Soviet world chess champion Boris Spassky has died at the age of 88. This was announced by the Russian Chess Federation, which regrets the event as "a great loss for Russia". Spassky held the world championship title from 1969 to 1972, when he the crown came in favor of American Grandmaster Bobby Fischer.
He began learning chess at the age of five on a train during the evacuation of Leningrad during World War II. At the age of eighteen he became a junior world champion. He proved his incredible talent much later by winning the Soviet Union Championship and advancing to and later winning the Candidates' Tournament in 1965. However, he lost to world champion Tigran Petrosyan in the 1966 world title match. In 1968, however, he won the Candidates' Tournament again and became World Champion after defeating defending champion Petrosyan.
He was world champion for three years and lost the title in 1972 during the "match of the century" in Reykjavik, Iceland. He lost to American Bobby Fischer. The match took place during the Cold War and was interpreted as a victory for the USA over the Soviet Union.
Boris Spassky was for many years one of the world leaders. Because of his lifestyle, he was never a favourite of the Soviet leadership and after losing his title his situation was difficult. After marrying a French citizen in the late 1970s, he took the opportunity to emigrate legally to France and played many tournaments thereafter under the French flag.
euronews/ wikipedia/ gnews.cz - RoZ
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