All posts tagged: Spassky

Boris Spassky, endlessly witty and a free soul, was more than just Fischer’s victim or a Soviet Union foot soldier

Boris Spassky, endlessly witty and a free soul, was more than just Fischer’s victim or a Soviet Union foot soldier

Published by Webster

In the many obituaries for Boris Spassky that popped up after his demise last week, not many mentioned what the 10th world champion did to Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen on the top board of the clash between USSR and the Rest of the World in 1970. Incidentally, this was the first ‘Match of the Century’ that both Spassky and his nemesis Bobby Fischer played in. But this one was a team event in Belgrade, which featured players like Tigran Petrosian, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Botvinnik and Mikhail Tal besides Spassky and Fischer. In that match, Larsen was picked as the top board player over Fischer for the Rest of the World side, while Spassky, as reigning world champion, was given the honour of leading an outfit that had his predecessors on the throne like Petrosian, Smyslov, Botvinnik and Tal. It’s a game that starts with Larsen playing the off-beat 1.b3 (which has since been named after him as the Larsen Opening). The provocative opening is the 6th most common opening move with white pieces and offers …

Boris Spassky: The man who dared George Bush to put him and Bobby Fischer in same cell, ‘and give us a chess set’ | Chess News

Boris Spassky: The man who dared George Bush to put him and Bobby Fischer in same cell, ‘and give us a chess set’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

Boris Spassky, the 10th world champion in the history of chess, breathed his last in Moscow on Thursday at the age of 88. For the world at large, Spassky’s is the name that lives on in hyphenated eternity with Bobby Fischer’s: the duo wrestled for the world champion’s crown in 1972 in frigid Reykjavik in a match billed the Match Of The Century. Spassky was a man who stood out for his grace. In September 1972, barely three days after he had lost the world champion’s crown to the brash, loud-mouthed Fischer in the Match of the Century, Spassky was asked in an interview if his opponent’s shenanigans in the match had affected him. On the way to beating Spassky, Fischer had kept the world including his opponent on edge about the match happening at all, skipped the opening ceremony, forced game 1 of the world championship to be deferred, forfeited game 2, forced game 3 to be played in a small room behind the actual playing arena, and complained incessantly about things like the …

Rich tributes, mourning in chess world as 10th world champion, passes away

Rich tributes, mourning in chess world as 10th world champion, passes away

Published by Webster

Boris Spassky, the 10th world champion of chess, has passed away, FIDE announced on Friday. He was 88. He became the world champion after defeating Tigran Petrosian and then famously lost in the Match of the Century against Bobby Fischer in 1972 at Iceland’s Reykjavík. Spassky was a chess prodigy who went on to become a Grandmaster at the age of 18 and was known as one of the most talented players of his generation. He lost his first world championship battle against Petrosian at Moscow 1966. But in the next world championship, he overcame Petrosian to earn the crown. He was a player known for his universal playing style. What was remarkable about him was that he played for France in his latter years. Spassky played seven times at the Chess Olympiad for the Soviet team (between 1962 to 1978). Then in 1976, Spassky immigrated to France and became a French citizen two years later. Then, he competed for France in three Olympiads (1984–1988). He became a Russian citizen again in 2013. Story continues …