10th World Chess Champion Boris Vasilievich Spassky (pictured above), on the eve of his 80th birthday, gave a very personal interview to Elena Milchanovska for Moskovskij Komsomolets, in which he recalled his younger days and speaked with open heart about his daily “perimeter” defence against illness. Just a lifetime “frenemy” – Robert James “Bobby” Fischer – and only one regret: “The title of World Chess Champion didn’t bring me any happiness”. Photo: Elena Milchanovska.
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10th World Chess Champion Boris Vasilievich Spassky at the Kino International in Berlin, Germany, for the première of Pawn Sacrifice, the film devoted to his mythical adversary Robert James Fischer. Photo © Sebastian Reuter/Getty Images.
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“I’ve kept good memories of Fischer. I don’t have any grudges against him. I always forgave him the fact that he behaved like a child. Bobby was very pure and friendly. He liked children, animals. He was an avid cat lover! I also preferred cats to dogs, like Bobby. Did he have any cats? I don’t think so, although I never went to his house. I wanted to visit him in Pasadena, but didn’t get the chance. His house was robbed there and almost his whole archive was lost... I also want to save my archive, which remained in Paris. I’m planning to appeal to Ilyumzhinov and FIDE for help. I’ve got a small archive in Moscow, but that’s only a little part...”. [Read more].
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The World Chess Championship between Boris Vasilievich Spassky and Robert James Fischer in Iceland, July 1972. Crowds of spectators and fans gathered around the show window of a chess shop in Wenceslaw Square in Prague, where a chess board displaying the latest moves of the two Grandmasters is on view. PHOTO CREDIT: SOVFOTO.
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The glorieuse European rentrée of the 11th World Chess Champion in Sveti Stefan, Montenegro, on September 1, 1992. Convivium. From the left: Boris Vasilievich Spassky with his French wife Marina, “Jezda the Boss” Jezdimir Vasiljević with his lady, Robert James Fischer with his Hungarian fiancée Zita Rajcsányi. PHOTO CREDIT: ART ZAMUR.
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Manila, October 28, 1973. 11th World Chess Champion Robert James Fischer signed autographs after a news conference that he would like to have a rematch with 10th World Chess Champion Boris Vasilievich Spassky. Photo: CorbisImages.
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Le sanzioni economiche nei confronti della Serbia nei primi anni ’90 non impedirono l’invasione della Bosnia e, certamente, la simbolica punizione, da parte del governo degli Stati Uniti, della leggenda degli scacchi Bobby Fischer (per aver giocato [un match] a Belgrado, in violazione delle sanzioni) non arrecò alcun sollievo all’assediata Sarajevo. [Read more].
Chess Grandmaster Kenneth Saul “Ken” Rogoff (born March 22, 1953) is the Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics at Harvard University. |
Besides his serious health problems, Spassky has other grave concerns: “My French wife has taken all my properties, my archives, everything. And the tragedy of the war in Ukraine affect me much, but I try to be happy writing my memoirs, watching the sun raising every day, looking at my plants growing. Today more than ever we need chess. Move the pieces and think about a strategy lets us forget the misfortunes of the world”. [Read more].
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Sochi, November 8, 2014. Boris Vasilievich Spassky with the FIDE President Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov. Photo: Chess-News.ru.
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Yesterday tenth World Chess Champion Boris Vasilievich Spassky was meeting with the young participants of the Champions and Award Winners children’s tournament in the Dvorkovich Drawing Room.
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“I never belonged to those who feel comfortable in the corner. When I, at the age of 5, saw the chess board for the first time and learned how to move a Rook, the first thing I did was removing the Black a7-Pawn off the board and releasing the a8-Rook from its prison. Then I swept away all the White pieces by playing Ra8-a2-a1-h1-h2-a2...”, Boris Vasilievich said.
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Robert James Fischer and Boris Vasilievich Spassky in Sveti Stefan (Montenegro), 1992. Photo: Archiv Josip Adžić.
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Appeal to President Bush from Boris Vasilievich Spassky
Mr. President, In 1972 Bobby Fischer became national hero. He smashed me in the match in Reykjavík. The Soviet chess hegemony collapsed. One man won against a whole army. Soon after that Fischer stopped playing. He repeated the sad story of Paul Morphy. At the age of 21, legendary Paul had beaten all leading European masters and became unofficial champion. He stopped playing and finished his tragic life at the age of 47 in New Orleans in 1884. In 1992, twenty years after Reykjavík, there was a miracle. Bobby resuscitated and we played a match in Yugoslavia. But at that time there were sanctions against Yugoslavia forbidding American citizens any sort of activity on the territory of Yugoslavia. Bobby violated the instructions of the State Department. He became the subject of a warrant for arrest issued on December 15, 1992 by the US District Court. As for me, as a French citizen since 1978, I did not get any sanctions from the French government. Since July 13, 2004, Bobby has been detained at Narita airport on immigration violations. Further events have been described by media. It is clear that the law is the law. But Fischer’s case is not usual. I am an old friend of Bobby since 1960 when we played in Mar del Plata and shared 1-2 places. Bobby is a tragic personality. I realized this at that time. He is an honest and good natured man. Absolutely not social. He is not adaptable to everybody’s standards of life. He has a very high sense of justice and is unwilling to compromise as well as with his own conscience as with surrounding people. He is a person who is doing almost everything against himself. I would not like to defend or justify Bobby Fischer. He is what he is. I am asking only for one thing. For mercy, charity. If for some reason it is impossible, I would like to ask you the following: Please correct the mistake of President François Mitterand in 1992. Bobby and myself committed the same crime. Put sanctions against me also. Arrest me. And put me in the same cell with Bobby Fischer. And give us a chess set. Boris Vasilievich Spassky 10th Chess World Champion 08.07.2004 |
– Do you see anything of Bobby Fischer in Magnus?
Spassky has thought for a while. – Yes. He is determined and stubborn as well. And what I like is that he does not get involved in politics. |
-+) 20. ... Qf2 21. Qxe4 Qxg1+ 22. Kc2 Qf2 and wins (Spassky’s analysis). 13. ... hxg3 14. Rg1
-+, but when one is painting his masterpiece, “The rest is silence”. 15. Rxh1 g2 16. Rf1. Despair, but 16. Rg1 is elegantly refuted by 16. ... Qh4+ 17. Kd1 Qh1 18. Qc3 Qxg1+ 19. Kc2 Qf2 20. gxf5 Qxe2 21. Na3 Bb4!-+ (Spassky’s analysis). 16. ... Qh4+
17. Kd1 gxf1=Q+ 0 : 1. For if 18. Bxf1 then 18. ... Bxg4+ and mate in two moves. A masterpiece of Boris!
Young chess masters at Kastrup Airport in 1957, on the way to the Students World Championship: Mikhail Tal, Bent Larsen, Miroslav Filip and Boris Spassky. Photo: Skakbladet.
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La battaglia di Mosca, combattuta nel periodo tra l’autunno del 1941 e l’inverno del 1942 tra le forze della Germania e dell’Unione Sovietica sul fronte orientale, durante la seconda guerra mondiale, costituì l’unico tentativo della Wehrmacht di conquistare ed occupare la capitale sovietica. L’offensiva tedesca venne dapprima bloccata alle porte di Mosca e successivamente le truppe vennero costrette ad indietreggiare, riuscendo tuttavia ad impedire che la controffensiva dell’Armata Rossa accerchiasse e distruggesse le forze impegnate nell’attacco alla città.
La mancata conquista di Mosca precluse la realizzazione del piano strategico dell’Alto comando tedesco, che, nel quadro della stesura dell’operazione Barbarossa, prevedeva la conquista della capitale prima del sopraggiungere dell’inverno e costituì, insieme alla sconfitta nella battaglia d’Inghilterra, il secondo significativo punto di svolta nel conflitto a sfavore dei tedeschi.
[Da Wikipedia]
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Vasilij Ovchinnikov, Boris Vasil’evič Spasskij, Anatolij Golikov – un veterano della Battaglia di Mosca – Evgenij Andreevič Vasjukov, Anatolij Evgen’evič Karpov, Alexander Zhukov e il veterano di guerra Ivan Sljusarenko. Foto: ChessBase.com.
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