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Boris Vasilievich Spassky (born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess player and former world champion.
He was born in Leningrad; his father was the son of a Russian Orthodox priest and his mother was Jewish. Spassky learned to play chess at the age of five.
Boris Spassky was considered an all-rounder on the chess board, and his "universal style" was a distinct advantage in beating many top Grandmasters.
At age 18 he won the World Junior Chess Championship held at Antwerp, Belgium, with a dominant score of 14/16, and became a Grandmaster, a record at the time. Spassky competed for the Lokomotiv Voluntary Sports Society. By his tied 7th-9th place, with 11/20, at the 1955 Goteborg Interzonal, he qualified into the 1956 Candidates' Tournament, held in Amsterdam. There, he finished in the middle of the ten-player world-class field, tied 3rd-7th places with 9.5/18, astonishing for a 19-year-old. Expectations for him were very high, and this put pressure on the young star. At the 1956 Soviet final, URS-ch23, held in Leningrad, Spassky tied for 1st-3rd places on 11.5/19 with Mark Taimanov and Yuri Averbakh, but Taimanov won the further playoff to become champion. Spassky then tied for first with Tolush in a strong Leningrad tournament later in 1956. In the 1957 Soviet final, URS-ch24 at Moscow, Spassky finished tied 4th-5th with 13/21, as Mikhail Tal won; Spassky had to that point finished ahead of Tal, who began his meteoric rise with this title.
But Spassky then went into a comparative slump. He lost to Tal in a very nervy last-round game in the 1958 Soviet final, URS-ch25 at Riga, after having had the advantage for much of the game, and having missed a difficult win after adjournment. He had earlier refused a draw offer from Tal, the eventual champion, which would have left him in a fourth-place tie with Averbakh, necessitating a further playoff between the two for Interzonal qualification.
Spassky tied for first place at Moscow 1959 on 7/11 with Smyslov and David Bronstein. He just missed winning the title at the next Soviet final, URS-ch26 at Tbilisi 1959, finishing half a point behind champion Tigran Petrosian and in a tied 2nd-3rd place with Tal, on 12.5/19. Some consolation was provided by his impressive victory at Riga 1959 with 11.5/13, well ahead of Tal, who had in the meantime qualified for a 1960 World title match with Champion Mikhail Botvinnik. Spassky was in the middle of the pack at the next Soviet final, URS-ch27 at Leningrad, with 10/19, as fellow Leningrader Viktor Korchnoi won. Spassky journeyed to Argentina, where he tied for 1st-2nd places at Mar del Plata 1960 with Bobby Fischer on 13.5/15, and he beat Fischer in their head-to-head game, their first meeting.
World Champion
Spassky was considered an all-rounder on the chess board, and his adaptable "universal style" was a distinct advantage in beating many top Grandmasters. In the 1965 cycle, he beat Paul Keres at Riga 1965 with careful strategy, triumphing in the last game to win 6-4 (+4 =4 -2). Also at Riga, he defeated Efim Geller with mating attacks, winning with 5.5/8 (+3 =5 -0). Then, in his Candidates' Final match (the match which determines who will challenge the reigning world champion for the title) against Mikhail Tal the legendary tactician (Tbilisi 1965), Spassky often managed to steer play into quieter positions, either avoiding former champion Tal's tactical strength, or extracting too high a price for complications. He won with 7/11 (+4 =6 -1). This led to his first World Championship match against Tigran Petrosian in 1966.
Spassky lost the final match in Moscow narrowly, with three wins against Petrosian's four wins, with the two sharing 17 draws. However, a few months after the match, Spassky finished ahead of Petrosian and a super-class field which included runner-up Bobby Fischer at Santa Monica 1966, with 11.5/18, half a point ahead of Fischer. Spassky also won at Beverwijk 1967 with 11/15 ahead of Anatoly Lutikov, and shared 1st-5th places at Sochi 1967 on 10/15 with Krogius, Alexander Zaitsev, Leonid Shamkovich, and Vladimir Simagin.
As losing finalist in 1966, Spassky was seeded into the next Candidates' cycle. In 1968, he faced Geller again, this time at Sukhumi, and won by the same margin as in 1965 (5.5/8, +3 =5 -0). He next met Bent Larsen at Malmo, and won with 5.5/8. The final was against his Leningrad rival Viktor Korchnoi at Kiev, and Spassky triumphed with 6.5/10.
This earned him another challenge against Petrosian, at Moscow 1969. Spassky's flexibility of style was the key to his eventual victory over Petrosian by two points in the 1969 World Championship, by adopting Petrosian's negative style. Spassky won with 12.5/23.
Spassky's reign as a world champion only lasted for three years, as he lost to Bobby Fischer of the United States in 1972 in the "Match of the Century". The contest took place in Reykjavík, Iceland, at the height of the Cold War, and consequently was seen as symbolic of the political confrontation between the two superpowers. Going into the match, Fischer had never won a game from Spassky in five attempts, while losing three times. In addition, Spassky had secured Geller as his coach, and Geller also had a plus score against Fischer. However, Fischer was in excellent form, and won the title match convincingly, with 12.5/21.
Later career
Spassky's later years showed a reluctance to totally devote himself to chess. He relied on his natural talent for the game, and sometimes would rather play a game of tennis than work hard at the board. Since 1976, Spassky has been happily settled in France with his third wife; he became a French citizen in 1978, and has competed for France in the Chess Olympiads.
In 1992, Bobby Fischer, after a 20-year hiatus from chess, re-emerged to arrange a "Revenge Match of the 20th century" against Spassky in Montenegro and Belgrade; this was a re-enactment of the 1972 World Championship. At the time, Spassky was rated 106th in the FIDE rankings, and Fischer didn't appear on the list at all (owing to his 20-year inactivity). This match was essentially Spassky's last major challenge. Spassky lost the match with a score of +5 -10 =15. Spassky then played young female prodigy Judit Polgar in a 1993 match at Budapest, losing narrowly with 4.5/10.
Legacy
Spassky's best years were as a youthful prodigy in the mid 1950s, and then again as a mature warrior in the mid to late 1960s. He seemed to lose ambition once he became World Champion. Perhaps since the climb had been so difficult, through so many super-strong Soviet players, he had little left at that stage. The first match with Fischer took a severe nervous toll; his preparation was largely bypassed by Fischer. He keenly felt the disappointment of his nation for losing the title.
Never a true openings maven, at least when compared to contemporaries such as Geller and Fischer, he excelled in the middlegame with highly imaginitive yet usually sound and deeply planned play, which could erupt into tactical violence as needed.
Spassky succeeded with a wide variety of openings, including the King's Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.f4, an aggressive and risky line rarely seen at the top level. Indeed, his record of 16 wins (including wins against Bobby Fischer, David Bronstein, and Anatoly Karpov), no losses, and a few draws with the King's Gambit is unmatched.
Izvor: Wikipedia
Next: Magnus Carlsen
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