The Game That Took the Title

The game, move by move

A Semi-Tarrasch, and the bishops off

1. 1. c4 c4
2. 1… Nf6 The knight out
3. 2. Nc3 The second knight
4. 2… e6 e6
5. 3. Nf3 And White’s
6. 3… d5 d5
7. 4. d4 d4 — a Queen’s Gambit
8. 4… c5 c5 — the Semi-Tarrasch Black hits the centre and accepts a symmetrical position with an isolated pawn coming. That pawn is White’s and it wins the game.
9. 5. cxd5 Taken
10. 5… Nxd5 The knight recaptures
11. 6. e4 e4, at it
12. 6… Nxc3 The knights come off
13. 7. bxc3 Recaptured with the b-pawn
14. 7… cxd4 The pawns come off on d4
15. 8. cxd4 And again
16. 8… Bb4+ Check from b4
17. 9. Bd2 The bishop blocks
18. 9… Bxd2+ The bishops come off
19. 10. Qxd2 The queen recaptures
20. 10… O-O Black castles

d5 and an isolated pawn

1. 11. Bc4 The bishop to c4 — the diagonal to f7
2. 11… Nc6 Nc6, at d4
3. 12. O-O White castles
4. 12… b6 b6
5. 13. Rad1 The rook to d1 — behind the pawn Both white rooks come to the files the pawn will walk down. It reaches d7 fourteen moves later.
6. 13… Bb7 Bb7
7. 14. Rfe1 The second rook to e1
8. 14… Rc8 The rook to c8
9. 15. d5 d5 — the pawn sets off Offered, and it has to be taken: leaving it is d6 with tempo.
10. 15… exd5 Taken
11. 16. Bxd5 The bishop recaptures on d5
12. 16… Na5 Na5, at the bishop
13. 17. Qf4 The queen to f4
14. 17… Qc7 The queen to c7

The pawn to d7

1. 18. Qf5 The queen to f5
2. 18… Bxd5 The bishops come off on d5
3. 19. exd5 The pawn takes back — and it is a passer A white pawn on d5 with nothing in front of it and nothing beside it. From here it is the only thing that matters.
4. 19… Qc2 The queen to c2
5. 20. Qf4 The queen back to f4
6. 20… Qxa2 The queen takes a2
7. 21. d6 d6 — the sixth rank
8. 21… Rcd8 The rook to d8, to hold it
9. 22. d7 d7 — the seventh One square from a queen, held by nothing at all and stoppable only by keeping a rook on d8 and a knight nearby. Petrosian has to tie two pieces to it for the rest of the game.
10. 22… Qc4 The queen to c4

Two knights on c6

1. 23. Qf5 The queen to f5
2. 23… h6 h6
3. 24. Rc1 The rook to c1
4. 24… Qa6 The queen to a6
5. 25. Rc7 The rook to c7 — the seventh rank as well
6. 25… b5 b5
7. 26. Nd4 The knight to d4, joining in
8. 26… Qb6 The queen to b6
9. 27. Rc8 The rook to c8 — the eighth Now the rook is on the back rank beside the pawn on d7 and the rook on d8 cannot leave.
10. 27… Nb7 Nb7, the last defender
11. 28. Nc6 The knight to c6 — the first one
12. 28… Nd6 Nd6, blocking
13. 29. Nxd8 The rook takes the rook on d8
14. 29… Nxf5 The knight takes the queen on f5
15. 30. Nc6 Nc6 — and Black resigned A second knight arrives on c6, and the rook on d8 and the pawn on d7 together are more than Black can meet: the rook cannot be taken, the pawn promotes, and the knight on f5 is a piece he cannot use in time. Twenty-nine legal moves and Petrosian played none of them. Spassky won the match and the title.