yugoslavia in 1959; 1st at Curaçao in 1962. In 1963 he defeated Mikhail Botvinnik 12.5 - 9.5 to become world chess champion. His patient, defensive style frustrated Botvinnik, who only needed to make one risky move for Petrosian to punish him.

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Petrosian defended his title in 1966, defeating Boris Spassky 12.5-11.5, the first World Champion to defend his title since Alekhine. In 1969 he was beaten by Spassky 12.5-10.5. In 1968, he was granted an M.Phil. from Yerevan University for his thesis, "Chess Logic."

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He was the only player to win a game against Bobby Fischer during the latter's 1971 Candidates matches, finally bringing an end to Fischer's amazing streak of nineteen consecutive wins (6 to finish of the Interzonal, 6 against Taimanov, 6 against Larsen and the first game in their match).

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He has two major opening systems named after him: the Petrosian variation of the King's Indian Defence (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. d5) and the Petrosian system in the Queen's Indian Defense (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3). A variation of the Caro-Kann defense also bears his name, along with former world champion Vassily Smyslov; the Petrosian-Smyslov variation (1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7).

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He is most famous for being one of the best players pioneering the theory of prophylaxis, years after Aron Nimzowitsch. His style of play was often highly strategical, notable for anticipating opponent's possible attacks and he based many of his games on avoidance of error, content with accumulating small advantages. His games are now widely used for instruction in chess schools around the world. He was also the chief editor of the chess magazine, "Shakhmatnaya Moskva" from 1963-66.

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June 17: June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining....

1929: 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar)....

August 13: August 13 is the 225th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (226th in leap years), with 140 days remaining....