Word: petrosian
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1969-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...lunch breaks. City parks teem with chess hustlers. Soviet children, who learn the game in Young Pioneer youth groups, argue Sicilian defenses and queen's gambits with the same passion that American kids show when they talk about double plays and quarterback sneaks. Professionals of the caliber of Petrosian and Spassky, both of whom are paid handsomely as the coaches of trade-union teams, are recognized on the street wherever they go and asked advice about chess tactics...
...Petrosian, an affable, absentminded man, was the sentimental favorite. His fellow Armenians kept their champion supplied with fresh cherries from home to bolster his diet and cheered him so boisterously at one point that authorities had to draw the curtains on the stage to allow the competitors to concentrate. Petrosian, who likes to stroll about or read the newspaper between moves in less important matches, slipped off to watch a hockey game between championship rounds, a practice unheard of for competing chess champions, who supposedly must keep their minds riveted to the board...
Spassky, after losing to Petrosian in the 1966 title match, was tautly primed for a comeback. While working his way through three years of preliminary matches, he swam daily laps and boned up on Psychological Analysis of a Chess Player's Thought by Nikolai Krogius, his mentor. Nonetheless, in the opening match of the 24-game title series, he inadvertently touched the wrong piece and, obliged by the rules to move it, lost the game...
...fourth, fifth and eighth games and go ahead by the score of 5 to 3 (players receive one point for each game they win, ½ point for a draw). The Armenians in the audience moaned. Said one official: "It was like the funeral of a father." Then Petrosian rallied. Baffling Spassky with his impenetrable defenses, he tied the score at 6 to 6. For the next six games, the contest was a standoff; one expert described it as a battle between "the young tiger who jumps on his prey and the old crocodile who waits for the right moment...
Grandmasters covering the matches on TV and radio shook their heads. "As in any sport," said one authority, "age is the single most important factor in chess. At 32, Spassky is able to maintain that slight edge of sharpness that makes the difference at the very summit." Petrosian, visibly weary from the two-month grind, fell farther behind and eventually lost by a score of 12½ to 10½. One morning last week, the two contenders met at the Moscow Chess Club to sign a document that signified Spassky was the new world champion. It was Petrosian...