Tigran Petrosian

Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (June 17, 1929 - August 13,1984) was a chess player. He was born in the city of Tbilisi, Georgia, USSR and died in the Russian capital, Moscow.

His results in the triennial Candidates tournaments, held to determine the challenger to the world champion, showed a steady improvement: 5th at Zürich in 1953; equal 3rd at Amsterdam in 1956; 3rd in Yugoslavia in 1959; 1st at Curaçao in 1962. In 1963 he defeated Mikhail Botvinnik 12.5 - 9.5 to become world chess champion.

Petrosian defended his title in 1966, defeating Boris Spassky 12.5-11.5. In 1969 he was beaten by Spassky 12.5-10.5.