Petrosian's Magic
Petrosian has been qualified by some as a "Mysterious" player. Some people classify him as a positional player with a super-cautious style.
Spassky, however, who played two World Championship matches with Petrosian, considered Petrosian to be a tactician.
Spassky (paraphrase): "The problem with Tigran is that you never know when he will start playing like Tal!"
Botvinnik stated that, during his 1963 WC Match with Petrosian, oftentimes he could not guess Petrosian's moves.
The game that caught my attention is a game that is not emphasized in any volume about Petrosian. It appears without comment. I first saw it as a diagram:
Now, when you look at a position, you do a few things: You count the material, see is anyone has the attack, and so on.
When I first looked at this position, I was impressed that both of White's bishops are active, and his rook has penetrated the 8th rank. Yet it is at this point that Petrosian unleashed his combination. Let us take a look at the actual game:
