Today, July 20, is celebrated annually as International Chess Day.
A rare photograph shows world chess champion Tigran Petrosyan from 1963 to 1969 and Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.
About what the great Tigran Petrosyan was like.
Petrosyan often deliberately gave the right to attack to his opponent, and then skillfully “extinguished” his initiative. Often this had a negative psychological effect on the opponents, and they began to play out of position, wanting to continue the attack. The rivals allowed weaknesses in their ranks, and this is exactly what Petrosyan needed.
If Petrosyan had the initiative, he first limited the actions of the enemy pieces and tried to force him to take action to the detriment of his position. Then he skillfully exploited weaknesses in the enemy ranks. However, away from work, he was a simple man.
For six years Tigran Petrosyan “sat” on the chess throne. In addition to the chessboard, the great chess player was very fond of backgammon. This is where his passion showed, and when he lost, he was worried and nervous, as if the game was the goal of life. He was also interested in writing poetry. His main hobbies were football, table tennis, preference and classical music.
In life, Petrosyan was a cheerful, kind, sympathetic person. He was faithful to his family, his habits, his sports club, and loved to host guests. He sang wonderfully and was knowledgeable about literature and painting. But most of all he liked to tinker in the garden. According to his wife Rona, Petrosyan said: “If they paid me the same salary, I would quit chess and become a gardener.”
