Page "Tigran Petrosian" Paragraph 48

One of Petrosian's most famous examples of the positional exchange sacrifice is from his game against Samuel Reshevsky in Zurich 1953.

Reshevsky, playing white, appears to have an advantage due to his strong pawn center, which may become mobile after Bf3 and d4 – d5.

Petrosian realized he was in a difficult position because of the passive placement of his pieces, relegated to defensive roles.

He further understood that White might also advance on the kingside with h2 – h4 – h5, provoking weaknesses that would make it more difficult to defend later on.

Faced with these threats, Petrosian devised a plan to maneuver his knight to the square d5, where it would be prominently placed in the center, and blockade the advance of White's pawns.