Game Number 1

In the odd free moment I had last weekend I had a quick look at the Australian Chess Enterprises book stall at the Doeberl. I didn't have time to make an extensive choice of books but I did pick up one bargain. "The Best of the Best 1000" is a collection of the Top 10 games from each of the first 100 issues of Chess Informant, and it was going for a song.
For the younger readers, Chess Informant was the thing chess players used before chess databases came along, and was printed on good old fashioned paper. The truly dedicated would by every issue, but I restricted myself to picking up the odd copy here and there. So to get a collection of the very best games is quite a nice find, and hopefully I will find the time to play through some of them.
The game below is historical for a couple of reasons. It was voted the best game from the very first issue of Chess Informant, and is Game No. 1 in the book. It was also the first decisive game from the 1966 Petrosian v Spassky World Championship Match which Petrosian won 12.5-11.5. And finally it is a bit of a nightmare for players who think the Torre Attack is a risk free way of playing 1.d4, and Petrosian neutralised Spassky's play on the kingside, and then swamped him with an avalanche of pawns.


Spassky,B - Petrosian,Tigran V [D03]
Wch26 Moscow (7), 1966