The Forever Friends

At the closing ceremony of the “World Chess Championship Revenge Match of the Twentieth Century” (1992): Bobby Fischer and Boris Vasilievich Spassky share bread like brothers. Photo via Collin Gaylord.

A Little Thing

Gone But Not Forgotten

The funeral of 10th World Chess Champion Boris Vasilievich Spassky was celebrated today with utmost splendour and solemnity at the Transfiguration Church of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia; and honoured by the presence of the higher chess authorities of the country, including FIDE President Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich and Chess Federation of Russia President Andrey Vasilievich Filatov.

Over 200 people came to honour Spassky’s funeral. Photos: Andrey Ivanovich Lyubimov/RBK.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Much thanks to Ulises for sharing his information about a Reddit user who “regularly post updates about 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) and translates content from Chinese sources”.
Inevitably, the death of 10th World Chess Champion Boris Vasilievich Spassky, is uppermost in the heart of 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén), who, on his 新浪微博 (Sina Wēibó) microblogging account, commented on his illustrious predecessor’s passing with a melancholic reflection upon the meaning of life:

“It may be a consolation to know that, when one dies, one will be known and loved again...”.

The Weight of Being

The Neverending Story

Now, in September

Boris Vasilievich Spassky – Robert James Fischer
World Chess Championship match game 21; Reykjavík, August 31– September 1, 1972
Sicilian Defence B46

Notes by Grandmaster Henrique Mecking, “O Encontro do Século: Fischer x Spassky”, APEC — VISÃO, São Paulo, 1973, pp. 145-149.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6. For the first time in his career, Fischer played this move.
3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3. 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 is also very popular.
5. ... Nc6. 5. ... Qc7 is usually played, but Fischer has something in mind.
6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bd3 d5!

A novelty by Fischer, undoubtedly prepared at home.
8. exd5 exd5. If 8. ... Nxd5 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bd4 and White would have the edge.
9. 0-0 Bd6 10. Nxc6. Disastrous for White would be 10. Nf5?? Bxf5 11. Bxf5 d4 and Black wins a piece. White could try 10. Be2 defending against Black’s menace ... Nf6-g4 and threatening in the future to increase the pressure on Black’s d-Pawn by means of Be2-f3. With the text move White strengthens Black’s centre.
10. ... bxc6 11. Bd4 0-0 12. Qf3 Be6 13. Rfe1 c5! Black forces the exchange of some pieces also holding a good position.
14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15. Qxf6 gxf6. Black has doubled and weak Pawns, but his Bishop pair is very strong. His position is not inferior.
16. Rad1 Rfd8 17. Be2 Rab8 18. b3 c4! Opening up lines for the dark-squared Bishop. The threat is ... Bd6-b4 dislodging the Knight.
19. Nxd5? Spassky, with White, obtained nothing from the opening. Needing desperately to win, he commits an imprudence in sacrificing the Exchange without compensation.
19. ... Bxd5 20. Rxd5 Bxh2+. It would be worse for Black 20. ... cxb3 21. axb3 Bxh2+ because the a6-Pawn is en prise.
21. Kxh2 Rxd5 22. Bxc4 Rd2! Black’s Rooks now have great offensive power. White Pawns are very backward and not dangerous.
23. Bxa6 Rxc2 24. Re2. Forced. Otherwise the Black Rooks raid White’s Pawns.
24. ... Rxe2 25. Bxe2 Rd8 26. a4 Rd2 27. Bc4 Ra2. If 27. ... Rxf2? 28. a5 Ra2 29. a6 Kf8 30. b4 Ra4 31. b5 Ke7 32. b6 Kd6 33. a7 Kc6 34. Bb5+ or 34. Bd5+ and White wins.
28. Kg3 Kf8 29. Kf3 Ke7 30. g4? A grave error in a difficult position. Now Black succeeds in creating a passed Pawn on the h-file. Correct was 30. g3, but Black would still have good winning chances with 30. ... f5 threatening ... f5-f4
30. ... f5 31. gxf5 f6 32. Bg8 h6 33. Kg3 Kd6 34. Kf3 Ra1. The threat is ... Ra1-g1 and the Black King keeps the Queenside Pawns at bay while the h-Pawn is free to advance. White’s next move is forced, dropping another piece from the defence.
35. Kg2 Ke5 36. Be6 Kf4 37. Bd7 Rb1. Black’s idea is to place the opponent in zugzwang, that is, without a good move.
38. Be6 Rb2 39. Bc4 Ra2 40. Be6 h5? Correct was 40. ... Kg4 and White would be helpless against the threat of the passed Pawn.
41. Bd7?

After this move White resigned. Black would play 41. ... Kg4 winning without problems. Correct for White was 41. Kh3, but after 41. ... Kg5 Black should eventually win, even though with more difficulties.
0 : 1.

Not the Last Goodbye

Robert James Fischer – Boris Vasilievich Spassky
World Chess Championship match game 6; Reykjavík, July 23, 1972
Queen’s Gambit Declined D59

Notes by Grandmaster Mario Monticelli, “Fischer – Spasskij. La Sfida del Secolo”, U. Mursia & C., Milan, 1972, pp. 92-96.

“Nothing succeeds like success”, so goes an English proverb. And since Bobby Fischer wins (he has already regained the two points of disadvantage he had after two games) the attitude of the public towards him has changed. When Spassky arrived on time in the Sports Hall for the beginning of the sixth game, the applause was more sparse than usual. Instead, when Fischer appeared (late as usual, this time by ten minutes) there was almost an ovation.

1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 0-0 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 b6. By transposition, the game has reached an ancient line of the Queen’s Gambit Declined, the so-called “Tartakower Variation”. And in fact the game is so far identical with the game Capablanca – Tartakower of the London 1922 tournament: nihil sub sole novi!
8. cxd5. Thus Capablanca also played, and Black recaptured with the Pawn.
8. ... Nxd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. Rc1 Be6 12. Qa4 c5. All these moves are given by Tartakower in the notes to his London game (“My Best Games of Chess, 1905–1930”): however, 13. ... c5 is there preceded by 12. ... Rc8.
13. Qa3 Rc8 14. Bb5 a6? No doubt a lost tempo, albeit the purpose of the move is to bring the a8-Rook to a7. Tartakower recommends at this point 14. ... Kf8.
15. dxc5 bxc5. With the King on f8, one could consider 15. ... Rxc5, bearing the isolated Pawn on d5.
16. 0-0 Ra7 17. Be2 Nd7 18. Nd4 Qf8. Spassky pondered for 35 minutes before retiring the undefended Queen which constituted the main weakness of his position. But now another one will be created.

19. Nxe6! One of the characteristics of Fischer’s play is the promptness with which the American is able to transform a manifest but not yet realisable positional advantage into another kind of superiority, intended to give greater fruit: and the exchange of the d4-Knight for the e6-Bishop is an example. He now goes on to attack the light squares in the enemy camp, desisting from exerting a stubborn pressure on the c5-Pawn.
19. ... fxe6 20. e4 d4. Taking on e4 would make Black’s Pawn position even worse; but now Fischer has his new target.
21. f4 Qe7 22. e5 Rb8 23. Bc4 Kh8 24. Qh3 Nf8. Inconsistent with the last two moves. As things go, White easily achieves the opening of the two diagonals he needs for the attack against his opponent’s castling: c4-g8 and d3-h7. So Spassky might have ventured on 24. ... Rxb2 25. Bxe6 Nf8 26. Bb3 a5! or 25. Qxe6 Qxe6 26. Bxe6 g6 followed by ... Kh8-g7 and Black is still fighting on.
25. b3 a5 26. f5 exf5 27. Rxf5 Nh7 28. Rcf1 Qd8 29. Qg3 Re7 30. h4 Rbb7. By 30. h4 White was threatening Rf5-f7 (which would have been ineffective immediately because of the exchange of Rooks followed by ... Qd8-g5). Now the advance of the passed Pawn prepares for a decisive irruption.
31. e6 Rbc7 32. Qe5!

Black is now completely paralysed.
32. ... Qe8 33. a4 Qd8 34. R1f2 Qe8 35. R2f3 Qd8. Black is reduced to making waiting moves.
36. Bd3! Qe8 37. Qe4 Nf6. White’s threat was Rf5-f8+.
38. Rxf6 gxf6 39. Rxf6 Kg8 40. Bc4 Kh8 41. Qf4 1–0.

Swept Away... by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sky of an Unforgettable Summer

Swept away... by an unusual destiny in the blue sky of an unforgettable summer. 10th World Chess Champion Boris Vasilievich Spassky and 11th World Chess Champion Robert James “Bobby” Fischer once again to the fore in the $5 million dollar World Chess Championship Rematch (Sveti Stefan and Belgrade, Yugoslavia, September 2, 1992 – November 5, 1992), almost exactly twenty years after the Match of the Century (Reykjavík, Iceland, July 11, 1972 – August 31, 1972). Photo: VOSTOCK Photo/EPA.

Once in a Lifetime

Frenemies for a season, friends for a lifetime. 10th World Chess Champion Boris Vasilievich Spassky and 11th World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer enjoy a radiant mood at Budapest, Hungary, in 1995. Photo courtesy of Dmitry Trubin.

Америка (Amerika)

New York City, NY — MARCH 1972: A tinted portrait of chess Grandmaster Bobby Fischer on the cover of a special issue of Amerika magazine, right before Fischer’s World Championship match against Boris Vasilievich Spassky. Amerika, also known as America Illustrated, was published by the now-defunct United States Information Agency (USIA) during the Cold War, for distribution in the Soviet Union as a form of cultural exchange. The original portrait itself was shot in David Attie’s studio in New York City, United States on August 10, 1971. Photo © David Attie/Getty Images.

Fashion Cultures

During the 1972 World Chess Championship — the so-called Match of the Century — in Reykjavík, Iceland, Bobby Fischer went to a tailor to buy two suits. In the shop, there was a photograph of Rudolph Valentino, the silent screen star. Photo © Harry Benson. Courtesy of The New York Times.

Yesterday

RAVENS: SPASSKY VS. FISCHER, a Hampstead Theatre world première written by Tom Morton-Smith and directed by Annabelle Comyn, will be staged from November 29, 2019 to January 18, 2020. It’s the story of the Match of the Century, the “Cold War” World Chess Championship match between Boris Vasilievich Spassky and Robert James “Bobby” Fischer, two gentlemen who remained gentlemen and good “frenemies” all their lives, refusing to be Pawns in the hands of their landlords. For further details and booking, please visit: http://www.hampsteadtheatre.co.uk/.

Twenty Years After

János Kubát (left), a well-known organiser who helped arrange the Rematch of the Century twenty years later, next to 11th World Chess Champion Robert James “Bobby” Fischer, most likely in Yugoslavia, 1992. Photo: Szabad Magyar Szó.

Now you understand why Fischer just spat in their face

Frenemies

Robert James “Bobby” Fischer (pictured left) and Boris Vasilievich Spassky (pictured right) argue a point at a cocktail party after a news conference in Sveti Stefan, Yugoslavia on Monday, September 15, 1992. At that point, Fischer was leading 3–2 in their 10-game, open-ended rematch, with their next game scheduled for Wednesday. Photo: AP.

The Desecrated King

11th World Chess Champion Robert James “Bobby” Fischer (pictured right), shakes hands with the then President of Serbia Slobodan Milošević (pictured left) in Belgrade, Yugoslavia on Tuesday, October 6, 1992. Fischer’s rematch vs. Boris Vasilievich Spassky would be continued on Wednesday in Belgrade with Fischer leading by 5 to 3. Speaking on the occasion, Milošević said that the match was proving that “Chess and sports cannot be limited by politics”. Photo: AP.

Who’s Who and Why

Crowds of people gather around the show window of a shop in Wenceslas Square in Prague, then Czechoslovakia, where a giant chess board is displaying the latest moves of the 1972 World Chess Championship match between Boris Vasilievich Spassky and Robert James “Bobby” Fischer. Photos: Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images.

Fis(c)her King

11th World Chess Champion Robert James “Bobby” Fischer posing for a series of outdoor pictures in Reykjavík, Iceland on June 30, 1972. Photos: Jerry Cooke/Getty Images.

You never know when it will be the last time

Robert James “Bobby” Fischer arriving in Reykjavík, Iceland on July 2, 1972 to play the World Chess Championship match — dubbed the “Match of the Century” — with Boris Vasilievich Spassky. Photo: Dagblaðið Vísir.