
Chess House
Triangular Soviet-modernist fortress in golden tuff, shaped like a chess rook and crowned with copper chess pieces.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Chess House in Yerevan begins with world champion Tigran Petrosian, nicknamed Iron Tigran for a style built on defense: seeing danger and eliminating it long before it could arrive, including an entire year, 1962, without losing a single tournament game. It follows his rise through the early 1950s to dethroning Mikhail Botvinnik in 1963 and holding the title for six years, and to the building he founded here in 1970, a fortress in golden tuff deliberately shaped like chess's most stubbornly defensive piece. Seven copper chess figures still watch from its facades, and children have trained inside every day since 1971.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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