MARK RUBERY CHESS

The 10th World Champion, Boris Spassky, turned 87 earlier this year and is the oldest living world champion. To mark his 75th birthday he gave a long and fascinating interview on a Russian chess news site. Here follow a few snippets from the player aptly described as having a universal style.

Q: You made it into the Candidates very early on, but you only won your match in 1969.

A: Yes, at age 19 in 1956 I played in the Candidates Tournament. It was obvious that sooner or later I’d become World Champion, but it was sooner said than done. “You’ll suffer from girls”, said my trainer Alexander Kazimirovich Tolush. And he was right. The first time I got married was early on, at 22. Almost immediately I realised that my wife and I were opposite-coloured bishops. Military actions commenced. I ended up in hospital because of nerves. I was saved by Mikhail Yurevich Cherkes, the manager of the Moscow railway. He provided me with a one-bedroom flat while my militant wife moved into my socialist mansion. That was how we split up, and it was the green light for the chess throne.

Q: When did you sense it was time to storm the heights?

A: It was in 1963 at the match between the teams of Hungary and Ordzonikidze. At the time I told my trainer: “Vater, perhaps I should become World Champion?” – “Ok, let’s do it!”. That was how our work began. I remember all my trainers with great reverence and respect. Vladimir Zak gave me a weapon, Alexander Tolush sharpened it, Bondarevsky hardened it. With that weapon I became World Champion. But that took six years of fierce struggle against Petrosian.

Q: People say you weren’t particularly hard-working?

A: I played my systems and didn’t particularly like to learn new ones. I relied on my skill in the middlegame. By the way, it was the same for Capablanca. Overall, of course, I knew the openings badly, but in my own systems I felt confident.

After living in France for many years he returned to Russia in 2012 and resides in an apartment in Moscow.

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN

In the classic TV series Star Trek (19661969) Captain James T Kirk and Mr Spock play chess on three occasions with the more cerebral Vulcan losing each time.