PETROSIAN vs. the ELITE
Authors: Ray Keene and Julian Simpole
Batsford (2006)
299 pages
$20.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

The ninth World Champion, Tigran Petrosian, reigned from 1963 to 1969 and died in 1984, but his unique style of play still attracts admirers. A new book, PETROSIAN vs. the ELITE, adds to the considerable amount of literature on the "Tiger."

The following books have been published in English on the ninth World Champion:

PETROSIAN'S GAMES OF CHESS by P.H. Clarke (1964, 207 pages, English descriptive, hardback)
TIGRAN PETROSIAN WORLD CHAMPION by A. O'Kelly De Galway (1965, 112 pages, English descriptive, paperback)
TIGRAN PETROSIAN: His Life and Games by V. Vasiliev (1974, 247 pages, English descriptive, hardback)
PETROSIAN'S LEGACY by T. Petrosian (1990, 123 pages, algebraic, paperback)
PETROSIAN THE POWERFUL by A. Soltis and K. Smith (1990, 156 pages, algebraic, paperback)
THE GAMES OF TIGRAN PETROSIAN, 1942-1965 volume one and THE GAMES OF TIGRAN PETROSIAN, 1942-1965 volume two edited and complied by E. Shekhtman (both published 1991, 480 and 448 pages respectively, figurine algebraic, hardback).

Though not exclusively on Petrosian, the following three books all have significant sections on him.

HOW TO DEFEND IN CHESS: Learn from the World Champions by C. Crouch (2000, 224 pages, figurine algebraic, paperback) -- Almost half the book is on Petrosian as a defender.
LEARN FROM THE LEGENDS by Mihail Marin (2004, 309 pages, figurine algebraic, paperback) Almost 50 pages on Petrosian's trademark Exchange sacrifice.
MY GREAT PREDECESSORS Part III by G. Kasparov (2004, 332 pages, figurine algebraic, hardback) Pages 7-79, 108-122, 169-181 are devoted to Petrosian who shares this volume with Polugaevsky, Portisch and Spassky.

How does PETROSIAN vs. the ELITE compare with these titles? First there doesn't seem to be a terrible book on Petrosian. All of the titles above have good points and some are outstanding. The books by Clarke and O'Kelly are solid but a bit dated and only take his career through the early 1960s. They may be less attractive to younger readers for being in English descriptive notation. The same fate of being in English descriptive is suffered by Vasiliev's classic TIGRAN PETROSIAN: His Life and Games. Vasiliev's book is a well-produced hardback with dust jacket and crisp black and white photos and offers a nice mixture of biographical material and games. This book use to be the standard, and some might still judge it to be for one volume, but it doesn't cover the last decade of Petrosian's career and the notes while good, are not as detailed as some later authors. This is also not a cheap book to come by these days. RHM originally sold it for $8.95. Count yourself lucky if you get it for under $50 today.

Edward Shekhtman's almost 1000 page two volume series on Petrosian is close to the definitive work on the ninth World Champion. The two beautifully produced hardbacks have almost everything you could want, with only a more critical look at the "Tiger's" games lacking. Pergammon sold these books for close to $50 a volume when they first came out and that was 15 years ago. The initial print run was likely not larger than a 1000 and there was no reprinting. As might be expected, the two books have become sought after and you could easily spend $150-$200 for the pair.

PETROSIAN'S LEGACY and PETROSIAN THE POWERFUL are not hard to find. The former was produced in Petrosian's native Armenia and consists of articles that Tigran wrote and games he annotated. As such it is more of a compilation than a game collection, though still quite useful. PETROSIAN THE POWERFUL doesn't feature detailed notes but offers the novel feature of a diagram every three moves of every game.

Those looking for the most detailed annotations and commentary on Petrosian will find the last three books the most interesting. HOW TO DEFEND IN CHESS: Learn from the World Champions by IM Colin Crouch is a labor of love that deserves wider recognition. The book is a detailed examination of the art of defending as seen through the games of Lasker and Petrosian. Crouch spends about ten pages a game giving variations where needed and much insightful prose.

LEARN FROM THE LEGENDS by Mihail Marin is a book that deserves to be in every chessplayer's library. The chapter on Petrosian -- one of the largest in the book, is pure gold. The same could be said for Garry Kasparov's treatment of the "Tiger" in his MY GREAT PREDECESSORS series. Earlier volumes suffered from some shortcomings in matters of historical research but volume 3, which covers Petrosian and Spassky, doesn't suffer these faults and benefits greatly from Kasparov's having played and known both World Champions.

So, what place does PETROSIAN vs. the ELITE occupy in this mostly august company? Readers receive 71 annotated games and over 50 crosstables from tournaments and matches. There are indexes for opponents, supplementary games and game extracts and openings. The 12-page introduction by GM Raymond Keene reminds readers of what a dominating player Petrosian was in the early 1960s, and after reading it one can't help but feel the impression he made on the young Keene. The bulk of the book consists of the games, which are arranged in chronological order from 1946 to 1983. According to the introduction, Keene and Julian Simpole went through the games together but the final responsibility for the annotations belonged to Simpole, who holds the Commonwealth Chess Master title (I was unable to find a FIDE rating for Mr. Simpole). No bibliography is given but from references in the book it is clear that the works by Clarke and Shekhtman were consulted as well as various other sources, and that those by Marin and Kasparov were not yet available. In general the games are lightly annotated, primarily with prose. When called for, detailed variations are given, particularly in a few key games that have attracted the two author's attention and where they aim to break new ground.

PETROSIAN vs. the ELITE is a solid introduction to the legacy of the ninth World Champion and offers the benefit of covering his entire career. It's fairly priced at $20.95. Readers looking to add their first book on Petrosian (and hopefully not their last!) to their library may wish to compare it to Kasparov's MY GREAT PREDECESSORS Volume 3, which lists for $8 more but gives more detailed annotations, covers Spassky, Polugaevsky and Portisch as well, and is a hardback with dust jacket. On the other hand, PETROSIAN vs. the ELITE offers many more annotated games as well as crosstables of tournaments and matches.