In Amsterdam Candidates' Tournament 1956 Petrosian played a famous game against Bronstein. Petrosian completely outplayed Bronstein. At the end Bronstein could move only his knight forwards and backwards. But then Petrosian blundered his queen and lost.
Petrosian,T - Bronstein,D
Amsterdam Candidates Tournament, 1956
From the "Turnir Grossmeisterov v Amsterdame" by L. Abramov book.
Publisher "Fizkultura i Sport", Moscow 1958.
Round 2, March 28, 1956, annotations by Tigran Petrosian, game #7, p20.
White is steering the game towards a symmetric position, where Black as is well known, must observe some degree of caution.
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8...dxc5 9.Be3 Nd7
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Of 3 possible continuations 9...Qa5, 9...Be6 and 9...Nd7, the most unfortunate.
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10.Qc1
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White takes over the d file with his Rook, and it becomes apparent, that the Black Queen does not have a comfortable shelter.
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10...Nd4? 11.Rd1 e5?
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It is clear, that Black cannot maintain the Knight on d4, and the d5 square becomes a permanent White possession. The last 2 Black moves are ill chosen and are the reason for Black's later difficulties.
[11...b6 Relatively better was 10...b6 and 11...Bb7]
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12.Bh6 Qa5 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.Kh1
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Dealing with the threat of 14...Qxc3 and Nxe2+
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14...Rb8
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Black has played the opening poorly and obtained a very difficult position.
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15.Nd2!
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From here the Knight can bother the Queen and also move to e4, from where together with his "companion" on d5, will lead to minimal freedom of movement by Black pieces.
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15...a6
16.e3 Ne6 17.a4
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Restraining b5, White condemns Bc8 to a pitiful role, where it stays for the remainder of the game.
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17...h5 18.h4 f5
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The last two moves brought about the creation of new weaknesses. But it was difficult to avoid this. It was necessary to deny the e4 square to White pieces and to somewhat expand the territory on the kingside.
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19.Nd5 Kh7 20.b3
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[20.b4 cxb4 21.Nb3 This looked more energetic. White however, did not choose this line, not wishing to grant the c5 square to Black Knights.]
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20...Rf7 21.Nf3 Qd8 22.Qc3 Qh8
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In a difficult situation, Bronstein finds an interesting relocation of the Queen, somewhat enriching his defensive resources. Black plans 23...e4, achieving a trade of Queens, and the e5 square for the Knight.
[22...e4? Bad is 22... e4 because of 23.Ne5 with an overwhelming position for White. It is not simple to find the correct plan after 22...Qh8, though]
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23.e4!
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White denies his opponent the above mentioned continuation and opens lines, creating concrete threats.
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23...fxe4// [On 23...f4 24.Bh3 is very strong]//
24.Nd2 Qg7
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At this moment Bronstein was already in a serious zeitnot, and he decided to move his pieces away from the possible Knight forks, and to move with the only piece, whose movement does not worsen his position, namely the Knight on e6.
[24...Rxf2 With an overwhelming position for White the opening of the f file would have been to White's advantage.]
White successfully escapes the danger, which he nevertheless succumbed to 4 moves later.
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32...Nd4 33.Rb2
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Taking advantage of the fact that Black has nothing to do, White intends to maneuver until the end of the time control, without making decisive actions.
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33...Nc6 34.Reb1 Nd4 35.Qd6 Nf5
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Making his 35th move, White intended to respond to 35...Nf5 by 36.Qc7, but, having thought for 1+-2 minutes, decided to play the move which "wins" immediately.
