How a Street-Sweeping Orphan Became a Chess Legend
INTRODUCTION
Tigran Petrosian is one of the most influential grandmasters in chess history. He is a former world champion known as one of the greatest defensive players of all time. His exceptional defensive skills and strategy changed the game forever.
Tigran's path to becoming a chess legend was not easy, as he had to overcome many hardships in the early years of his life. In this blog, I will share the remarkable rags-to-riches story of Tigran Petrosian and how he went from an orphan fighting to survive during World War II to the chess great we know him as today.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Tigran Vardani Petrosian was born on June 17, 1929, in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia). Tigran showed his intelligence at a young age and was a very good student in school. He became captivated by the game of chess when he was just 8 years old, but his father didn't believe Tigran had a future in the game and told him to continue focusing on school.
Soon came the dawn of World War II, a time that would prove very difficult in the lives of many, including Tigran. In 1940, when Tigran was 11 years old, his father tragically passed away, and his mother followed not long after. Tigran became an orphan and was left to fend for himself during a period of great turmoil in the world.
To survive, Tigran was forced to sweep streets for pocket change. It was grueling work and the environment was also often very harsh. In a later interview, he described this time of his life:
I started sweeping streets in the middle of winter and it was horrible. Of course there were no machines then, so we had to do everything by hand. Some of the older men helped me out. I was a weak boy. And I was ashamed of being a street sweeper -- that's natural, I suppose. It wasn't so bad in the early morning when the streets were empty, but when it got light and the crowds came out I really hated it. I got sick and missed a year in school.
- Tigran Petrosian, Time Magazine, 1969
Tigran also stated that he began losing his hearing at this time, a problem that would follow him for the rest of his life.
At the age of 12, Tigran began chess training at the Palace of Pioneers in Tbilisi. The palace was one of many Palaces of Pioneers in the Soviet Union, which were educational institutions designed to help develop young talents in various fields, including chess. Tigran also used some of his rations to purchase numerous chess books.
At the Palace, Tigran was taught a more passive and cautious style of play, refraining from chaotic and aggressive calculations and instead patiently waiting for the time to strike. This defensive playstyle became Tigran's signature.
I like only those chess games in which I have played in accordance with the position's requirements... I believe only in logical and right game.
- Tigran Petrosian
Tigran was a great chess student just as he had been a great school student. After only a couple years of training, he displayed remarkable skills. He dominated in local tournaments and in 1945 won the Georgian Chess Championship at the age of 16. Then, in 1946, Tigran moved to Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. At this point, he was a Candidate Master. He continued his dominance by winning the 1946 Armenian Chess Championship and took it a step further when he emerged victorious in the USSR Junior Chess Championship two years in a row, in 1946 and 1947.
Tigran kept improving and became increasingly well-known in both the Soviet chess community and the chess world. In 1949, he moved to Moscow and debuted in the powerful USSR Chess Championship, which he went on to win 4 times in his career. In 1950, he earned the title of Soviet Master. In 1951, he earned the title of International Master and qualified for the 1952 Interzonal tournament in Stockholm. Tigran ended up tying for second in the Stockholm tournament, which earned him the title of Grandmaster.
In just a little over a decade, Tigran had gone from a poor orphan struggling to survive to a well-respected and on-the-rise chess Grandmaster competing on the world stage.
A decade after Tigran was given the Grandmaster title, he took place in the 1962 Candidates tournament, held in the island country of Curacao. The tournament featured an extremely stacked 8-player playing field, including legends such as Bobby Fischer, Mikhail Tal, and Paul Keres.
After 27 hard-fought rounds, Tigran emerged victorious over the star-studded field with a score of 17.5. However, the tournament became controversial after Fischer accused the Soviet players, including Tigran, Efim Geller, and Paul Keres, of agreeing in advance to draw their games intentionally. This sparked great speculation and eventually caused FIDE to discontinue the traditional Candidates tournament format and switch to a different format until it was eventually changed again 31 years later.
(Courtesy of chessgames.com)
Despite the controversy, by winning the tournament, Tigran had qualified to challenge the reigning champion, Mikhail Botvinnik, in the 1963 World Championship match. The match was set to be best out of 24 games and held in Moscow.
After the first half of games, Tigran held just a one-point advantage in the match. Then, in game 14, Botvinnik prevailed in a tough rook and two pawns endgame to tie it all up. Just when it looked like it was going to be neck-and-neck down the stretch, game 15 came along. Tigran showcased his patience and defense in this game, continuing to grind and chip away at Botvinnik's position and waiting until the time was right to seize the advantage.
That game served as the turning point of the match, as Tigran grabbed the lead and never looked back. He didn't lose again, winning 2 of the last 7 games and finishing with a total of 12.5 points to Botvinnik's 9.5. Tigran was world champion!
Tigran held the world title unchallenged for 3 years, until 1966 when a challenger finally approached, the late Boris Spassky (R.I.P. legend). The 1966 World Championship had the same location and format as the previous one, held in Moscow and best out of 24 games.
Tigran jumped out to a 2-point lead in the match through 10 games, but Spassky slowly but surely came right back, and after his win in game 19, the match was even at 9.5 points each. However, Tigran came up with a clutch win in the very next game and extended his lead by winning game 22 as well. Spassky stole a win in game 23, but it wasn't enough. Tigran retained his world title, winning the match 12.5-11.5. This was the first World Championship match since 1934 in which the reigning champion defeated his challenger.
Tigran's round 10 victory was one of the most iconic games of his career:
Tigran held the world title for another 3 years until 1969, when Spassky returned for a rematch. This time, Spassky dethroned Tigran and claimed his first world title by a score of 12.5-10.5.
Tigran continued playing chess at the highest level for a little more than a decade after his 1969 World Championship defeat. He still showed very strong play and racked up numerous late-career achievements, including reaching the finals in the Candidates tournament in 1971 (though he ultimately fell short to Bobby Fischer) and winning the 1976 Lone Pine tournament and the 1979 Keres Memorial tournament, both featuring strong playing fields.
In 1983, Tigran was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He carried on doing what he loved and stayed involved in the chess world, but his condition worsened. In August of 1984, at just 55 years old, Tigran passed away from the illness.
The chess world mourned the untimely loss and honored Tigran in many ways. In 1984, the building in Yerevan that had been home to the Yerevan Chess School since 1971 was named the Tigran Petrosian Chess House, and it hosted the 1984 Tigran Petrosian Memorial tournament that featured many strong chess masters and celebrated Tigran's great career. In 1989, a statue of Tigran was unveiled near the building. To this day, the Tigran Petrosian Chess House is one of the centers of chess in Armenia.
Before his passing, Tigran had been writing many chess lectures and articles that he hoped to put together into a book. His wife Rona finished the job for him, editing and publishing the book under the name Petrosian's Legacy in 1990. Garry Kasparov wrote the preface for the book, highlighting Tigran's understanding of and dedication to chess and how we should always remember his impact and preserve the knowledge he shared.
Tigran left behind a generational legacy. He demonstrated great resilience both on and off the board, patiently persevering through difficult chess positions just like he had patiently persevered through his childhood difficulties of being an orphan sweeping streets during World War II. Because of his admirable resilience and ability to resist attack, he was given the nickname "Iron Tigran" during his career. His high-level defense and cautious, quietly dangerous play revolutionized the game of chess, and there are endless things that we can learn from him.
Tigran's life and career are often very underrated. The trials that he overcame to get to what he is known for today make his story incredibly inspirational. I decided to bring it to light here in this post. Hopefully you learned some things!
Man, time really flew; can't believe my last blog post was back in August. Because high school is high school, I've been super busy these days and haven't been able to find much time for blogging. I've greatly missed the satisfying feeling of a blog well done, though, and I'm hoping that my school becomes more merciful so I can get back to posting on a consistent basis.
For now, that's it from me. I have to go catch up on some assignments and/or sleep now. 😅
I hope you enjoyed this blog. Cya next time! 
