AMay 21 1963
Ventura County Star, Ventura, California, Tuesday, May 21, 1963
Reds Hail World Chess Champion
Moscow (UPI) - Tigran Petrosyan, a 34-year-old Armenian, was the new world chess champion and the idol of the chess-loving Russian public today.
Petrosyan defeated the great Mikhail Botvinnik last night in the 22nd game of a grueling match played on the stage of a Moscow variety theater over a span of nearly two months.
The theater audience of 2,000 cheered wildly when Botvinnik, 52, finding himself stymied after Petrosian's 10th move, reached across the table and shook the hand of his younger foe as a sign of congratulation.
The gesture broke almost unbearable tension and brought bedlam to the theater. Millions had followed the match on television since it started March 23. A world chess championship means as much to the Russians as the World Series or a heavyweight boxing championship to Americans.
Botvinnik had been world champion since 1948 except for two-one-year periods. He lost the crown to fellow Russians Vasily Smyslov in 1958 and Mikhail Tal in 1961, but won it back a year later in each case.
Under new international chess rules, Botvinnik cannot challenge again for three years and many observers thought he would never again attempt to regain the championship.
The new champion began winning chess laurels at the age of 16. To qualify to meet Botvinnik, he defeated seven other chess grand masters last year at Curacao, including young American Bobby Fisher and Russians Paul Keres and Tal.
1963
July 1963
