Fix My Chess
A Fix My Chess master
Petrosian
Iron Tigran
“Win slowly if you must. Give the opponent nothing, and the rest follows.”
What it cures in your game
If your dominant leak is allowed tactics, Petrosian is your antidote. The way he plays — the same you see in these games — is exactly what you need to internalize. In Fix My Chess you choose him as your master and train under his style, game by game, until that leak closes.
His life in chapters
- 1929–1948
The orphan of Tbilisi
I was born in Tbilisi in 1929, to an Armenian family, and the war took my parents while I was still a boy. I swept streets to live, and I read Nimzowitsch’s «My System» until I knew it almost by heart. People think caution is timidity. When you have already lost everything once, you learn exactly what is worth risking.
- 1949–1962
The patient climb
I moved to Moscow and climbed the strongest chess pyramid on earth, one careful step at a time. While others attacked, I removed possibilities — my opponents ran out of ideas before I ran out of patience. They found me hard to beat, then impossible. In 1962 I won the Candidates; only Botvinnik remained.
- 1963–1969
World champion
Moscow, 1963. I beat Botvinnik and became world champion — the boy who swept streets, wearing the crown. In 1966 I defended it against Spassky, something no champion had managed in decades. In 1969 he came back stronger and took it. I gave him the title; I never gave anyone an easy game.
- 1970–1984
Iron Tigran
They called me Iron Tigran, and I did not object — losing to me was hard work, and losing against me was harder. For another decade and a half I stayed among the world’s best, still smelling danger three moves before it existed. I died in 1984. If you learned nothing from my games, look again: the move I prevented was the whole story.
Is this your master?
Diagnose your latest games and find out which master cures your dominant leak. Free, in a minute, no account.