(14) Petrosian,Tigran V - Spassky,Boris V [E66]

20...Bh3 This game was played in the 1966 World Championship match between Tigran Petrosian, who had defeated Mikhail Botvinnik in 1963 to become the champ, and Boris Spassky, who went on to win the championship in 1969 only to lose it in 1972 to Bobby Fischer in the most famous match in the history of chess. Here, Petrosian (White) sees the opportunity to create a dangerous attack on the Black king by sacrificing material. Sometimes, as you will learn, the time we gain by moving forward with our plans is more important than the pieces we lose, because it takes time for our opponents to take them! One of the marks of a good player is in correctly judging when this strategy will work. Here Petrosian judges correctly. 21.Ne3 Bxf1 22.Rxf1 Black has won the "exchange" which is a chess term for when a rook is traded for a minor piece (bishop or knight). The rook is generally the stronger piece, but as mentioned in the last note, Petrosian wants to use the time to aim his forces at the black king. 22...Ng6 Black's knight was under attack so he understandably moves it. Notice the scope of the White Queen, which has both a safe position and a beautiful diagonal aiming toward the king. 23.Bg4 Brings another piece into an aggressive position. Not how Petrosian doesn't play "cat and mouse". Every one of his moves is direct and purposeful. 23...Nxf4 Black snags a pawn and guards the e6 square. He underestimated White's next move, which let's go of some more material, this time to remove the defending piece. 24.Rxf4 Rxf4 25.Be6+ Rf7 26.Ne4 The white pieces gather around black's king. 26...Qh4 27.Nxd6 Qg5+ 28.Kh1 Raa7 Leaves white the opportunity to sacrifice his queen in order to deliver a devastating knight fork. One of the most memorable knight forks ever in a Grandmaster chess game. 29.Bxf7+ Rxf7 30.Qh8+! Of course on 30...Kxh8 white has 31.Nxf7+ and he comes out with a winning endgame. 1-0