This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from “The Essential Sosonko”, a collection of chess portraits based on personal stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko.
In this episode, Sosonko draws up a portrait of the ninth World Champion, Tigran Petrosian. Lauded by the Armenian populus as a national hero, Tigran often found himself accompanied by fans wherever he went.
Petrosian made prophylaxis a trademark of his playing style, which earned him the nickname “Iron Tigran” and several tribute books. He refined many defensive and prophylactic ideas and elevated the positional Exchange sacrifice into an art form.
"The Main Thing Is Happiness" focuses on Petrosian's personal background. Born in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, to parents from Armenia, he lived in Moscow for most of his life. This begs the question as to Petrosian's nationality, especially now that the Soviet Union as an entity no longer exists.
Enjoy this week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast!
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Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:17 Petrosian was celebrated as an Armenian hero
06:33 The reception by the people when Petrosian became World Chess Champion
10:35 "Our Tigran": Petrosian did not belong to just one country
12:31 Petrosian the Polyglot
13:56 AD BREAK
14:29 Petrosian's friendship with composer Arno Babajanian
15:46 The Armenian-Jewish combination
17:02 Khrushchev's joke and Mikoyan's warning
19:31 How Petrosian's life might have been if he had still been alive today
22:35 Petrosian in anticipation of his demise
