The chess house is located in Yerevan, Armenia on Khanjyan street within the Circular Park of the Kentron district. Officially it is named after Tigran Petrosian, former world chess champion, in 1984 and it is the centre of sport of chess in Yerevan. It was opened in 1970. The architect of the triangular-shaped building was Zhanna Meshcheryakova, and Tigran Petrosian laid the first stone in the foundation of the building. Currently, the director of the centre is Hrachik Tavadyan. According to many visitors, the chess house is one of the best chess centers in the world. Many great international events have been regularly held in the building, including the Tigran Petrosian Memorial.

Modernist architecture of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic was generally smaller in scale and lighter of hand than that in colder areas of the Soviet Union. "Chess palace" may sound unusual in the Western European context. However, it was a common idea in the Soviet Union, where chess was widely played in its pioneer palaces, cultural houses and workers' clubs. In a few years after the October Revolution, the young Soviet Union managed to turn a "useless game of the bourgeoisie" into a sensible pastime of the working masses. After the Second World War Soviet domination in chess became an important ideological argument for the superiority of the system