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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

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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

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 89 OF 99 ·  Later Kibitzing> Feb-08-16    Hawkman: I'm a huge Fischer fan, but Spassky beat him 3 times and tied twice before the WC. Fischer's psychological games took a toll on Spassky's nerves at the WC and I'm not sure the best player won. Feb-08-16    ZonszeinP: Well said! Feb-08-16    HeMateMe: not really true. Spassky was in decline when he played bob for the title. Afterwards, in the next cycle, Korchnoi defeated Spassky, who before that had been better than Korchnoi, Petrosian, Huebner, Byrne, et. al. In the next cycle I think Spassky lost in the semis. He lost a bit of playing strength each cycle. His decline began in 1972. If he had played Fischer in 1969 he might have won. Maybe Fischer saw that possibility and stayed out of the zonals during that time. That's my opinion as to why Fischer stayed out of chess during the zonals in the 60s--he didn't know if he could beat Petrosian or Spassky in a world championship match. But please, don't say Spassky lost because Fischer was a jerk. at the end of the day the games are played over the board. Spassky was 35, in good health, played tennis, jogged, swam and arrived in Iceland a couple of weeks before the match, to become acclimated. He was tanned, rested and ready. He lost. There are reports too that no real work was done at his "training camp" before the match. Perhaps Spassky coasted a bit too much on natural talent, and it finally caught up to him. Feb-08-16    Gypsy: <Hawkman: I'm a huge Fischer fan, but Spassky beat him 3 times and tied twice before the WC. Fischer's psychological games took a toll on Spassky's nerves at the WC and I'm not sure the best player won.> From the Soviet chess nomenclature's standpoint, Spassky was a brilliantly talented maverick showing early signs of perhaps becoming a 'refusnik'. Yet, he was their best bet for keeping the chess title in the USSR. (Korchnoi was always a loose cannon and Fischer already demolished Petrosian in Belgrad.) From the standpoint of Spassky, the money he would receive for playing in Reykjavik, win or lose, would effectively be his ticket to freedom. All in all, Spassky did come under a lot of pressure and he thinks he 'fried his brain' a bit in Reykjavik. He feels that he did not play his very best in 1972; but he also feels his true creative collapse came a couple of years later. (Spassky said so in interviews for Czech chess publications.) In all of this stress, Fischer's antics certainly played a role. But, in my opinion, the main pressure on Spassky came from his uneasy relationship with USSR Chess 'apparatchiks'. Mar-04-16    Shams: He comes off a little bit of a crank and a little bit paranoid himself, but Boris Spassky has the best chess interview so far of 2016: https://chess24.com/en/read/news/bo... Mar-04-16    john barleycorn: < Shams: He comes off a little bit of a crank and a little bit paranoid himself, but Boris Spassky has the best chess interview so far of 2016:...> absolutely. I enjoyed reading it. Mar-17-16    SteinitzLives: A friend of mine mentioned today that Spassky did not lose a single game in the calendar year 1970. I checked it out here, and sure enough, in 1970 Spassky had 19 wins, 23 draws and 0 losses! Capablanca went about eight years without losing a game, albeit with somewhat less impressive competition, but for a much longer period of time. I wonder what streaks other world champions have had without losses in terms of years. Mar-17-16    Retireborn: <SteinitzLives> Not strictly true, as Boris did lose one game to Bent Larsen in the USSR vs World match, although it was AFAIK the only game he lost that year. Mar-17-16    alexmagnus: <I wonder what streaks other world champions have had without losses in terms of years.> Steinitz' famous streak of 25 wins (wins, not just no-losses!) in a row spanned 9 years (1873-1882) but it were only three events (16 games in 1873, 7 in 1876 and 2 in 1882). He lost in the 1882 event then. Mar-17-16    SteinitzLives: <Retireborn> Right you are, don't know how I missed that, will let my friend know. Mar-17-16    Retireborn: <SteinitzLives> I think Spassky's win against 1.b3 is so famous that people simply forget that Larsen won a game too :) Mar-27-16    ZonszeinP: Hello. And Larsen win in that game was of great class Apr-02-16    DLev: Spassky's 1970 unbeaten streak pales in comparison to Tal's 1973-74 unbeaten streak of 95 consecutive games. Apr-02-16    ughaibu: There was also Lasker's seven year unbeaten run from 1914 to 1921. But as with Capablanca's eight year run, this was probably due to the war. Jun-26-16    brankat: My own unbeaten streak was from June of 1971 till October 2005. Must be the world record. Jul-10-16    ZonszeinP: Need to double check. But probably nobody can match that Jul-11-16    HeMateMe: I haven't been beaten by a GM since I took up chess at age 10. Jul-20-16    ZonszeinP: Amazing Oct-30-16    MissScarlett: <So Liverpool go marching on - but not without the inspiration of Philippe Coutinho. What a performance by the little man. He might only be 5ft 7in but he stood head and shoulders above any other player at Selhurst Park on Saturday evening. The Brazilian was involved in almost every move Liverpool produced. As for the through ball he played for Sadio Mane, who pulled a fabulous save out of Steve Mandanda in the Palace goal, it was like watching chess legend Boris Spassky make a move that no-one saw coming.> http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football... Wot? Oct-31-16    Sally Simpson: "...make a move that no-one saw coming." Football commentator Garth Crooks on the Liverpool player Philippe Coutinho. "As for the through ball he played for Sadio Mane, who pulled a fabulous save out of Steve Mandanda in the Palace goal, it was like watching chess legend Boris Spassky make a move that no-one saw coming. Wonderful stuff." http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football... I wonder if the 'move that no-one saw coming.' was this one from G Andruet vs Spassky, 1988 Black to play. click for larger view Oct-31-16    HeMateMe: It must be N(4)-f3+. The Knight can't be taken because of a mate on g2. Black probably then plays Bishop to h3, prying open the weak square g2. Reminds me of that game (Marshall?) where he played Q-g3, where his queen could be taken by the h or f pawn but really can't because of forks and back rank traps that lead to a mate. Oct-31-16    Sally Simpson: Hi HeMateMe. "Reminds me of that game (Marshall?) where he played Q-g3." So try again. Think Marshall. Oct-31-16    HeMateMe: Oh, I think I see it now. Q-f3+. The queen has to be taken, opening up the weak squares. then, N (5) to f3+, followed by B-h3 with mate on g2. Oct-31-16    Sally Simpson: You got it! I solved it from a set puzzle possibly because I was looking for something special. I'm not sure if I would have seen it during a game. Probably not. The first move is not a check or a capture. These are hard to spot. Oct-31-16    HeMateMe: I doubt I'd ever see it in one of my games. Four pieces pry open the kingside, in a non-violent manner. Hard to spot. It wasn't easy for Mr. Andruet, either, I guess. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 99) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 89 OF 99 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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