The Chess Mind

Tigran Petrosian (1929-1984, World Champion from 1963-1969) is one of my all-time favorite players, but for many chess fans he's an acquired taste. My suggestion: acquire it! He was a brilliant calculator with a tremendous imagination, but rather than displaying his skills a la Tal (another of my all-time favorites), Petrosian's gifts operated in the service of a prophylactic approach. If the typical Tal game comprised developing all his pieces in the center and then sacrificing something (as someone once said - I think it was Korchnoi), the typical Petrosian game found the opponent slowly strangled by a slow-motion, python-like squeeze. He would sniff out and snuff out his opponent's active ideas in advance, let the opponent damage his own position in a bid for active play, and then, in due course, reap the harvest of his opponent's self-inflicted weaknesses.

This preventive approach has become more widespread among professionals in our day - thanks to Petrosian's influence and, to a slightly lesser degree, Karpov's, but it's badly undervalued amongst the rank-and-file. In this Monday's show, therefore, we'll take a step towards rectifying the situation as we examine his game with Hungarian super-GM Lajos Portisch from the 1978 Lone Pine tournament. Portisch was a traditionally difficult opponent for Petrosian, but despite that history and the White pieces, Petrosian was able to work his magic just the same. In a Rubinstein Nimzo-Indian, White possessed a hanging central pawn duo on d4 and e4: Portisch thought the pawns were a strength, Petrosian deemed them potentially weak. Guess who was right!

To see the details - from a survey of their opening variation to a discussion of hanging pawns, from the tactics of the middle game to Petrosian's outstanding technique in finishing the job - you'll want to join me this Monday night at 9 pm ET. Details for watching the show (whether live or later, in the archives) can be found here, while a list of games covered in previous shows can be found here.

Hope to see you then!

With rare exceptions, this show is dedicated to presenting great games, generally from one or more generations past. This week’s game isn’t particularly recent, so the second part of my mandate is intact, but the first part is taking a holiday. Instead, this week I proudly present a game dubbed “shameful” by both its protagonists, two rather well-known individuals by the names of Kasparov and Korchnoi.

Why would I do such a thing? The answer will be clear when you watch: despite the errors, it’s a riveting battle. Quickly achieving a lost position with the White pieces, Kasparov throws everything at Korchnoi’s king, including the kitchen sink, in a truly desperate attack. It shouldn’t have worked at all, but exploiting Korchnoi’s time trouble, he was able to generate enough confusion to pull out a draw. There are plenty of mistakes, but there are also plenty of good moves, too, not to mention instructional moments and staggering variations. All in all, a very entertaining game for a Monday night (9 pm ET), so I’ll hope to see you then!

As always, you can find directions for watching the show (or archived shows, for that matter) here, and a list of games covered in archived shows here.

Last week, we got through 41 moves of what was arguably the most crucial game of the 1972 World Championship match between champion Boris Spassky and his challenger, Bobby Fischer. Down 5-7 but with some momentum, Spassky with White had a great opportunity to throw the match result in doubt. After a poor opening and an indecisive early middlegame, however, Spassky found himself in a lost position, but at that point rose to the occasion. Fischer played a few inaccurate moves, and by the time the game was adjourned, Spassky’s defensive chances were starting to become real.

And that’s where we left off. In the moves to come, both sides play brilliantly in a very unusual sort of endgame. Until…well, you’ll just have to tune in this Monday night at 9 pm ET and see!

(Directions for watching the show can be found here, while a list of games covered in past shows are available here [directions for watching the earlier shows can be found in the previous link].

Once upon a time, chess showed up on the world's radar. The year was 1972, and the occasion the World Championship match between the champion, the USSR's Boris Spassky, and his American challenger, Bobby Fischer. The match served as a convenient metaphor for writers looking to make geopolitical points, but it was first and foremost a chess match.

A great match, which can be viewed, informally, as a series of mini-matches. The first comprised games 1 and 2: Fischer's infamous 29...Bxh2? (and succeeding errors) in game 1 cost him a loss in what had been a normally dead drawn ending; then, in game 2, he simply no-showed.

Yet despite the favorable situation on the scoreboard, Spassky was rattled by Fischer's shenanigans and was obliterated over the next 8 games, getting outscored by a fearful 6.5-1.5 margin. If we take that to be the second mini-match, then the third began in game 11, when Spassky crushed Fischer's Poisoned Pawn variation and pulled to 4.5-6.5 overall. A draw ensued in game 12, and thus game 13 was a big moment for Spassky. He had stopped Fischer's momentum and had the chance to narrow his opponent's lead to a single point.

What happened? Come and see, this Monday night at 9 pm on ChessBase's playchess server - and perhaps the next Monday as well. The game was long, gripping affair with both players producing unusual and brilliant ideas throughout the course of the marathon's 74 moves. It's a game with more than a bit of everything, and one that shouldn't be missed!

If you're new to the show and need directions for watching, click here; if you'd like to see what games have been covered in old shows (directions for watching those old shows are in the previous link), click here.