Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

I'm a huge Petrosian fan and have thus read every book about him and his games I could get my hands on. So, far that has included five major biographical works on him and they are:
Petrosian's Best Games of Chess 1946-1963 (Hardinge Simpole Chess Classics) by P. H. Clarke
Tigran Petrosian His Life and Games by Vik Vasiliev, Tigran Petrosian, and Sam Sloan
Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 3 by Garry Kasparov
Petrosian vs the Elite: 71 Victories by the Master of Manoeuvre 1946-1983 by Raymond Keene and Julian Simpole
Petrosian The Powerful by Andy Soltis

This one by Clarke is the BEST in my opinion. The explanations of moves are simple, Clarke really shows Petrosian and his style throughout the games selected and he gives some really good historical context and biographical reading. I've read this book twice! and I'll read it again. If you are looking for the best of the books listed above this is it. And if you want more than this one, I listed them in order from best to worst in my opinion. The top two and especially Clarke's are a must have for Petrosian fans.

Peter Clarke's book on Tigran Petrosian is the indispensable counterpart to his classic volume on Mikhail Tal. Tal and Petrosian could not have been more dissimilar, yet Clarke treats each subject with equal mastery. Tigran Petrosian was at first a modest amateur player who, nevertheless, believed that ultimately he had a field marshal's baton in his knapsack - and he set out to prove it. Not for him the sudden and dramatic storming of the highest chess bastions - Petrosian 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, thus outperforming Smyslov, Tal, Spassky and Fischer. The games in this book, which bring us to Petrosian's successful match against Botvinnik, demonstrate an ethereal beauty of which few other champions were capable.
Peter Clarke won numerous silver medals in the British Championships, he represented England in the World Championship cycle and he played top board for England in the Chess Olympiad at Havana 1966. He is a fluent Russian reader and his notes access the very best of contemporary Soviet commentary.

I haven't been able to find any other books on Petrosian's chess, and in any case 'Petrosian's Best Games' does justice to the master player. Clarke handled his work on Mikhail Tal quite well, and despite the fact that Tal and Petrosian had vastly different styles, he manages to write on both with the same quite high quality.
The book progresses through his career in just the right, methodical way for a subject who was known for his dedicated climb to the top, and resolute retention of the world title. The anotation is excellent, and although I can see how the notation may be slightly dense for those a little unfamiliar with works on chess, I think this book easily merits 4 stars. I would have preferred a little less focus on the very early years, but otherwise the high quality publishing would have earned it a fifth star as well.

Peter Clarke, a great chess player in his own right, annotates and discusses with great sensitivity the best games of chess by former World Champion Tigran Petrosian. A great strategian, Petrosian worked his way diligently to the top through admirable persistance and determination, allowing him to finally take the crown from the mighty Botvinnik. A classic anthology published by Hardinge and Simpole.

Clarke's analysis is a bit superficial, and the games are all in descriptive notation (when will they stop publishing chess books with that clunky method?) The games are exceptional; it's hard to find books on Petrosian's games, but it could be better.