Book Review – Python Strategy by Tigran Petrosian
Do you know the 9th World Chess Champion? Tigran Vartanovic Petrosian. He had written this book “Python Strategy ” which covers his games, his journey in chess, insights from his co-authors about how Petrosian was, and a lot of interesting interviews. Tigran explains his journey of how he and his brother worked hard to get a chess set, followed by joining a chess club, his insights of the pre-world championship match preparation, his top-class exchange sacrifices, and so on.
- Author of Book – GM Tigran Petrosian
- Publishing Date – 1 January 2015
- Published By – Quality Chess
A Glimpse of this book
A small paragraph from ” THE MAN I KNEW” by Grandmaster Svetozar Gligoric
” Once during a tournament game, Petrosian offered me a draw. I had no winning chances, but something made me say ‘No!’ although I regretted it at once. I was on the point of retracting my refusal when I noticed that Tigran had removed the hearing aid from his ear and could no longer hear me. I was focused to continue the game.; five moves later I was in a hopeless situation and lost, which in the end cost me a substantial prize.”
Here’s one of my favorite games from the book – Petrosian vs Smyslov
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This beautiful game shows how one world champion outplays another world champion. This game is also covered in a lot of books.
What to Expect?
When a World Champion decides to write something, it is always high-quality material. This book contains a significant amount of explanation of the thought process of the author, his game analytical skills, and his profound thinking of the game. All of this resembles such a gentleman Petrosian must be.
What Is A Unique Thing In This Book?
Every chapter is classified with a duration of certain years, this gives the readers the flow of his play and his journey towards the world title. The author has made it a point to include some experience or narration necessary before each chapter.
This gives the readers clear insights into what the 9th world champion thought at that time. Although due to severe illness Petrosian couldn’t complete his book his fellow GMs have made an excellent effort to polish the content and complete the book.
One can get huge inspiration when he gets to know of the stats that when Petrosian was a world champion between 1963-69, in team championships he score 78 wins, 50 draws, and just 1 loss!
Who Can Read?
This is such a wonderful book, that I recommend it to everyone including non-chess players. The reason for it is that a newbie in chess needs more stories than an explanation of moves. Regular players can learn from the games by watching them innumerable times. There are top GrandMasters like Levon Aronion and Mihail Marin who became big fans of this book.
Writing Style And Content
The language used in this book is easy and convenient to understand. The format used in this book (the introductions to every chapter, notes before and after every game, the in-depth interviews). Tigran Petrosian’s explanations are something you read carefully, paying attention to the fullest. The points are very subtle and easy to miss. His play was so simple and the amount of contribution he has made to “prophylaxis in chess” is huge!
What Did I Like?
Starting with the front page, the image used to show how a python smothers his prey, followed by well-expressed opinions by the co-authors to the aesthetic games and subtle explanations, and in-depth interviews. That’s all I need from a book.
From Where You Can Buy This Book?
This book is available on various websites including amazon, the quality chess website,s, and other offline stores also. You can buy this book from amazon by clicking here.
About the Book Author
We can write a lot of articles about this author. But to sum it up about the 9th world champion, it’s a famous statement – “ When top Grandmasters are discussing a position, various lines and ideas are exchanged in them, but when Petrosian starts to speak, everyone keeps quiet and listens to his explanation attentively.” He has contributed a lot to prophylactic thinking in chess and positional exchange sacrifices.
About The Publisher
Quality chess is a UK-based company. This was founded by GM Jacob Aagaard, GM John Shaw, and IM Ari Ziegler. Quality chess is currently dominating the chess market and is currently one of the top publications in the chess world. Most of the books from quality chess are very famous. The page quality and binding quality are also excellent.
