Boris Spassky

(ru:Борис Васильевич Спасский) (*January 30, 1937, Leningrad, USSR) - Soviet and French chess player, 10th world champion in chess (1969-1972). International Grandmaster (1955), Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1965). Two times champion of the USSR (1961, 1973), ten times participant of chess Olympiads.

Spassky declared himself in 1955, having won the World Championship among young men and passed selection to the Candidates Tournament. However, he was then unable to pass the selection in two consecutive Candidates Tournaments. In 1966, he won the right to a World Championship match against Tigran Petrosian, but was defeated. Three years later, in a match between the same rivals, Spassky won the crown. In 1972, he lost the match to Robert Fischer. In 1976, the Grandmaster emigrated to France, in 2012 he returned to Russia. He continued to perform at the highest level until the late 1980s. After the death of Vasily Smyslov in 2010, Boris Spassky is the oldest living world chess champion.

In the early days, Spassky distinguished attacking combinational style of play. Over time, he improved his debut repertoire, positional skills and endgame technique, and during his heyday he was a universal player, extremely strong in all components of the game

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