Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match (1972)

HISTORY OF THE WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

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Fischer vs Spassky 1972
The Match of the Century

The name Bobby Fischer, at least to Americans, is synonymous with chess. A prodigy in the 50s, a world class player in the 60s, the 70s saw Fischer at his pinnacle. He earned the right to challenge Boris Spassky in a title run without comparison, defeating Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen with perfect scores of 6-0, and ex-champion Petrosian 6½-2½. Now the stage was set, and the only thing standing between Fischer and Spassky was Fischer himself.

Fischer vs Spassky 1972
Fischer vs Spassky, 1972
The match was mired in political overtones, during the height of the Cold War. The Soviet chess system had a monopoly on the title since 1948, and the expectations on Spassky were enormous. While Fischer studied chess virtually in seclusion, Spassky had the full resources of the USSR. Victor Baturinsky, head of Soviet Chess Sports Committee, said: "Basically, the Soviet leadership and the powers that be in sport, were interested in just one issue: how to stop Fischer from becoming World Champion."¹

With the match set to begin in Reykjavik, Iceland, Fischer (who had not signed any documents confirming his participation) began to make a number of demands, including a percentage of television rights, a larger prize fund, and all manner of conditions covering everything from the lighting to the chair cushions. To satisfy Bobby's demands of a larger prize fund, British chess promoter James Slater donated a dazzling $125,000 to be added to the prize fund. Fischer still needed more convincing by Bill Lombardy (Fischer's last-minute choice as second), and one famously persuasive telephone call from Henry Kissinger. Mere hours before he would be forfeited, Fischer arrived in Iceland.

On July 11th, the "Match of the Century" had begun. Whether it was a blunder, or a passion to win at all costs, the first game saw Fischer uncharacteristically lose a simple drawn endgame. Game 2 was awarded to Spassky by forfeit when Fischer failed to appear in a dispute over the presence of cameras in the playing hall.

With the score 2-0 in Spassky's favor, Fischer refused to play unless TV cameras were removed from the playing hall. Only a last minute agreement by Spassky to play away from the cameras permitted the third game to be held. This turned out to be a huge psychological blunder by Spassky. In game 3, in a small room backstage, Fischer beat Spassky for the first time in his life. The games then returned to the main stage, but without cameras. Winning again in games 5, 6, 8, and 10 the Fischer juggernaut had become unstoppable.

On September 3, 1972, Robert James Fischer became the 11th World Chess Champion.

click on a game number to replay game 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Fischer 0 0 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1

Spassky 1 1 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0

FINAL SCORE: Fischer 12½; Spassky 8½
Reference: game collection WCC Index [Fischer-Spassky 1972]

NOTABLE GAMES [what is this?]

    · Game #6     Fischer vs Spassky, 1972     1-0
    · Game #13     Spassky vs Fischer, 1972     0-1
    · Game #5     Spassky vs Fischer, 1972     0-1

¹ Clash of the Titans, television documentary, BBC
²The Match of the Century, Wikipedia

Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match (1972)

page 1 of 1; 21 games

Game Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening
1. Spassky vs Fischer 1-0 56 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match E56 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with 7...Nc6

2. Fischer vs Spassky 0-1 0 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match A00 Uncommon Opening

3. Spassky vs Fischer 0-1 41 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match A61 Benoni

4. Fischer vs Spassky ½-½ 45 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match B88 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin Attack

5. Spassky vs Fischer 0-1 27 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match E41 Nimzo-Indian

6. Fischer vs Spassky 1-0 41 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match D59 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower

7. Spassky vs Fischer ½-½ 49 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match B97 Sicilian, Najdorf

8. Fischer vs Spassky 1-0 37 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match A39 English, Symmetrical, Main line with d4

9. Spassky vs Fischer ½-½ 29 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match D41 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch

10. Fischer vs Spassky 1-0 56 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match C95 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Breyer

11. Spassky vs Fischer 1-0 31 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match B97 Sicilian, Najdorf

12. Fischer vs Spassky ½-½ 55 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match D55 Queen's Gambit Declined

13. Spassky vs Fischer 0-1 74 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match B04 Alekhine's Defense, Modern

14. Fischer vs Spassky ½-½ 40 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match D37 Queen's Gambit Declined

15. Spassky vs Fischer ½-½ 43 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match B99 Sicilian, Najdorf, 7...Be7 Main line

16. Fischer vs Spassky ½-½ 60 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match C69 Ruy Lopez, Exchange, Gligoric Variation, 6.d4

17. Spassky vs Fischer ½-½ 45 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match B09 Pirc, Austrian Attack

18. Fischer vs Spassky ½-½ 47 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match B69 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack, 7...a6 Defense, 11.Bxf6

19. Spassky vs Fischer ½-½ 40 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match B05 Alekhine's Defense, Modern

20. Fischer vs Spassky ½-½ 54 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match B68 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack, 7...a6 Defense, 9...Be7

21. Spassky vs Fischer 0-1 41 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match B46 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation

page 1 of 1; 21 games

REFINE SEARCH: White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 7 OF 7 · Later Kibitzing >
Mar-30-09		nimh: Like all in matches before and after, the real key has always been and still is the difference in playing strength.

Mar-31-09		WeakSquare: Of course, Geller, who else... <nimh> Well, Spassky essentialy only won 1 game. So, the real result was 7-1. Now, Spassky was surely better than that.

Mar-31-09		nimh: Well, every loser thinks he's better than the result. But what really matters is the actual score. Two matches against Spassky offer irrefutable proof that Fischer was head and shoulders above him with respect to playing strength.

Mar-31-09		euripides: <Two matches against Spassky offer irrefutable proof that Fischer was head and shoulders above him with respect to playing strength.> The results of world championship and other matches have been reversed by rematches the next year or soon afterwards often enough to make this evidence 'irrefutable' only in the sense that it was all a long time ago and one of them is dead. There are other reasons to think that Fischer was a better player than Spassky in the early 1970s. If there weren't, the 1972 result wouldn't be any more conclusive evidence of relative playing strength than those of 1957 or 1960.

Mar-31-09		MaxxLange: In my opinion, the 1972 victory is tarnished by Fischer's appalling conduct, which muddies the waters.

Mar-31-09		Absentee: <<nimh> Well, Spassky essentialy only won 1 game. So, the real result was 7-1. Now, Spassky was surely better than that.> In 1972, Fischer plays YOU.

Mar-31-09		AnalyzeThis: <MaxxLange: In my opinion, the 1972 victory is tarnished by Fischer's appalling conduct, which muddies the waters. > In other words, Spassky needed an excuse for losing. The atmosphere in the Fischer vs. Spassky match was nothing compared to the tension of Korchnoi vs. Karpov.

Apr-01-09		WeakSquare: Look at that Grunfeld game from 1970 Olympiad. Spassky was under huge pressure playing for USSR against already notorious Fischer. Spassky was a pawn down, but didnt break down and kept playing and taking his chances. And eventually it was Fischer who broke down and made silly errors under pressure. That's the kind of Spassky that was absent in 1972 match, at least until 11th game when it was all already decided.

Apr-14-09		quiche1ss: i think the match was base on strength.. fisher was more confident i think.. thks.

Apr-14-09		jussu: <WeakSquare: Well, Spassky essentialy only won 1 game.> Just curious: do you mean first or eleventh game?

Apr-16-09		Eyal: <tpstar: One great feature of this match was the sweeping variety of their opening play. Fischer displayed amazing versatility in his defences - NID, Benoni, Alekhine's, QGD, Pirc - besides his trusty Sicilian [...]> Besides the mere variety, it was remarkable how many times in the match Fischer played openings or systems for the very first - or nearly first - time in his career, at least in a serious game, and always with expertise: Queen's Gambit as White in game 6, English as White in game 8 (he played it only once before, in the Palma Interzonal), Pirc as Black in game 17, Sicilian Richter-Rauzer as White in game 18 (he played that only twice before, back in the 50s), and Sicilian Taimanov/Paulsen as Black in game 21. He won three of these games and drew the other two (coming close to a win in game 18).

Apr-16-09		Riverbeast: <In other words, Spassky needed an excuse for losing> "An attempt is being made to control my mind!" - Spassky I find it interesting that people always focus on Fischer's antics and paranoia, and claim he was 'making excuses' and 'playing psychological warfare'....But people gloss over the insane charge of "chemical interference" the Soviets made when Spassky was getting his posterior handed to him

Apr-18-09		WeakSquare: Well, Spassky really won only 11th game. First game would have been drawn in a few moves, if Fischer had not done the silly thing.

Apr-18-09		WeakSquare: <Eyal> Yeah, and Spassky couldn't cope with it. Actually, oftentimes when Spassky was confronted with a novelty, he simply folded and played passively. Fischer was much better at coping with surprises than Spassky. I think that was one of the most important factors in the match.

Apr-18-09		talisman: Yea but how come nobody ever mentions the KGB MARIJUANA PLANT placed precisely at a 45 degree angle always from Fischer?

Apr-21-09		jussu: <WeakSquare> - Fine endgame vs opening trap :) Of course, I am exaggerating but this is to illustrate how much personal tastes may differ. Basically, there is an error in every decisive game, even in WC level; Fischer's Bxh2 was hardly the kind of blunder a patzer makes but a deeper misjudgement, and the resulting endgame where he erred was hard to hold anyway.

Apr-21-09		acirce: ..Bxh2 WAS the kind of blunder a patzer makes. What I don't understand is why that would make Spassky's win not count. If we always adjusted the scores to remove the wins that were results of blunders Fischer certainly wouldn't have his legendary 6-0, 6-0 no more.

Apr-21-09		Riverbeast: <If we always adjusted the scores to remove the wins that were results of blunders Fischer certainly wouldn't have his legendary 6-0, 6-0 no more> Whatever...The scores were what they were, and blunders are part of chess...I know the legendary 6-0, 6-0 makes you Fischer haters jealous, but you'll just have to learn to accept them. I believe Fischer's ...Bxh2 was caused by the cameras, probably combined with nervous tension....In the footage of the match from the first game, you can hear the buzzing of the cameras quite loudly...And Fischer was known to be exceptionally sensitive to noise. No excuses though, and none needed...Fischer spotted Spassky two points and then took care of business

Apr-21-09		timhortons: <contrast this photograph above with the one in the Petrosyan-Spassky match which Spassky won... here Spassky's body language is clearly different> unrest.

Apr-21-09		Riverbeast: In 'The Auld Enemy' (a BBC documentary of the Fischer match in which Spassky was interviewed) Spassky said that before the match his nerves were shredded, but "I had no choice...I had to play the match anyway"...Perhaps a predilection that he was going to lose? I'm willing to believe that having the burden of representing the USSR in the middle of the Cold War weighed heavily on Spassky...But both players in a WC match have their psychological pressures..... Fischer had the pressure of representing the US, the pressure of his own expectations....And after he went down 2-0, I'm sure the psychological pressure on him had to be greater than it was on Spassky....He was down 2 points to a guy he had yet to beat over the board! But Fischer showed what he was made of....And in the third game Spassky said he played "like a rabbit hypnotized by a boa constrictor" I think Fischer was right when he said "I'm not afraid of Spassky - Spassky's afraid of me"..Even though Fischer had yet to beat him, probably Spassky knew deep down that Fischer was the better player

Jun-18-09		parisattack: These are the English language books I know on Fischer-Spassky 1972 Match. Can anyone add to the list, please? Does anyone know if Pachman's book on the match was ever translated into English? Of course, the match was also annotated in every known chess magazine. I have those for 9 periodicals, I assume literally dozens more. Some of these are getting HTF - The orginal Golombek, the Clarke and the Karklins (at least with dust jacket). Fischer-Spassky 1972 Gligoric Fischer Spassky 1972 Bevan/Burchell/Gilbert Fischer Spassky 1972 Golombek Fischer Spassky 1972 Birdsall Fischer Spassky 1972 Wyndham Fischer World Champion Euwe Spassky CCCP Fischer USA Clarke Bobby Fischer�s Conquest of the World Chess Champtionship Fine Fischer-Spassky � From the Soviet Point of View Karklins Chess World Championship 1972 Evans/Smith Fischer v Spassky Reykjavik 1972 Alexander Fischer Spassky � The New York Times Report Reshevsky/Horowitz Reshevsky on the Fischer Spassky Games Reshevsky Extreme Chess Purdy

Jun-19-09		DWINS: <parisattack>, Don't forget "Both Sides of the Chessboard" by Robert Byrne and Ivo Nei I own several of the books you mentioned, but I think this one is my favorite. Which one or ones do you think is particularly good?

Jul-04-09		parisattack: <DWINS: <parisattack>, Don't forget "Both Sides of the Chessboard" by Robert Byrne and Ivo Nei I own several of the books you mentioned, but I think this one is my favorite. Which one or ones do you think is particularly good?> Thank you! I missed Both Sides as I had it shelved with my Spassky books - but it is a top choice. I really enjoyed the Golombek book...its a little strange but good analysis, a bit chatty...fun read. Fine's book is excellent (his analysis has held up very well) if you can cover his occasionally psychologizing here and there. (He mentioned playing a game against Najdorf referencing Game 4 I think... I can't find the game and suspect his memory is a tad off.) Also From the Soviet Point of View is very good - translated by Karklins.

Aug-15-09		kooley782: Spassky was a good sport to agree to Fischer's demands. Had Fischer just played a regular match and not complained, odds are Spassky may have won, or performed much better. It's a shame Spassky had to lose the crown to Fischer-he was a good sport and he deserved to keep his title.

Oct-09-09		SirChrislov: Fischer was a difficult guy off the chessboard but when it came to gettin down to business, he demonstrated his superior play on the board. His victory is well deserved. Its all in good sportsmanship and I admire a guy who's a good sport when dealing with a difficult, demanding opponent but when it comes to fighting for/defending a world crown, you have to put that aside and become a tiger.

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