MARK RUBERY CHESS
Boris Vasilievich Spassky, the 10th World Champion, turns 84 tomorrow. Spassky will forever be remembered by the general public as the opponent of Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) during their epic match, which took place in Iceland in 1972. Whereas as Fischer was the erratic temperamental genius from the West, the representative of the Soviet Union was described as naturally polite with a friendly disposition, of athletic build, and the most handsome champion since Capablanca. Boris learned the moves at the age of five, during a train ride in which citizens of his native Leningrad were being evacuated during the 1941-1944 siege of the city during WW2.
He became a Grandmaster when he was 18 the same year he won the World Junior Championship. In 1966 he won a number of gruelling Candidates matches before losing at the final hurdle to the then champion, Tigran Petrosian, by the narrowest margin (+3 =17 –4). Three years later, having vanquished Geller, Larsen and Korchnoi he again stood at the foot of the chess throne, this time he made no mistake in defeating Petrosian to become the World Chess Champion.
His speedy demolition of Larsen during the Rest of the World v USSR Match can be considered one the most startling games of modern times
Larsen B - Spassky B V [A01] Rest of World - USSR, Belgrade 1970
1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nf3?! (Larsen was never averse to experimenting in the opening)…e4 5.Nd4 Bc5 6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.e3 Bf5 8.Qc2 Qe7 9.Be2 0-0-0 10.f4? (‘White’s only mistake which encounters a staggeringly accurate and pretty refutation’-Kasparov)…Ng4! 11.g3 h5 (‘Choosing the way that does not leave White any chances’-Spassky) 12.h3 h4! (By sacrificing a piece Black penetrates into the enemy position) 13.hxg4 (Larsen thought for almost an hour here but there was already no way to save the game)…hxg3 14.Rg1 …Rh1!! (After this move which gains a decisive tempo the more than two thousand spectators could barely contain there enthusiasm) 15.Rxh1 g2 16.Rf1 Qh4+ 17.Kd1 gxf1Q+ 0-1
‘Boris Vasilievich never flirted with the authorities. He never settled for awkward compromises. When the Soviet system collapsed many people had a favourite excuse: “That’s just how the times were. What could we have done?” Those people joined the party at the first possible moment, then left it at the first chance they got, they informed to government agencies… They say: “We’re not to blame, that’s what the times were like!” I really don’t like that, as I think a person always has a choice. Spassky, as well as Tal, prove that really was the case. Adapting to the “rules of the game” imposed by the times is the fate of weak and calculating people. Always remaining true to himself is, in my view, one of the main personal achievements of Boris Vasilievich’. (Vladimir Kramnik)