ANew York Times, New York, New York, Sunday, October 10, 1971 - Page 34
Chess: It's the Win That Counts by Al Horowitz
It is a basic tenet of every chess critic's faith that match play is vastly different, in all manner of subtle ways, from tournament play. It is also to judge by what he has said in recent interviews, a basic tenet of Bobby Fischer's, although his recent results do a good deal to belie it. It is too obvious a fact to be an article of faith that if one simply wins every game one cannot lose, no matter what the form of competition.
Ex-world champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union, Fischer's rival in the final match of the current Candidate's series, is, everybody agrees, a very different kind of play from Bobby. An analysis of his recent results might, on the surface, appear to comprise in itself a little essay on the differences between match and tournament play. He started off his quarter-final match against the relatively unknown West German player Robert Hubner with six straight draws before winning the one game he needed to take the match. In the semi-final round, against compatriot Viktor Korchnoi, he drew eight in a row before winning. In a tournament, to win one game and draw the rest usually places one just about in the middle of the score table; in a match, it is, of course, amply sufficient to win.
On the other hand, an examination of Petrosian's tournament results might lead one to suspect that he doesn't really recognize the difference between the two forms of competition either; he has been known to draw almost every game in a tournament as well, content to win just a very few, provided he doesn't lose any. Thus, while in a sense Bobby Fischer plays matches as if they were tournaments, Petrosian plays tournaments as if they were matches!
In his most recent major tournament effort, at Beverwijk, Holland, earlier this year Petrosian won 4 games and drew 11 without a loss, to finish in a big tie for second, just half a point behind the winner, Korchnoi.
Among his victories was one made in eight (!) moves against Dutch champion Hans Ree (Petrosian was White):
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian vs Hans Ree Hoogovens (1971), Wijk aan Zee NED, rd 12, Jan-26 English Opening: King's English. Four Knights Variation Fianchetto Lines (A29) 1-0 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106935
and Black resigned, because if the bishop moves, 9. Pxp wins a piece (if 8. ... Q-K2, then simply 9. P-QR3 followed by 10. PxP). When a game simply falls into one's lap, it hardly matters whether one is playing in a match or a tournament.
Actually, Petrosian played very well at Beverwijk. His victory over Czech grandmaster Vlastimil Hort is a masterpiece, featuring a very pretty combinational breakthrough on the queenside.
At Vincovi, Yugoslavia in 1970, on the other hand, Petrosian was far off form: he won 4 games—three from tail-enders—drew 10 and actually lost one (see the game, below) finish in a tie for sixth to ninth places. His one good victory was against fellow-candidate Mark Taimanov, a game in which the latter makes a very interesting psychological error. Notice first that on White's 10th move, Black's king-pawn is tactically protected: if 10. P-N5, N-K5; 11. NxP, then 11. . . . B-N6; 12. Q-K1, N-B7 wins a rook. Taimanov, apparently enamored of this theme, proceeds at his next turn to force P-N5. He is right to an extent; the pawn is still indirectly protected (12. NxP N-N6; 12. R-N1 Q-Q5 wins) but Petrosian plays instead to weaken Black's queenside, and succeeds.
Petrosian's loss at Vincovi was to Yugoslav international master Maric. It is the king of thing that happens to a top-class defensive player who is sometimes tempted to bite off just a little more than he can chew.
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian vs Vlastimil Hort Hoogovens (1971), Wijk aan Zee NED, rd 8, Jan-21 Indian Game: Anti-Grünfeld. Advance Variation (E60) 1-0 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1057555
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian vs Mark Taimanov Vinkovci (1970), Vinkovci CRO, rd 12, Oct-18 English Opening: King's English. Four Knights Variation Fianchetto Lines (A29) 1-0 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106877
Rudolf Maric vs Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian Vinkovci (1970), Vinkovci CRO, rd 15, Oct-22 Pirc Defense: Classical Variation. Quiet System Czech Defense (B08) 1-0 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106872
