Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match (1972)

HISTORY OF THE WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

next >>

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 mistake 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

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 9 OF 9 · Later Kibitzing>
Apr-06-12		Jim Bartle: King Death: "And what does this have to do with anything?" Better get used to it, KD.

Apr-14-12		AVRO38: <Yes, Steinitz was an American champion. Even legally changed his name to William. I was quoting <Riverbeast> from Jan-18-08 who claimed Fischer was the only American WC.> Steinitz was the champion who became an American, not an American who became the champion. Steinitz became champion in 1886 but he became a U.S. citizen in 1888. Besides, anyone who thinks Morphy was not the Champion of the World simply because he didn't sign a contract to that effect, is smoking crack!

Apr-23-12		TheTamale: <AVRO38: Besides, anyone who thinks Morphy was not the Champion of the World simply because he didn't sign a contract to that effect, is smoking crack!> Incorrect. I am smoking crack, but I do not think that. Oh wait, I'm assuming the converse of a true conditional statement is also true, which is not a logically supported assumption. I apologize, you may be right. Carry on!

Apr-23-12		Petrosianic: Oh wait, I'm assuming the converse of a true conditional statement is also true, which is not a logically supported assumption. In simpler terms, this is known as The Fallacy of False Conversion. One of the mistakes youre making here is trying to convert an A statement. But the larger mistake is arguing with Avro. He's just BSing you, conflating "world champion" with "best player in the world", and hoping to find a sucker to argue with. It sounds like you see the trick already. He does too, but you'll never get him to admit it.

Jul-12-12		Kinan: Nice interview with Averbakh about this match: http://www.whychess.org/en/node/2221

Aug-15-12		Cemoblanca: CLASH OF THE TITANS, BBC 1999 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N_W...

Aug-15-12		Cemoblanca: 36:25 - 37:20 Mr. Spassky was a true gentlemen & a very fine human being. I feel still so sorry for him. This part was very touching. I can only agree that: "C'est la vies" Mr. Spassky. Life goes on. All the best for you & yours! :0)

Nov-17-12		BobbyDigital80: Does anyone know if there's footage that exists from the 1972 World Championship match? I don't mean a few short clips that are sometimes shown in documentaries about Fischer. I mean the entire film footage or closed-circuit TV footage of the match (or at least a large portion of it). It must exist somewhere. Otherwise, how did anyone get a hold of the few brief clips we see in chess documentaries?

Feb-26-13		tzar: Does anybody know why Fischer's elo dropped from 2785 to 2780 when he retired?. Did he lose points in his match with Spassky????????!!!

Feb-26-13		TheFocus: <Did he lose points in his match with Spassky????????!!!> Yes, he did.

Feb-26-13		Eyal: <Did he lose points in his match with Spassky????????!!!> Yes, he did � because the rating difference between them was huge, 2785-2660; and bear in mind that Fischer's loss by forfeit in game 2 wasn't even rated. The Elo "prediction" for a 2785 player is to score 13.4/20 against a 2660 player, and Fischer scored 12.5 (in practical terms, the "expected" result would mean Fischer winning the match a game sooner). Actually, according to the FIDE rating calculator he should have lost 9 points, which presumably means 10 points back then since they were rounding to the nearest five Elo points, so I�m not even sure why it was only 5.

Feb-27-13		tzar: Wow, thanks. "Mr. Elo" has very little respect for historic victories!

Feb-27-13		RookFile: Well, he treated every game and match the same. I think that's fair and reasonable.

Feb-27-13		tzar: just joking, the method is quite good. It seems fair to have this "double system" in chess. In the one hand the glory of great victories and titles and in the other a systematic accurate rating.

Feb-27-13		RookFile: In the end, people care about who is champ. Everything else is line noise.

Feb-28-13		tzar: I am not so sure about that nowadays. It doesn't seem that Anand gets much glory out of his title, just visit Carlsen's page.

Mar-14-13		Hesam7: Given the status of this match in chess history, I am surprised that there are only two books dedicated to it (Gligoric & Euwe-Timman). Personally I would welcome a book which analyzed the 20 games in great detail (say 10 page per game) combining the old literature with modern opening theory and extensive computer analysis.

Mar-14-13		Phony Benoni: <Hesam7> I'm not sure what you mean, since there were several "instant" books that came out soon after the match. I can think of Robert Byrne & Ivo Nei's "Both Sides of the Chessboard", a book by Larry Evans and Ken Smith which had a diagram and comment after every move (mostly trivial, of course); books by Fine, Reshevsky, Richard Roberts (a compilation of reports from the New York Times), and doubtless many others. However, if you're thinking of modern reappraisals of the match, particularly with deep computer and human analysis, that's another matter.

Mar-14-13		AylerKupp: A look at the current http://www.amazon.com/ offerings devoted exclusively to the 1972 match (there are some other books that contain information about the match but are not dedicated to it) shows the following: 1. "Fischer/Spassky: The New York Times Report on the Chess Match of the Century" by Richard Roberts, Francis Wyndham, C.H. Alexander, and Bobby Fischer (Apr-1973), $110.23 new (hardcover), $75.43 (paperback). From $ 0.74 used (hardcover). 2. "Chess World Championship: Fischer vs. Spassky 1972" by Larry Evans and Ken Smith (Jul-1973), $59.90 new (paperback) paperback. From $15.00 used (paperback). 3. "Fischer World Champion! � The Acclaimed Classic About the 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Match" by Max Euwe and Jan Timman (May-2002), new $25.92 (paperback). Revised in 2008 and available new for $ 18.96 (paperback) and used from $10.87 (paperback) 4. "Fischer v. Spassky, Reykjavik, 1972" by C.H.O'D Alexander (Oct-1972), new $123.30 (hardcover), $93.06 (paperback) and used from $0.01 (paperback). 5. Fischer Vs. Spassky: World Chess Championship Match, 1972" by Svetozar Gligoric and Sam Sloan (Jan-1973), new $61.41 (paperback). From $ 0.01 used (paperback) and $18.00 used (hardcover). This book was updated in Oct-2012 to include the games in algebraic notation as an appendix and is available new for $19.95 (paperback) and used from $ 8.99 (paperback) 6. "Fischer Spassky" by Richard, et al Roberts (1972), used from $7.00 (paperback) or $0.75 (mass market paperback). 7. "Fischer v Spassky: World Chess Championship 1972" by Harry Golombek (Mar-1973), new $62.93 (hardcover), $8.38 (paperback). 8. "Fischer-Spassky Move by Move (Illustrated)" by Larry Evans (Jun-1973), used from $124.05 (hardcover), from $42.00 (paperback). I was struck by (a) the high prices asked for some of the books, particularly the new books, (b) the ridiculous low prices by some of the used paperbacks; clearly the sellers want to collect the shipping fee, and (c) practically all books were written (Euwe/Timman excepted) were written shortly; those that were updated were done sloppily as evident by the reviews, and (d) all are in descriptive notation except for the Gligoric book which included an appendix with the games in algebraic notation. So <Phony Benoni> is quite correct; no books in the market today are likely to contain a modern reappraisal of the match with deep computer and human analysis. This makes me think that such a book, if properly done and at a reasonable price, has the potential to sell a substantial number of copies, given the continued interest in Fischer (both good and bad!) as evidenced by the activity in his page on this site. The reason I bring all this up is that I think we have the talent and expertise at this site to generate such a book as a collaborative effort. I have no experience in book writing but I'm sure that several on this site do; <Once> comes immediately to mind. I would envision someone with book writing and/or book publishing experience taking the lead, organizing a book outline, and then we can divide the various games between those participating to research, analyze, and comment. Plus chapters on the background of the match and an assessment of its aftermath. If anyone is interested in taking the lead on such a project, let me know. I would be interested in participating and readily volunteer for a deep analysis of the moves in Game 2. :-)

Mar-14-13		TheFocus: Larsen did a book on the 1972 match. Reshevsky also (not the NY Times one). I have both.

Mar-14-13		TheFocus: The best of all was Pachman's book.

Mar-14-13		Benzol: "How Fischer Won" by Cecil John Seddon Purdy on this match I thought was quite good.

Mar-14-13		TheFocus: <Benzol> I would easily place Purdy's in the top three of books written about 1972.

Mar-14-13		TheFocus: On another note, I don't think Purdy ever wrote a bad book. One of the finest writers in chess literature.

Mar-14-13		Benzol: <TheFocus> I understand that one book of his "The Return Of Alekhine" on the 1937 match later became a collectors piece. The writings of his that I have read I've always thought to be of a high quality.

Jump to page # (enter # from 1 to 9)
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 9 OF 9 · Later Kibitzing>

NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, totally anonymous, and 100% free--plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community!

If you already have an account, you should login now.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
No spamming, advertising, or duplicating posts.
No personal attacks against other users.
Nothing in violation of United States law.

See something which violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform an administrator.

NOTE: Keep all discussion on the topic of this page. This forum is for this specific tournament and nothing else. If you want to discuss chess in general, or this site, you might try the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.

Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes!