Posted on 02/27/2025 6:09:05 PM PST by Libloather
Boris Spassky, legendary Russian chess player and the 10th World Chess Champion who rose to international fame in the 1972 “Match of the Century” against American Bobby Fischer, died Thursday in Moscow at age 88.
The icon’s death was announced by the Russian Chess Federation, who mourned the loss of one of the 20th century’s most influential chess players.
“A great personality has passed away; generations of chess players learned and continue to learn from his games and work. A great loss for the country,” Andrei Filatov, president of the Russian Chess Federation said in a statement to Russian outlet Tass.
His cause of death was not announced. Spassky had been confined to a wheelchair since suffering a debilitating stroke in 2010.
Arkady Dvorkovich, president of chess’ governing body FIDE, called Spassky “one of the greatest players of the Soviet era and the world” and a “true gentleman,” in a statement issued Thursday.
Spassky, born in the Soviet Union’s Leningrad — now St. Petersburg, became chess World Champion in 1969, becoming the face of the daunting Russian chess machine.
He famously defended his title against American Bobby Fischer in the “Match of the Century” in 1972 — a match which, played at the height of the Cold War, became a cultural proxy battle between the US and Soviet Russia.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Boris Spassky: Chess is like life.
Bobby Fischer: Chess IS life!
Also Boris Spassky: My ex wife and I were like bishops of opposite colors.
(For you non chess players, he is referring to the fact that such bishops move around the same board, but never can meet on the same square).
RIP.
This guy was quite a fascinating character. He was a Russian nationalist and described himself as a "monarchist," so he didn't quite fit the role of a Cold War icon in the Soviet Union.
I thought highly of Spassky even though Fischer accused the Russians of cheating. I thought he was a great humble Chess player but he couldn’t beat the GOAT of Chess who was Bobby Fischer.
Spassky moved to France and became a French citizen in 1978.
Interestingly, I read somewhere that Bobby Fischer had lost every match he had played against Spassky before the 1972 championship.
The first game was played on July 11, 1972. The last game (the 21st) began on August 31, was adjourned after 40 moves, and Spassky resigned the next day without resuming play. Fischer won the match 12½–8½, becoming the eleventh undisputed world champion.
Rest In Peace, Boris.
Phenomenal player.
I saw it at a family gathering when it turned out that I must have given it to my sisters kid who is a math teacher at a private school today. He was always good at chess.
Is that from the 1980s?
Checkmate.......
Impressive, if unspectacular game.
Fischer was my hero, before he went crazy.
Sometimes infantry, or a cascade of pawns, is enough. Indeed, is that not a metaphor for Emmanuel in Bethlehem?
My favorite quote of his was the one I read in “Chess Life” many decades ago: “A man who is willing to commit suicide has the initiative.” I don’t know how many times — and not just in chess — that one thought struck me. RIP, Boris, and thank you for playing a boy with a “fatal delusion” you kept in the game. God bless.
Remember it well, hosted by Shelby Lyman with a rotating set of analysts
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