Daily Chess Puzzle: Tigran Petrosian

As in the last two days, I will use a position from this game for today’s puzzle.

White to play

Petrosian v Botvinnik, game 5, World championship match, 1/4/1963 Moscow

Solution

The game was quite Carlsen-grind-esque, so hard to choose. But Tigran clearly knew to ignore threats and played 1 Ne4! Rh2 2 Kd4!

White has activated his pieces, including his King; and the Ba5 isn’t in the game.  He gave back the extra pawn from the initial position, swapping it for other advantages.

After 2..Kd7 3 g3 Bb4 4 Ke5  White’s king advanced and advanced.

After a few more moves, Black’s defences finally succumbed: the king side pawns dropped off (though Botvinnik resigned when the inevitable was nigh). An ending worth playing through.

FEN

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