First-move advantage in chess draw given best play prevails. Even if it cannot be proved, this assumption is considered "safe" by Rowson and "logical" by Adorján. Watson agrees that "the proper result of a perfectly played chess game ... is a draw. ... Of course, I can't prove this, but I doubt that you can find a single strong player who would disagree. ... I remember Kasparov, after a last-round draw, explaining to the waiting reporters: 'Well, chess is a draw. World Champion Bobby Fischer thought that "it's almost definite that the game is a draw theoretically". Similarly, British grandmaster Nigel Short wrote that
Chess in Armenia champion title four times (1959, 1961, 1969, 1975). In 1963 Petrosian became the World Chess Champion, defeating Mikhail Botvinnik, another Soviet representative. Petrosian's victory not only popularized the game of chess, but also "led to an outpouring of patriotic fervour" in the smallest Soviet republic. "From that moment on, chess became a national obsession." Many couples named their sons Tigran, after Petrosian. Besides being World Champion for six years (1963 to 1969), Petrosian won the Chess Olympiad nine times with the Soviet team (1958 to 1974). In 1962, there were 30,000 chess players in Soviet Armenia, as well as 3,000