The great Boris Spassky has died

AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS

Legendary Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster Boris Spassky, world champion from 1969 to 1972, has died less than a month after his 88th birthday, the Russian Chess Federation announced.

"A huge loss for the chess world and for the country," the Russian Federation reported, citing TASS journalist Andrei Kartashov, who interviewed Spassky in 2017.

Spassky, who represented France from 1982 to 2013, was the tenth world champion in a row.

From 2010 and the death of Vasily Smyslov until this Thursday, he was the oldest living man to hold the title.

Born in 1937 in Leningrad, Spassky became a grandmaster in 1955.

He played for the world title on three occasions – he lost to Tigran Petrosian in 1966, and got his revenge three years later, and Spassky is remembered for the duel from 1972.

It was an anthological match in Reykjavik against Bobby Fischer, which is considered the most watched match in the history of chess, hence the name “Match of the Century” for this duel.

Of course, few people viewed this duel outside the prism of the Cold War. Epilogue: Fischer won 12.5 – 8.5, and Spassky resented the authorities in his native country, which is why the two of them found themselves on the same side of the Iron Curtain 10 years later.

Spassky was also a two-time USSR champion (1961 and 1973).

In addition to his game on 64 squares, Spassky will also be remembered as an extraordinary personality in life outside the tournament – ​​according to people from the chess world.