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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 2,483  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Smyslov vs Spassky 1-0 21 1948 Simul B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack 2. Spassky vs Rodgaisky 0-1 8 1948 URS B45 Sicilian, Taimanov 3. Korchnoi vs Spassky 1-0 12 1948 Leningrad B71 Sicilian, Dragon, Levenfish Variation 4. Spassky vs Shman 1-0 35 1948 Trud Ch D37 Queen's Gambit Declined 5. Spassky vs A Nikitin   ½-½ 20 1949 Ch URS (team) (juniors) A18 English, Mikenas-Carls 6. V Liavdansky vs Spassky 0-1 51 1949 Leningrad Junior Championship B23 Sicilian, Closed 7. Spassky vs A Vilup 1-0 27 1949 Leningrad Junior Championship D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 8. Spassky vs S Avtonomov 1-0 21 1949 Leningrad Junior Championship D28 Queen's Gambit Accepted, Classical 9. Korchnoi vs Spassky 0-1 51 1949 Leningrad Junior Championship B71 Sicilian, Dragon, Levenfish Variation 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. Korchnoi vs Spassky 0-1 47 1952 Leningrad D10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 16. Spassky vs J Yuchtman 1-0 28 1952 URS-chT Juniors E28 Nimzo-Indian, Samisch Variation 17. Levenfish vs Spassky ½-½ 32 1952 Leningrad D71 Neo-Grunfeld 18. G Chepukaitis vs Spassky 0-1 35 1952 Minsk C31 King's Gambit Declined, Falkbeer Counter Gambit 19. Taimanov vs Spassky ½-½ 59 1952 Leningrad D45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 20. Furman vs Spassky 0-1 36 1952 Leningrad D43 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 21. B Vladimirov vs Spassky 0-1 27 1953 Leningrad D25 Queen's Gambit Accepted 22. Petrosian vs Spassky ½-½ 15 1953 Bucharest D10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 23. Spassky vs Smyslov 1-0 35 1953 Bucharest E31 Nimzo-Indian, Leningrad, Main line 24. V Ciocaltea vs Spassky ½-½ 21 1953 Bucharest C50 Giuoco Piano 25. Spassky vs Z Milev 0-1 69 1953 Bucharest D87 Grunfeld, Exchange  page 1 of 100; games 1-25 of 2,483

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 44 OF 99 ·  Later Kibitzing> May-27-08    Augalv: When Boris Spassky said he'd take on twenty chess opponents at Hay Festival, i doubt he thought one of his opponents would be playing from 8'000 miles away! One of the lucky twenty was Ian McNab, a field technician with the British Antartic Survey based on the Rothera Research Station. The game between McNab and Spassky lasted a little over two hours and is believed to be the longest distance Live Chess match ever to be played. The game ended in a draw. There are now several sites across the web with news of Spassky's games at Hay, including icWales BBC News The Press Association Thaindian news The news sites above give a lot more detail of the matches played by Spassky, but sadly none show, as yet, details of his actual games/moves. [or the outcome of the other 19 games]. Source: http://www.chess.com/news/spassky-p... May-27-08    KingG: This was linked to in the comments to the Guardian article, and is much better: http://www.chess.com/news/boris-spa... May-28-08    Kapablanca: I find both articles are good. Spassky deserves thouses pieces of good journalism. Long and healthy life for Mr Spassky. Jun-22-08    talisman: Guys i am looking for a leonid stein win over boris in 1963.playoff for ussr championship.32 or 33 move gruenfield.do we not have it? Jun-22-08    MichAdams: The play-off took place in early 1964. Spassky vs L Stein, 1964 Jun-22-08    talisman: <MichAdams> thanks! Jun-22-08    talisman: KingG i really liked that article.thanks. Jul-07-08    drnooo: There you have it folks. Spassky said that being world champ was the WORST time of his life. Imagine on top of that you have this nutball to play against whom you like, but is still gonzo to the tenth power, and who (Spassky now) said that Karpov was his toughest opponent, and suddenly a little more perspective is shed on why Fischer may have said that's it , IM outta here. Maybe Bobby just was not so honest, could not admit how being champ was not that great. Of them all, only Kasparov and Karpov were truly driven, all the others seemed to find the view at the top pretty awful. Jul-08-08    brankat: Apparently, Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik...etc, all enjoyed the view :-) Spassky felt the Title was too much of a responsibility, therefore a burden to be rid of. Fischer may have had different reasons. Jul-30-08    Helios727: I noticed Spassky tied his candidate match with Portisch in 1980 with a score of 7-7, yet Portisch advanced, Spassky did not. Does anyone know what criteria they used to give the nod to Portisch? Jul-31-08    najdorfman: Helios727: Portisch had more wins with the black pieces--that was the tie-breaker. Jul-31-08    Granny O Doul: <Helios727> The tiebreak "system" for this match was that the player who won more games with Black would advance. People often ridicule the Hubner-Smyslov roulette wheel spin, but at least there they were not pretending there was any science to it. An almost-tiebreak (according to Tal) for the Larsen-Tal match in 1965 (I think) was to give each players a sheepbone to hold and whichever the TD's (or organizer, somebody's) dog came to first would advance. Tal won the match in the tenth game so I guess the dog went hungry. Jul-31-08    Helios727: I think a better tie break system would be to add the total moves from all the wins of player-1, and do the same for player-2, and give the tie break to the player who has the lower total. Jul-31-08    Helios727: On second thought, I think my suggestion probably would not be good since it would interfere with a player's decision to resign a lost game. Aug-03-08    plimko: Boris Spassky played a simul in Condino, near Trento in Italy. Lot of pictures here: http://www.scacchierando.net/dblog/... Aug-31-08    parisattack: <plimko> Very nice! Thanks for sharing these. At his best - mid/late 1960s Spassky was awesome. Aug-31-08    myschkin: . . . Grazie! Aug-31-08    whiteshark: <plimko> Bellissime immagini e commenti rinfrescante! Grazie mille! Aug-31-08    myschkin: . . . Cazzo <whiteshark>! :p Aug-31-08    whiteshark: <myschkin: . . . > Dirlo forte e chiaro: La forte Cazzo si verifica per primo nella minestra! :I Aug-31-08    myschkin: . . . *hatschu* Chi pò, non vò; chi vò, non pò; chi sà, non fà; chi fà, non sà; e così, male il mondo và! Basta^^ Sep-01-08    myschkin: . . . Video Documentary "Spassky vs. Fischer" (37 min. runtime) http://video.google.com/videoplay?d... [for the Spassky fans] Sep-25-08    Albertan: On October 1, 2006, Spassky suffered a stroke during a chess lecture in San Francisco; his wife Marina reported several days later that Spassky was doing well. In his first major post-stroke play, he drew a six-game rapid match with Hungarian Grandmaster Lajos Portisch in April 2007. Spassky visited the grave of Bobby Fischer in Iceland to commemorate Fischer’s 65th birthday and participate in the 23rd annual Reykjavík Chess Tournament, held in Fischer's memory. source:http://www.icelandreview.com/icelan... Nov-02-08    Billy Vaughan: I love Spassky's deep voice! Nov-11-08    Billy Vaughan: Here's a great picture of Spassky: http://www.chessbase.com/news/2008/... Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 99) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 44 OF 99 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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