Petrosian's Best Games of Chess 1946-1963 (Hardinge Simpole Chess Classics S.) [Paperback]

Peter H. Clarke (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1843820021 | ISBN-13: 978-1843820024 | Publication Date: March 20, 2002

Not for Petrosian the sudden and dramatic storming of the highest chess bastions - he gradually moved up the ranks, perfecting his ultra strategic style and focussing on the elimination of loss, rather than victory at all costs. This softly-softly approach brought Petrosian the world crown and enabled him to retain it for six years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Hardinge Simpole (March 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843820021
• ISBN-13: 978-1843820024
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #621,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lesson in positional play disguised as a collection of games, April 24, 2006

By 

Matthew T. Deluca (Jupiter, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Petrosian's Best Games of Chess 1946-1963 (Hardinge Simpole Chess Classics S.) (Paperback)

I ordered this book shortly after deciding to begin a study of the great positional masters of chess. I decided to make Petrosian the first. In Petrosian's play one can find a wealth of positional understanding - dominating pawn structures, superior minor pieces, occupation and control of key squares, etc. Petrosian's games read like illustrative examples of how to successfully employ the elements of positional play from Aron Nimzowitsch's "My System".

Additionally, I was looking for a repertoire change. I had been a 1. e4 player for quite some time but in the open games that would often result I was ignoring the strategic demands of the position, instead focusing too much on attack to retain the initiative. I decided to switch to 1. d4 as white in order to study the closed and strategic positions which often result. Since the majority of Petrosian's games as white begin with 1. d4, his games seemed a good way to become grounded in this opening. In fact, of the sixty games, more than half have Petrosian as white opening (or transposing) with 1. d4. Outside of the 1. d4 forest one will find, among others, a handful of King's Indian Attacks, French Defenses, Caro-Kanns, and, of course, Sicilians in this collection.

Clarke's annotations are well matched to Petrosian's style of play. They are heavy on the verbal explanation of ideas as opposed to analysis of concrete variations - the ideas being more important in the closed games which often resulted from Petrosian's play. His comments are accessible, but never condescending, and on some occasions even humorous. Additionally, each chapter of five or six games is preceded by some information about Petrosian's career progression.

Some of my favorite games from this collection follow:

Game 7
Petrosian vs. I. Bondarevsky
Petrosian's superior pawn structure and piece placement force a near-zugzwang position in the middlegame.

Game 13
O. Troianescu vs. Petrosian
A double exchange sacrifice by Petrosian leads to a position of domination by Petrosian's two bishops. This is skillfully converted to an endgame advantage of a bishop and three pawns against a rook.

Game 16
Petrosian vs. A. Sokolsky
A great game showcasing Petrosian's ability to accumulate small positional advantages, eventually leading to a superior position.

Game 38
R. Fischer vs. Petrosian
This game is interesting if for nothing else than the fact that Petrosian, as black, manages to get his king all the way to b2 in order to escort his queens-side pawns up the board - all the while with white still having a queen, rook, and bishop on the board.

Game 42
Petrosian vs. W. Unzicker
Petrosian's middlegame strategy includes a king march to the queen side before the decisive breakthrough on the kingside. Interestingly enough, Petrosian had so limited his opponent's counterplay that he could only sit back and watch the realization of this plan.

Game 50
F. Olafsson vs. Petrosian
Petrosian maximizes the value of each of his pieces by a series of subtle moves before capitalizing on his positional advantages. This game is a great example of his legendary patience at the board.

One note which I think has been mentioned in other reviews: the book is written using descriptive notation. Don't let this be a deterrent though - I found that after a few hours I was almost as comfortable with descriptive as algebraic. Besides, descriptive notation somehow seems fitting for this game collection from 1946 to 1963 - before algebraic notation became popular.

I had really looked forward to working through this book and was a little disappointed when I finally finished with the last of the sixty well annotated games. So, instead of moving on to another game collection I just turned back to game one to review each again.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars painstaking book on great chess artist, July 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Petrosian's Best Games of Chess 1946-1963 (Hardinge Simpole Chess Classics S.) (Paperback)

tigran petrosian had a reputation as a drawing master but to become world champion you have to win games and in this book there are wins against fischer botvinnik tal spassky and most of the greats of the time. the book takes us up to the point where petrosian wins the world chess championship in 1963.
every game is annotated with great care by the author who obviously had access to russian sources. i know of no other book where petrosians victories are handled with such deep explanatory comments. he was a great artist of the chess board and this book does real justice both to his results and his games.the bok is also very well produced with clear print and diagrams at the key moments. i only have one regret and that is that petrosians great win against keres from the 1959 candidates tournament does not appear in the list of chosen games.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clarke reveals the modern Nimzowitsch, February 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Petrosian's Best Games of Chess 1946-1963 (Hardinge Simpole Chess Classics S.) (Paperback)

If you haven't read Peter Clarke's works on Petrosian and Tal, you are missing a chess treat of the very highest order. Clarke is a phenomenally talented chess writer, whose annotations are an instructive as anything out there in the whole of chess literature. If you are into chess books, you need his major works. His Dover book, 100 Soviet miniatures, is great too.
The reason that Clarke's writing is so important is that Petrosian himself never annotated a collection of his own games. This is a great loss to the world of chess players, because to many players, Petrosian is the modern incarnation of Nimzowitsch. Petrosian worshipped Nimzowitsch, and prophylaxis was the bas is of his play. More than any other champion, Petrosian constantly sought to limit the options of his opponent. Importantly for the fan of Nimzowitsch, Petrosian played in a more modern era than Nimzo, and so he faced all the openings that Nimzo never faced (Benonis, Benkos, modern Sicilians, etc.). Nimzo lived long enough ago that we see many somewhat bizarre openings played in his games. If you wonder what Nimzo might have played like in the second half of the 20th century, the games of Petrosian are as good a place to look as any. His games need a great annotator to flesh them out. Clarke is up to the task: he is a truly great writer and annotator. Colin Crouch also is a great chess writer, and his study of Petrosian and Lasker, "How to Defend in Chess," is a masterpiece. This book by Clarke is, in my opinion, of monumental importance to chess literature.