Petrosian's Other Difficult Opponent.

A few days ago my friend @kamalakanta posted an excellent article that you have probably read already - here:- https://www.chess.com/blog/kamalakanta/on-petrosians-mysterious-style-and-difficult-opponents   

It put me in mind of an article - to be found in the Book 'Petrosian's Legacy' - a lovely little book, by the way - where he writes about his problems with the man he considered to be his most difficult opponent.

This man, Lajos Portisch.

''During many years of my chess career Lajos Portisch was, and remains - my most difficult opponent...... Every game with Portisch was a tough experience for me. Numerous draws intermingled with losses. It is true that there were not too many losses, ''only'' four within 13 years, but i was not far from losing several times and I never managed to  win a single game'' .....

''Playing against Portisch, especially with Black, I feel discomfort in the opening every time.''.

Before I forget, I well remember the despairing commentary of another of the all time greats - Viktor Korchnoi - recorded for television about this game, from Brussels in 1986.

It went something like this:- 'I beat Tal - Tal beats Portisch and then Portisch beats me! I never know what to do against him - he knows everything and understands everything. He beats me like a child.'

Not a bad player, Lajos Portisch - having guys like Petrosian and Korchnoi in your pocket takes some doing!!

I am an unashamed fan of Portisch. He took on Tal in the Poisoned Pawn Najdorf, Keres in the Ruy Lopez, Korchnoi in the Queen's Indian and Petrosian in the King's Indian - and did it successfully. Contrary to his reputation as a dull grinder, he was a fighter - unafraid of fighting the very best on their own terms. He also won numerous beautiful attacking games, and some exquisite endgames.

He is also someone who you never read negative comments about - apart from Botvinnik not being impressed with his contributions to opening theory, but that hardly counts!! 

What's not to like!!

Even Petrosian's wife had kind words to say about him - in the tournament book of Santa Monica 1966 we find the following from her :- ''He is a hard worker, a great chess player and the finest of men''.
So,  I have done what I do, and spent a couple of days going over the four losses mentioned by Petrosian ( plus the other - drawn - games) and annotated them as I go along to post here so that hopefully those who do not dismiss them will enjoy and appreciate them as much as I do.

Firstly a deep and incredibly complex positional/strategical struggle - real Petrosian territory. Sadly it is spoiled by a time trouble - I believe - blunder.

It was played here - 

Next up, Portisch takes on Petrosian in a theoretical debate that he knew his opponent must be prepared for and comes out on top with a wonderful positional performance. A 'where did I go wrong' game. Petrosian lost very few such games.

 A year later  - at the second Piatigorsky Cup tournament -

the world Champion was just wiped off the board. The game was played in round 3, and after a couple of draws Petrosian decided to go for a complex struggle with Black in order to play for a win. It couldn't have gone worse!!

In the second half of the tournament Petrosian came as close to beating Portisch as he managed in a decade, but Portisch survived.

The highlight of the next year - 1967 - unless you can't see past Bobby Fischer!! - was the Moscow tournament. Portisch not only beat the most recent challenger for the World Championship - Spassky - in convincing style, but wiped the World Champion off the board.

You can find some computer generated analysis - plus a lot of the opening theory - of this game, Here.

It is very rare to see a reigning World Champion utterly destroyed in a miniature at a major tournament.

Portisch at the I.B.M tournament of that year - via Douglas Griffin on Twitter.

And, whilst i am here - one of the 'escapes' that Petrosian mentions. 30.Qf3 is winning if I remember rightly.

Portisch and Petrosian during their 1974 Candidates match, where Petrosian finally broke the spell, and managed to win the match by a one game margin. ( The header photo is also from that match)