Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (17th June 1929 – 13th August 1987) was a Soviet-Armenian chess Grandmaster, World Champion, ninefold Olympic Champion, eightfold European Champion, Soviet Champion on four occasions, the Champion of Gregoria and the Soviet Union.

He played in the World Champion Final three times, and won two of these, in addition, he took part in World Championship Candidate events on eight occasions.

His nickname was „Iron Tigran” because of his strong defensive playing style, and his urge for security.

He was born in an Armenian family. Petrosian got familiar with chess in the Tbilisi Pioneer House. In 1945, he became the Champion of Gregoria then he moved to Armenia, where he won the championship in 1946 and 1947/48.

In 1950, he moved to Moscow, and then his career developed very fast. In 1951, he finished first place at the Soviet Championship. From September 1953 to December 1979 he was regarded as a member of the top 10 best players in the world, his highest rating score was 2796.

First, he qualified for getting into the top players at the 1954 World Chess Championship Tournament, and he was placed fifth in the 1953 Candidates Tournament.

In the 1947 World Chess Champion Tournament, at the 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal he finished fourth place and advanced to the Candidate’s section. In the Candidate’s competition, in 1956 Amsterdam, he tied for 3-7th places behind Paul Keres and Vasily Smyslov. In the 1960 World Championship cycle, he finished third place behind Tal and Keres among the Candidates.

In the 1963 cycle, at the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal he tied for 2-3rd places with Efim Geller, behind Bobby Fischer. Then, in that year, he won the Candidates Tournament in Caracao and earned right to challenge the current champion, Mikhail Botvinnik.

The final took place in 1963, when Petrosian won by 12,5–9,5 and got the World Champion title from Botvinnik.

In 1966, Spassky was able to challenge the World Champion Petrosian after he had won the Candidates Tournament. In the match, organized in Moscow, Petrosian won by 12,5-11,5 and defended his title.

In 1969, following the rematch of the ’66 Final Spassky won the Candidates Tournament again and earned the right to cope with the current World Chess Champion. The Final took place in Moscow again, but this time the fight brought success to Spassky, who triumphed by 12,5-10,5 and took the title from Petrosian.

In the 1972 cycle, he advanced to the Candidates Final, where he suffered a defeat against the later World Champion, Bobby Fischer by 6,5-2,5.

In the 1975, 1978 and 1981 cycles he advanced to the Candidates Tournament again, but he wasn’t able to get to close to the title again.

In the 1982/1984 cycle, Las Palmas, he was placed fifth at the Interzonal so after 28 years he couldn’t advance to the Candidates.

Between 1958 and 1978, he took part in ten Chess Olympiads and won nine gold medals, one silver medal in team, and further six individual gold medals.

He represented the Soviet national team in European Championships on eight occasions, earned eight gold medals and six individual medals.

Considering his works in chess theory, many opening variations are named after him, for instance the King's Indian Defence, Queen's Indian Defence, and the Petrosian-trick.

In Armenia, he enjoys a great reputation. For his 75th birthday anniversary, a stamp was released in Yerevan, and his statue stands near the Yerevan Chess House, what is more, in Aparantown, a street was named after him.

FIDE named 2004 in his honour, as the Tigran Petrosian Memorial and established an award for the most successful trainers of the previous period bearing his name.

Sources: https://hu.wikipedia.org;https://en.wikipedia.org/; 

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