Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing

Boris Spassky

BORIS SPASSKY (born Jan-30-1937, died Feb-27-2025, 88 years old) Russia PRONUNCIATION: [what is this?] Boris Vasilievich Spassky was born in Leningrad, USSR. As a child, in 1943, he escaped from the siege of the city by German forces. Spassky first attracted international attention by finishing equal fourth at Bucharest (1953), celebrating his sixteenth birthday during the event. (Alexander Tolush won, his finest career achievement.) In 1955 Spassky won the World Junior Chess Championship. Spassky tied for third at the USSR Championship (1955) with World Champion Botvinnik, future champion Tigran Petrosian, and Georgy Ilivitsky, half a point behind Smyslov and Geller, who tied for first. Spassky's performance at the Gothenburg Interzonal (1955) made him, up to that date, both the youngest grandmaster ever, and the youngest ever to qualify for the Candidates tournament. Smyslov won the Amsterdam Candidates (1956). In 1956, Spassky tied with Mark Taimanov and Yuri Averbakh for first place at the USSR Championship (1956). He fell ill and finished last among the three players in the playoff. Many people expected Spassky to be world champion before his 25th birthday, but his fifth place in the Soviet Championship of 1958 was not enough to qualify him for the Portoroz Interzonal. This was due to a last-round loss to Mikhail Tal (Spassky vs Tal, 1958), which shook him deeply. After winning one of the four semi-finals by finishing equal first with Rashid Nezhmetdinov Leningrad champion of 1959 [rusbase-1] and 1961 [rusbase-2] and finally Soviet Champion in 1961 [rusbase-3]. Winner of the Russian Zonal [rusbase-4]. Spassky shared the first place with Smyslov and Bent Larsen at Amsterdam 1964 http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/646.... In 1965 he eliminated Paul Keres, Efim Geller and Mikhail Tal. He faced Tigran Petrosian in the Petrosian - Spassky World Championship Match (1966), but narrowly lost. As the losing player in the title match, Spassky automatically qualified for the next Candidates cycle, where he overcame Geller, Larsen and Korchnoi. He again faced Petrosian in the 1969 World Championship, and this time prevailed. Spassky's style of play can be described best as lively and adaptable; this produced many brilliant victories. A position based on his victory in 1960 against David Bronstein was used in the James Bond movie, From Russia With Love. His polite, friendly disposition and entertaining games made him one of the most popular world champions. In the West, his tournament victory at Santa Monica 1966 is the most remembered http://www.worldchesslinks.net/ezqa.... In 1972, Spassky was challenged by Robert James Fischer for the World Championship; Spassky lost, 12½-8½, ending the reign of nearly 25-year Soviet hegemony over the World Championship. In the next year Spassky won the Soviet Championship ahead of many world-class grandmasters, [rusbase-5], including Anatoly Karpov. In the next series of Candidates matches, Spassky defeated Robert Byrne, but lost to Karpov in their 1974 semifinal match. In 1977 he lost the Candidates final to Viktor Korchnoi, after eliminating Vlastimil Hort and Lajos Portisch. In 1992, Spassky played a rematch with Fischer for US $5 million and lost once again, 10 to 5 (with 15 draws). Spassky died in Moscow on February 27, 2025. Wikipedia article: Boris Spassky https://nsn.fm/sport/umer-10-i-chem... Last updated: 2025-02-28 17:12:50

Try our new games table.

page 1 of 100; games 1-25 of 2,498  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Korchnoi vs Spassky 1-0 12 1948 Leningrad B71 Sicilian, Dragon, Levenfish Variation 2. Spassky vs Rodgaisky 0-1 8 1948 URS B45 Sicilian, Taimanov 3. Spassky vs Shman 1-0 35 1948 Trud Ch D37 Queen's Gambit Declined 4. Smyslov vs Spassky 1-0 21 1948 Simul B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack 5. Spassky vs A Nikitin   ½-½ 20 1949 Ch URS (team) (juniors) A18 English, Mikenas-Carls 6. Korchnoi vs Spassky 0-1 51 1949 Leningrad Junior Championship B71 Sicilian, Dragon, Levenfish Variation 7. V Liavdansky vs Spassky 0-1 51 1949 Leningrad Junior Championship B23 Sicilian, Closed 8. Spassky vs S Avtonomov 1-0 21 1949 Leningrad Junior Championship D28 Queen's Gambit Accepted, Classical 9. Spassky vs A Vilup 1-0 27 1949 Leningrad Junior Championship D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 10. V P Zakharov vs Spassky   1-0 55 1949 Leningrad Junior Championship B74 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical 11. Spassky vs Polugaevsky   ½-½ 15 1950 USSR Junior Team Championship D31 Queen's Gambit Declined 12. M Aizenshtadt vs Spassky 0-1 33 1951 Chigorin Memorial qual-12 D50 Queen's Gambit Declined 13. Y Gusev vs Spassky 0-1 24 1951 URS-ch qf A00 Uncommon Opening 14. Y Estrin vs Spassky 0-1 19 1951 URS-ch qf C44 King's Pawn Game 15. G Chepukaitis vs Spassky 0-1 35 1952 Minsk C31 King's Gambit Declined, Falkbeer Counter Gambit 16. Korchnoi vs Spassky 0-1 47 1952 Leningrad Championship D10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 17. Levenfish vs Spassky ½-½ 32 1952 Leningrad Championship D71 Neo-Grunfeld 18. Furman vs Spassky 0-1 36 1952 Leningrad Championship D43 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 19. Spassky vs J Yuchtman 1-0 28 1952 URS-chT Juniors E28 Nimzo-Indian, Samisch Variation 20. Taimanov vs Spassky ½-½ 59 1952 Leningrad Championship D45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 21. N Kopilov vs Spassky   0-1 38 1952 Leningrad Championship D44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 22. N Vedenski vs Spassky   0-1 38 1952 Leningrad Championship D22 Queen's Gambit Accepted 23. B Vladimirov vs Spassky 0-1 27 1953 Leningrad D25 Queen's Gambit Accepted 24. Spassky vs Smyslov 1-0 35 1953 Bucharest E31 Nimzo-Indian, Leningrad, Main line 25. Petrosian vs Spassky ½-½ 15 1953 Bucharest D10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav  page 1 of 100; games 1-25 of 2,498

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

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 54 OF 99 ·  Later Kibitzing> Sep-24-10    BobCrisp: <Boris>, there is a light that never goes out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INgX... Sep-24-10    I play the Fred: If the hopes of chess fans have healing powers, Spassky will be fine soon. If he's not, he can at least rest knowing he has millions of well-wishers around the world - we should all be so lucky in the end. But he's 73 and a great endgame player. I don't think he's done yet. Sep-24-10    jackpawn: This is just very discouraging. First Larsen, now Spassky. All the heroes of my chess childhood. Praying Boris can fight on to recovery. Sep-24-10    Edwin M: Chess legends never die. Sep-25-10    Capcom: A quote from a 1997 interview with Spassky: <One thing is, however, clear for me: if they had really played honestly 150 games in the five title-matches, both of them would have been in a mental asylum. Undoubtedly there was some kind of conspiracy between the two champions, probably starting with their third match. At least that was my impression when I was working as commentator of their match in Lyon in 1990. I shall never forget the 19th game when Kasparov proposed a draw in an absolutely winning position while Karpov was in awful time trouble. I was in a state of shock, absolutely unable to explain to the chess fans what had happened in this game. Now in retrospect I understand that mysterious, powerful and super-wealthy forces were standing behind their backs, and the two guys could have risked their lives had they disobeyed… I remember, for example, that after I had won against Petrosyan in 1969, it took me one year to return back to normal. I was completely exhausted after 23 games, but Karpov and Kasparov played five long matches! If they had really invested all their forces in all the games of all the matches, both would have been mentally sick for years. There was certainly some conspiracy between the players, they won a nice sum of money and kept their health in good shape.> Sep-25-10    HeMateMe: "All Grandmasters are mad."--Victor Korchnoi. Perhaps Spassky had the talent to be world champion, but not the mental focus to remain there. What he thinks to be superhuman efforts by Karpov and Kasparov are just hard fought games by two evenly matched opponents. Sep-25-10    talisman: get well please...to the TRUE GENTLEMAN...and of course other things........no matter what " A Life Fullfilled". Sep-25-10    MaxxLange: <Capcom> an amazing quote I have read that "Spassky is comfortable with his place in history, as the man who lost to Bobby Fischer" I think that, whatever his faults as a man, we can learn something as human beings from the way that he conducted his life , in addition to what we can learn from his brilliant games Sep-26-10    LIFE Master AJ: I am honestly praying that he will recover. (I met him in New York about 20-30 years ago.) Sep-26-10    LIFE Master AJ: I shook his hand, one probably of hundreds that night. While I am 100% certain he would not remember me, for me personally, it was the thrill of a lifetime. Sep-26-10    LIFE Master AJ: I have always been a big fan of chess. (Who else but an insane chess fan would hitch-hike from FL to CA to watch chess tournaments?) I am a sedate 52 now. But I was once young, a teen-ager, and totally consumed by chess. (Some would say more than a little nuts.) Sep-26-10    HeMateMe: Did you visit any of the old Lone Pine tournaments? Sep-27-10    LIFE Master AJ: Many times ... Sep-27-10    LIFE Master AJ: If you search my old kibitzes, you will see one night I was bored, and I took a walk down memory lane ... Sep-27-10    jackpawn: Any news updates on Spassky's condition? I haven't found any . . . Sep-27-10    LIFE Master AJ: Last I heard, he was in the hospital. (According to the RSS feed that I saw, he is in a very bad way.) Sep-27-10    LIFE Master AJ: IF, you are really interested in seeing my rem's about Lone Pine, then go to my Forum and read through the old kibitzes. OR ... Go to Search Kibitzing and copy the following info into the box, <user:"LIFE Master AJ" + "Lone Pine"> (but WITHOUT the brackets!) and then hit enter. This works ONLY if you are a Premium Member ... (I think). Sep-27-10    HeMateMe: Well, perhaps a brief synopsis here would be effective? Were you visiting when Karpov and Korchnoi attended? Sep-27-10    LIFE Master AJ: Hmm. Lone Pine. I was there about 5-7 times. (give or take) A couple of these were when I was in the military. The years were like '71-'79. I remember meeting guys like Browne, Seirawan, etc. Off the top of my head, I don't even remember if Korchnoi or Karpov were there. I think Korch was there one year, but I never really got to closely interact with him. (I did watch just about all the post-mortems.) Sep-28-10    HeMateMe: When you met these guys, do you just identify yourself as a chess enthusiast, and ask about their games, or tips on how you might improve? Sep-28-10    LIFE Master AJ: <<HeHateMe> When you met these guys, do you just identify yourself as a chess enthusiast, and ask about their games, or tips on how you might improve?> None of the above. Back then I was often too afraid to even speak to the "Super-Stars," often I was content to just watch their games. Maybe I would chime in on the post-mortems. Sep-28-10    parisattack: <LIFE Master AJ: I shook his hand, one probably of hundreds that night. While I am 100% certain he would not remember me, for me personally, it was the thrill of a lifetime.> They make for great memories - even brief encounters with our chessic heros! You seemed to have more of those than most of us! I met Fischer for about five minutes in 1971 when he borrowed some books from my library. In 1972 I interviewed Portisch and joined a group that took him to the local Playboy Club. Not much but as I say, great memories. Sep-28-10    Everett: <parisattack> <great memories> ... of the chess greats or the Playboy Club? ;-) Sep-28-10    parisattack: <Everett: <parisattack> <great memories> ... of the chess greats or the Playboy Club? ;-)> Lol, both! I was 22 at the time and the Playboy Club seemed pretty swank to me - although Portisch didn't seem overly impressed... Sep-28-10    TheFocus: <parisattack> I think you told me before, but what books did he borrow? Did you ever get them back? Were they books to prepare for Spassky? If so, then maybe we should count you as one of "the team" that helped Bobby bring down the Soviets? Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 99) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 54 OF 99 ·  Later Kibitzing>

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers. Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times. See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator. NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific player only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors. All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

Copyright 2001-2025, Chessgames Services LLC