Petrosian-Pachman, Bled 1961

White to play and win.

I have been playing over some of Petrosian's games, especially with the King's Indian Attack, in the book by P.H. Clarke. That's where I found the wonderful miniature Petrosian-Pachman, Bled 1961 (see diagram above). It took me a long time to discover Petrosian, I must confess, and it is only as I mature into positional understanding that I begin to appreciate his games. Euwe's great The Development of Chess Style talks about how the development of the individual player's knowledge parallels the development of chess knowledge through the ages ("ontogeny recapitualtes philogeny"), and I think that explains why I was so fascinated by the players of the 1920s for so long: I had only progressed to that level of understanding. Maybe some time within the next decade I will understand Kasparov...