Author: Tadevosian Garnik

Washington Times, DC
March 20 2004

Honor peerless Petrosian

By David R. Sands

Armenian chess enthusiasts this month organized a strong invitational
event to mark the 75th anniversary of the birth of the late, great
Soviet world champion Tigran Petrosian. Petrosian, born in Georgia of
Armenian parents, was world champion from 1963 to 1969, losing the
title to Boris Spassky.
Armenian GM Karen Asrian won the tournament with a 6-3 score, but
Petrosian’s namesake, 20-year-old Armenian IM Tigran L. Petrosian,
did quite well for himself, finishing with an even 41/2-41/2 score
despite being the second-lowest-rated player in the field. The
international master pinned a loss on Russian GM Mikhail Kobalia in
Round 4, outplaying his higher-rated opponent for much of the game
and surviving a blunder-filled scramble just before the first time
control.
In a Kan Sicilian, White’s 16. Nxc3 0-0 17. Nd5!? is an almost
standard Sicilian motif. Petrosian gets the better game if Black
accepts on 17…exd5?! 18. exd5 Rfe8 19. dxc6 Ba6 20. Qf3, with the
White c-pawn clogging Black’s game. Black sidesteps that with
17…Qd8 18. Nxf6+ Bxf6, but White boldly enters a tactically
complicated line that gives him a comfortable advantage.
Thus: 19. Qb5! Bxb2 20. Nxa5!? (bold or foolhardy, depending on
your tastes, as 20. Qxb7 Bxc1 21. Rxc1 Ne5 22. Nd4 looks like a safer
way to obtain an edge) Bxc1 21. Nxb7 Nd4! (perhaps the only way to
remain in the fight) 22. Qd3 Qb6 23. Rxc1 Rxa4 24. Na5. White has two
bishops for a rook and pawn, but Kobalia at least has eliminated
White’s queen-side pawns.
Better for Black would have been 25…Qb3!, eliminating one of
the bishops on 26. Qxb3 Nxb3 27. Rb1 Nxd2 28. Nxd2 Rd4 29. Nf1 f5.
Black’s center and king-side become problems after the game’s
25…Qb5?! (the pins of the White knight along the diagonal and the
c-file prove transitory) 26. Be3 Rc8 27. Bxd4 exd4 28. Bf1! Qc5 29.
Rc2! Rc7 30. Ne3, and White’s pieces suddenly become much more
active.
Petrosian drives the Black rook back and then switches abruptly
to the other flank with 34. Qa2 Rb8 35. Qd2!, with the threat of 36.
Qg5 g6 37. Ne7+ Kg7 38. Nd5. But it looks as if both players were
short of time as the position grows critical.
There followed 35…g6 36. Nh6+ Kg7 37. h4?? (trying to open more
lines, but overlooking that the knight is precariously perched; 37.
Ng4! keeps the focus on Black’s numerous weak king-side squares)
Rb1?? (returning the favor; on 37…Qh5!, White’s best now appears to
be 38. Nxf7 Kxf7 39. Qxd4 Rb1 40. Qxd6 Qb5 41. Qc7+ Ke6 42. Qc8+,
with a draw) 38. Ng4.
The knight has escaped, and White must simply work his bishop
into the attack. Still a move short of time control, Kobalia makes
things simple with a second oversight: 38…Qc1? 39. Qxd4+, losing a
pawn outright and leaving his king in the lurch. Black resigns.
The real Tigran Petrosian is the chess equivalent of a
postgraduate degree, a player with a style so distinctive and subtle
that it baffled even many strong players of his day. Though
criticized for being too cautious, Petrosian actually was a superb
tactician, a world-class speed player and the one Soviet grandmaster
even Bobby Fischer unreservedly admired.
Consider today’s diagrammed position from Petrosian’s win over
strong West German GM Wolfgang Unzicker in a 1960 team match, three
years before he wrested the world crown from Mikhail Botvinnik.
White’s strategy here is given close scrutiny in American IM John
Watson’s brilliant 1999 treatise “Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy,”
a book in which Petrosian games are cited frequently.
As Watson notes, White has a distinct advantage on the queen-side
but no clear avenue for penetration. Petrosian’s uncanny solution:
transfer his king from g1 to a2(!), pound open some lines on the
newly vacated king-side, and then shift back to the c-file when
Black’s forces have been diverted.
The execution includes some nice tactical points. If, for
example, 38…Qxb5, White wins with 39. axb5 a4 40. b6 Rad7 41. Na5
Ra8 42. Rxd6! Rxd6 43. b7 Rb8 44. Rc8 Rd8 45. Rxd8 Rxd8 46. Nc6. The
opening of the g- and h-files causes Unzicker no end of headaches, as
he must constantly guard against getting his queen pinned and against
an invasion by the White queen at h8.
With Black badly tied up, the action shifts back to the c-file,
now with devastating impact: 50. Qh2! Bf6 51. Rc8! Rad7 52. Nc5! b3+
(desperation) 53. Kxb3 Rd6 54. f5! (threatening both the queen and
55. Qxd6) Rb6+ 55. Ka2. Since 55…Qxf5 56. Rxd8+ Bxd8 57. Nd7+ picks
off the rook, Black resigns.

Tigran Petrosian Memorial Tournament, Stepanakert,
Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia, March 2004
Petrosian Kobalia
1. e4 c5 21. Nxb7 Nd4
2. Nc3 e6 22. Qd3 Qb6
3. Nf3 a6 23. Rxc1 Rxa4
4. g3 b5 24. Na5 e5
5. d4 cxd4 25. Nc4 Qb5
6. Nxd4 Bb7 26. Be3 Rc8
7. Bg2 Nf6 27. Bxd4 exd4
8. Qe2 Qb6 28. Bf1 Qc5
9. Nb3 Qc7 29. Rc2 Rc7
10. 0-0 d6 30. Ne3 Qa7
11. a4 b4 31. Rxc7 Qxc7
12. Na2 Nc6 32. Nf5 Qc5
13. Bd2 a5 33. Qb3 Rb4
14. Rfc1 Be7 34. Qa2 Rb8
15. c3 bxc3 35. Qd2 g6
16. Nxc3 0-0 36. Nh6+ Kg7
17. Nd5 Qd8 37. h4 Rb1
18. Nxf6+ Bxf6 38. Ng4 Qc1
19. Qb5 Bxb2 39. Qxd4+ Black
20. Nxa5 Bxc1 resigns

U.S.S.R.-West Germany Match, Hamburg, Germany, 1960
Petrosian Unzicker
1. d4 Nf6 29. Kf1 Kf8
2. Nf3 e6 30. h4 h5
3. Bg5 d5 31. R1c2 Kh7
4. c4 c6 32. Ke1 Kg8
5. Qc2 Be7 33. Kd1 Kh7
6. e3 0-0 34. Kc1 Kg8
7. Nc3 h6 35. Kb1 Kh7
8. Bf4 Nbd7 36. Qe2 Qb7
9. cxd5 cxd5 37. Rc1 Kg7
10. Bd3 a6 38. Qb5 Qa8
11. 0-0 b5 39. f4 Kh7
12. a4 b4 40. Qe2 Qb7
13. Na2 Ne8 41. g4 hxg4
14. Nc1 a5 42. Qxg4 Qe7
15. Nb3 Ba6 43. h5 Qf6
16. Bxa6 Rxa6 44. Ka2 Kg7
17. Qd3 Ra7 45. hxg6 Qxg6
18. Rfc1 Nd6 46. Qh4 Be7
19. Bxd6 Bxd6 47. Qf2 Kf8
20. Rc6 Nb8 48. Nd2 Rb7
21. Rc2 Nd7 49. Nb3 Ra7
22. Rac1 Nb6 50. Qh2 Bf6
23. Qb5 Nc4 51. Rc8 Rad7
24. Nfd2 Nxd2 52. Nc5 b3+
25. Rxd2 Qa8 52. Kxb3 Rd6
26. Rdc2 Rd8 54. f5 Rb6+
27. Rc6 g6 55. Ka2 Black
28. g3 Kg7 resigns

David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by e-mail at
[email protected].

Globe and Mail, Canada
March 17 2004

Rag-tag team seeks puck of the Irish

By ALLAN MAKI
>From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail

This was the summary from yesterday’s big hockey game in Iceland:
Mexico 8, Ireland 3. Ireland’s first two goals were scored by a
Russian defenceman. The Irish also got a goal from a left winger who
just happens to be a tennis pro who lives and coaches in Dublin.

But forget about that for a moment. Yesterday is done. Today is the
day that matters. Today is the day the tennis playing Larry Jurovich
and his Irish teammates have been thinking about for months; the day
they can do themselves and all Ireland proud by scoring their first
victory at a world hockey championship and on St. Patrick’s Day, no
less.

All they have to do is beat Armenia. Beat Armenia on St. Paddy’s Day
and, guaranteed, Irish hockey will have its galvanizing moment, its
1972 Summit Series, its 1980 Winter Olympics; also a good excuse to
drink green beer.

Mind you, just making it to the 2004 International Ice Hockey
Federation Division III world championship in Reykjavik is a major
accomplishment for this Irish team. Ireland has little history and no
burning connection to the game. It has even less when it comes to
youth hockey. As for permanent rinks, you can count them on two
fingers (the Odyssey Arena in Belfast and the International Ice Bowl
in Dundonald).

That so few given so little could get to a world championship is a
tribute to the Irish team’s spirit, its raw athleticism and, of
course, a bunch of puck-crazed Canadians.

You didn’t think there’d be a hockey story without some Canadian
content, did you? Jurovich, the tennis ace and goal-scoring left
winger, was born in Vancouver. He is now a naturalized Irish citizen
who serves as the high-performance coach for Tennis Ireland.
Centreman John White is a 44-year-old Dublin-born Canadian who says
he played his minor hockey in Brantford, Ont., with none other than
Wayne Gretzky. Garrett MacNeill, another Dublin-born Canadian, plays
defence for the Manhattanville College Valiants, an NCAA Division III
school in New York.

Then there are the coaches, Greg Fitzgerald and Jim Graves, both of
whom hail from the true north strong and free and now reside in
Dublin. Rounding out the rest of the roster are seven players from
Belfast, nine from Dublin and Dimitry Slavashevsky, the 34-year-old
defenceman whose parents came from Minsk, perhaps to get away from
hockey.

If the Irish lineup seems more than a wee bit quirky, consider what
the players had to go through in preparation for the world
championship. At first, they practised in Dublin, where the last
permanent arena was shut down four years ago. They practised
outdoors, on a non-regulation-size rink, after they’d finished work.
During Christmas, the players practised outdoors at midnight, after
all the public skaters had gone home. They did this three times a
week until they figured there had to be a better way, and there was.
Sort of.

What the Dublin-based players did was climb into their vehicles and
drive 21/2 hours north to Belfast, two, sometimes three times a week,
for on-ice sessions. They did this when they weren’t doing off-ice
workouts at the national boxing club or in-line skating to stay in
shape.

“We may not have a rink, and we may lack game experience, but we’ll
have the best fitness possible,” team captain Mark Bowes promised.

Bowes is the general secretary of the Irish Ice Hockey Association.
He and president/defenceman Cliff Saunders have done their part to
promote the game in Ireland, a game that Saunders has described as “a
cross between hurling and skating with the excitement of both.” (No
word on what Saunders thought of the Todd Bertuzzi incident, which
made a lot of Canadians think about hurling, too.)

Just how well Ireland will do at the Division III world championship
is an exercise in wishful thinking. Five years ago, the country sent
a team to the European under-18 junior championship in Bulgaria and
failed to win a game. Five players from that team played yesterday
against Mexico in a game in which the Irish were tied 2-2 after one
period, down a goal after two periods but badly outscored in the
third.

But to the likes of Slavashevsky and Jurovich and everyone else on
the emerald team, yesterday’s loss is over and done. Today is all
that matters; the day they can down Armenia and make their mark. That
it could happen on St. Patrick’s Day has presented them with an
opportunity they’ve been dreaming about for months.

The question now is: Is there a Paul O’Henderson in their midst?

Pan Armenian News
March 11 2004

GREEKS MAY GIVE CONTROL OVER ARMENTEL

The new Greek Government may sell its share of the OTE Company
possessing the 90% of ArmenTel.

”New Democrats” won the Parliamentary elections in Greece. After 10
years of governing the socialists became opposition. Change of the
government will not lead to serious changes in the foreign policy of
the official Athens, according to political observers. However, the
neighbors of Greece will feel those changes. Armenia as well.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ It’s evident that despite the informal alliance
between the socialists and the communists (which form the third
biggest faction in the parliament), the conservatives will form the
Cabinet of Ministers independently. Greece is suffering a serious
economic crisis and the new democrats believe its solution is the
”total privatization”. Leaders of the conservative party have
always stated their intention to sell the state share of OTE Company
holding the 90% of the shares of the Armenian telecommunications’
monopolist ”ArmenTel”. OTE used to be a state enterprise once but
then the 65% of its shares were sold. However, the government
continues to be the biggest shareholder of the company.

The shares of OTE hold by the state probably may be sold this year.
It is supposed that he privatization of the company will take 8-10
moths. So, next year ArmenTel may have a new shareholder. ”France
Telecom”, ”Telecom Italia”, the British `Cable & Wireless’ and
even the Turkish ”Turk Cell”, which is the biggest operator in
Azerbaijan and works also in Georgia, have shown interest towards the
privatization of the company.

The new holder of the biggest share of OTE will have to decide
whether to remain in the Armenian market of telecommunications or
not. The nowadays administrators of OTE has already started the
process of sale of ArmenTel’s shares. They started to negotiate with
Russian Rostelecom in autumn 2003. The negotiations were delayed
because of the elections but the privatization process may continue.
It is natural that in order to have a full control over the process
of privatization the Minister of Communication of Greece may change
the OTE administration. This will lead to change of ArmenTel’s
administration. So, the terms of depriving the monopoly on mobile
communication will be probably discussed with other people. While the
Executive Director of the company, Georgios Vasilakis, will evidently
have to leave the country.