No wonder Petrosian is credited with saying something like" "If someone wants to play the Dutch against you, let them."

His predilection was certainly to play positional setups, but (as with all GMs, not to mention the elite), Petrosian was more than capable of playing tactical chess. Check out this gem against another strong GM: Petrosian vs Korchnoi, 1962. We should also note that, particularly in his early career, Iron Tigran played a fair number of Sicilian Najdorfs. You want to play Black in one of those without some command of tactical play, get ready to take an early train home.

Korchnoi vs Karpov, 1974

However, defending the title was another matter. He drew twice and lost 3 times for a record of 0-3-2. Obviously the thrill of the chase stirred up something in this man that he could not muster when the title was in his possession.

It is generally agreed that he was, in fact. For example, from the Mickey Mantle Wikipeidia page: 'Well before he finally sought treatment for alcoholism, Mantle admitted his hard living had hurt both his playing and his family. His rationale was that the men in his family had all died young, so he expected to die young as well. His father died of Hodgkin's disease at age 40 in 1952, and his grandfather also died young of the same disease. "I'm not gonna be cheated," he would say. Mantle did not know at the time that most of the men in his family had inhaled lead and zinc dust in the mines, which contribute to Hodgkins' and other cancers.'

Botvinnik vs Reshevsky, 1948

He may have got a bit disheartened. How was he going to beat Petrosian 4 or 5 times in 24 games, assuming Petrosian won a similar amount? A very sobering prospect.

Interestingly, in a press conference immediately after he regained the title against Tal, Botvinnik said a couple of times that he might not defend his title, <since by 1963 I will already be quite elderly>. See Igor Botvinnik's compilation on the return match at 123.

Someone asked Petrosian once if Botvinnik had ever seriously considered not playing in 1963. His answer was something like "Maybe yes, in the same kind of way someone considers a bad move before rejecting it."

What might also have been interesting is if FIDE had made one of these matches "first to 6 wins".

One question that Botvinnik's remark above suggests is this: Did Botvinnik realise that Petrosian was using Nimzowitsch's methods against him, or had Botvinnik not read Nimzowitsch's books?

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