Memories of world champion Boris Spassky (1937-2025)

Boris Spassky, who died aged 88 last Friday, became one of the best-known chess players of all time after the dramas of his epic 1972 world championship match against America’s Bobby Fischer. His name became a byword for sportsmanship when he resisted pressure from Soviet officials to abandon the series, and he joined in the applause when Fischer won the sixth game brilliantly.

Chess.com has an excellent tribute by Peter Doggers, and other obituaries, including my own, can be found elsewhere online. 

I first met him briefly in 1960, when he stopped overnight in London on his way to Mar del Plata, Argentina, where he won his first encounter against Fischer in a lively King’s Gambit.

At Hastings 1965-66, where he beat the then British champion Peter Lee in 24 moves en route to first prize, he agreed to an interview which would be published only if he won the world title from Tigran Petrosian. Our session lasted over four hours, with its highlight Spassky’s account of losing to Mikhail Tal in the final round of the 1958 USSR Championship, which knocked him out of the world title eliminators for several years.

“The game was adjourned, and I had a good position; but I was very tired from analysing and went to resume next morning unshaven. I had analysed incessantly and came to the board looking very dishevelled and fatigued. Then I was like a stubborn mule. I remember that Tal offered me a draw, but I refused. Then I felt my strength ebb away, and I lost the thread of the game. My position deteriorated; I proposed a draw, but Tal refused. When I resigned, there was a thunder of applause, but I was in a daze and hardly understood what was happening. After this game I went on the street and cried like a child. I remembered that in 1951 when I lost to Smyslov in his clock simultaneous was the last time I cried, and I promised myself then never to cry again; but after losing to Tal I couldn’t keep my word.”

I offered Boris £100 for the interview, but he declined saying that I was his friend. However, at that time I had a huge database of openings, and I persuaded him to accept my volume on the Caro-Kann 1 . . . c6, which was Petrosian’s normal defence to 1 e4. The material included recent analysis of a variation where Black’s f5 bishop is chased by Ng3 and h4-h5, and Spassky used it in game 13 of the match, his first lifetime win against Petrosian in 23 attempts. The interview was only published after he won the world title in 1969.

The 1970s decade after Fischer v Spassky featured an explosion of English talent, centred in grammar and day public schools, which has never been matched before or since. Simultaneous displays by visiting grandmasters, taking on groups of 25-30 opponents or 8-10 using clocks, were a major training resource.

The juniors were skilled giant-killers. After Petrosian had narrowly avoided a minus score in 1978, the Evening Standard offered Spassky £1,000 in 1979 to meet 30 selected young opponents. 

The event at Highbury Grove school was iconic. Besides Spassky, two Soviet GMs who had just competed at Hastings each took on 30 opponents, making a 90-board match USSR v England juniors.

Spassky conceded 12 draws and five losses, his worst ever simul result. He took it seriously, halving some early games to reduce his workload and scoring well in the late stages. He also took three 15-minute timeouts to conserve his energy, a tactic never seen in any other exhibition. He still described the experience as “hard bread”.

His best win, published for the first time at the end of this article, was against Stuart Conquest, then aged only 11 and later a GM and British champion.

Spassky’s worst defeat was to Julian Hodgson, then 15 and later a GM and double British champion. He beat only one of his top 10 opponents, and that from a lost position. Eight of the juniors went on to be grandmasters, and five became international masters, while others had successful careers in law, accountancy, business or IT.

Puzzle 2614

Gilles Andruet v Boris Spassky, Bundesliga 1988. Black to move and win.

Click here for solution