[Event "Simultaneous Exhibition board 2"]
[Site "Monterey Park Chess Club"]
[Date "1978.04.15"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tigran Petrosian (2620)"]
[Black "Tim Thompson (1827)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[WhiteElo "2620"]
[BlackElo "1827"]
{Petrosian was World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was the only World Champion between Alekhine and Karpov to win a match in defense of the World Championship title. He remains the only title holder ever to pass through the entire interzonal and candidates competition without the loss of a single game (Fischer lost one game each against Larsen in the interzonal and Petrosian in his Candidates matches while Kasparov lost one game each against Beliavsky and Korchnoi in his candidates matches). Generally underrated, Petrosian was famous for his very quiet style of play based on a serious ability to anticipate danger and head it off, sometimes doing so before his opponent knows that an opportunity is coming.
This game was played in a simultaneous exhibition at the old Monterey Park Chess Club. The boards were ordered by rating, so Petrosian knew where his stronger opponents were. He was in a very jovial mood, talkative, and happy to autograph anything including blank score sheets.}
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 {The Samisch variation against the
King's Indian Defense} 5... O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. Nge2 Nc6 8. Qd2 {My intention was
to provoke the standard 8. d5 Ne7 but Petrosian instead chooses not to close
the center, perhaps with the idea of keeping a more fluid position considering
he is the far stronger player.} 8... Ne8 9. h4 {This was a surprise to me,
given his reputation for quiet positional play.} 9... f5 10. exf5 gxf5 11. d5
Ne7 12. h5 f4 {Intended to block his pressure on the c1-h6 diagonal and open
the f5 square for my Knight, but it does give the e4 square to his Knight in
return.} 13. Bf2 Nf5 14. Ne4 Nf6 15. N2c3 Qe8 {Black would probably be better
served by 15... Qe7 at once, followed by Bd7 and the mobilization of his Rooks.} 16.
Bd3 h6 {Blocking White's h-pawn and opening the route Nf6-h7-g5.} 17. O-O-O Nh7
18. Kb1 Qe7 19. c5 {With action on the Kingside closed off, Petrosian switches
to the Queenside and an attempt to exploit the potential weakness of d6.} 19...
Bd7 20. Rc1 a6 21. Bc4 Kh8 {Avoiding unpleasant surprises by getting off the
a2-g8 diagonal the very moment the White Bishop appears on it.} 22. Bb3 Be8
{Now my Queen can cover my 2nd rank and my Bishop can cover f7 and g6.} 23.
cxd6 cxd6 24. Ne2 Nf6 {This seems better than 24... Ng5 since from f6 the
Knight can harass the d5 pawn if White does not exchange Knights.} 25. Qa5 Rf7
26. Qb6 Bb5 27. N2c3 Bd3+ 28. Bc2 Bxc2+ 29. Rxc2 Qc7 30. Nxf6 Bxf6 31. Qxc7
Rxc7 32. Ne4 Rxc2 33. Kxc2 Kg7 34. Kd3 Rc8 35. a4 Bd8 36. b4 Kf7 37. a5 Ke7 38.
Rb1 Kd7 39. Rh1 Ke7 40. Bh4+ Kd7 41. Bf2 Ke7 1/2-1/2 At this point, unable to
make further advances, Petrosian offered the draw and I naturally accepted.
