Spassky defeated Tigran Petrosian in 1969 to become World Champion, then lost the title in the Fischer – Spassky match in 1972 – one of the most famous chess matches in history.

By sharing seventh place with 11 / 20 at Gothenburg, Spassky qualified for the 1956 Candidates ' Tournament, held in Amsterdam, automatically gaining the grandmaster title, and was then the youngest to hold the title.

Spassky then tied for first in a semifinal for the 24th Soviet championship, thereby qualifying.

Spassky then went into a slump in world championship qualifying events, failing to advance to the next two Interzonals ( 1958 and 1962 ), a prerequisite to earn the right to play for the world championship.

Spassky had the advantage for much of the game, but missed a difficult win after adjournment, then declined a draw.

In the 1974 Candidates ' matches, Spassky first defeated American Robert Byrne in San Juan, Puerto Rico by 4½ – 1½ (+ 3 − 0 = 3 ); he then lost the semifinal match to Anatoly Karpov in Leningrad, despite winning the first game, (+ 1 − 4

This match saw Spassky fall ill, exhaust all his available rest days while recovering ; then the healthy Hort used one of his own rest days, to allow Spassky more time to recover ; Spassky eventually won the match.

Spassky won an exhibition match over Robert Hübner at Solingen, 1977 by 3½ – 2½, then defeated Lubomir Kavalek, also at Solingen, by 4 – 2 in another exhibition.

In this match, Spassky fell behind behind 2½ – 7½ after losing the tenth game ; however, he then won four consecutive games.

Spassky then represented France in three Olympiads, on board one in each case.

Spassky then played young female prodigy Judit Polgár in a 1993 match at Budapest, losing narrowly by 4½ – 5½.

* Miles-Spassky 1982 Queen's Indian Opening 1-0 A crushing sacrificial attack against Spassky, still then one of the world's strongest players

He won his first Soviet title at Leningrad 1963 ; he tied with Boris Spassky and Ratmir Kholmov in the tournament itself, then won the playoffs.

An example: commenting on his opponent at the 1970 USSR-vs-World match, he remarked, " When Boris Spassky offers you a piece, you might as well resign then and there.

In the Candidates ' matches, he first advanced to the semifinals after beating Bent Larsen by 6. 5-3. 5 at Rotterdam 1977, then lost to Boris Spassky by 6. 5-8. 5 at Geneva 1977.

Spassky finished in a tie for ninth at the 27th Soviet final in Leningrad, with 10 / 19, as fellow Leningrader Viktor Korchnoi scored his first of four Soviet titles.

Another disappointment for Spassky came at the qualifier for the next Interzonal, the Soviet final, played in Moscow 1961, where he again lost a crucial last-round game, this to Leonid Stein, who thus qualified, as Spassky finished equal fifth with 11 / 19, while Petrosian won.

In November and December, Spassky finished the year by tying for sixth with Tal, scoring + 4 − 2 = 11, at the Alekhine Memorial in Moscow, which was won by Stein and Anatoly Karpov, the latter's first top-class success.

In February – March 1973, Spassky finished equal third at Tallinn with 9 / 15, three points behind Tal ; he tied for first at Dortmund on 9½ / 15 (+ 5 − 1 = 9 ) with Hans-Joachim Hecht and Ulf Andersson.

Spassky finished in fourth place at the annual IBM tournament held in Amsterdam, one point behind winners Petrosian and Albin Planinc.

During 1975, Spassky played two events, the first being the annual tournament at Tallinn, where he finished equal second with Fridrik Olafsson, scoring 9½ / 15 (+ 5 − 1 = 9 ), one point behind Keres, the last international event won by the latter before his sudden death in June 1975.

In October – November, Spassky finished second to Geller at the Alekhine Memorial in Moscow with a score of 10 points from fifteen games (+ 6 − 1 = 8 ).

In 1976, Spassky was obliged to return to the Interzonal stage, and finished in a tie for tenth place in Manila, well short of qualifying for the Candidates matches, but was nominated to play after Fischer declined his place.

Then at the Amsterdam 1964 Interzonal, Bronstein scored very well, but only three Soviets could advance, by a FIDE rule, and he finished behind countrymen Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, and Boris Spassky, who finished as the joint winners, along with Larsen.

Only Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer, and Bent Larsen finished ahead of Unzicker.

He finished fourth in 1952 (+ 8 = 7 − 4, equal with Boleslavsky and behind Botvinnik, Taimanov, and Geller ) and fourth 1957 (+ 10 = 6 − 5 equal with Spassky and behind Tal, Bronstein, and Keres ).

Spassky travelled to Argentina, where he shared first place with Bobby Fischer, two points ahead of Bronstein, at Mar del Plata 1960 on 13½ / 15, defeating Fischer in their first career meeting.

Spassky also won at Beverwijk 1967 with 11 / 15, one-half point ahead of Anatoly Lutikov, and shared first place at Sochi 1967 on 10 / 15 with Krogius, Alexander Zaitsev, Leonid Shamkovich, and Vladimir Simagin.

Keres ' last major tournament win was Tallinn 1975, ahead of Spassky and Fridrik Olafsson, just a few months before his death.

He shared 1st – 2nd at Winnipeg 1967 with 6 / 9, along with Klaus Darga, ahead of Spassky and Keres.

He won at Palma de Mallorca 1969 with 12 / 17 ahead of Petrosian, Korchnoi, Hort, and Spassky.

In the USSR vs Rest of the World match at Belgrade 1970, he played first board for the World side, ahead of Fischer, and scored 2½ / 4 against Spassky and Leonid Stein.

His tournament victories include the first place tie (+ 6 − 0 = 9 ) with Boris Spassky at the Chigorin Memorial in Sochi 1965, first at Maribor 1967 ahead of Samuel Reshevsky, first at Krems, and first at Amsterdam 1980 tied with Hans Ree.

On the July 1972 FIDE rating list, Fischer's 2785 was a record 125 points ahead of the number two player – Spassky, who had a 2660 rating.

At age 69, he tied for second place in a very strong field at Buenos Aires 1979, with 8 / 13, behind winner Bent Larsen ( 11 / 13 ), though ahead of former world champions Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky.

His second place was shared with Milko Bobotsov and two World Champions, Vasily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal, ahead of two others, Boris Spassky and Tigran Petrosian, among a host of other strong players.

Among his best results in other important tournaments were: clear first at Iwonicz Zdroj 1957, equal first with Taimanov at Dresden 1959, equal first with Lajos Portisch at Beverwijk 1965, clear first at Kislovodsk 1966, clear first at Gothenburg 1967, clear first at Kislovodsk 1968, equal first with Mikhail Botvinnik at Wijk aan Zee 1969 ( ahead of Keres ), equal first at Havana 1971 with Vlastimil Hort, equal first at Hilversum 1973 with Laszlo Szabo, clear first at Budapest 1973 ahead of Anatoly Karpov, clear first at Teesside 1975, clear first at Moscow 1975 ( ahead of Boris Spassky, Viktor Korchnoi, and Petrosian ), clear first at Las Palmas 1976, equal first with Gennadi Sosonko at Wijk aan Zee 1977, clear first at Bogotá 1978, equal first at Bern 1987 with Daniel Campora, clear first at Dortmund ' A ' 1989, and equal first at New York Manhattan 1990 with Gregory Kaidanov, at age 65.

At Santa Monica 1966, with seven of the world's top 16 players in the field, he shared fourth / fifth places on 9. 5 / 18, as Spassky won, ahead of Fischer.

His best international result was first place (+ 10 = 8 − 1 ) at Bucharest 1953, ahead of Petrosian, Smyslov, Boleslavsky, and Spassky.

* June 17 – After a 23 game match, Boris Spassky defeats Tigran Petrosian to become the World Chess Champion in Moscow.

Spassky lost a keenly fought match to Petrosian in Moscow, with three wins against Petrosian's four, with seventeen draws, though the last of his three victories came only in the twenty-third game, after Petrosian had ensured his retention of the title, the first outright match victory for a reigning champion since the latter of Alekhine's successful defences against Bogoljubov in 1934.

The final was against his Leningrad rival Korchnoi at Kiev, and Spassky triumphed (+ 4 − 1 = 5 ), which earned him another match with Petrosian.

Before Spassky, Mark Taimanov, Larsen, and Petrosian, had lost convincingly to Fischer, but Spassky maintained his composure and competitiveness.

* Boris Spassky vs Tigran Petrosian, World Championship match, Moscow 1969, game 19, Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation ( B94 ), 1 – 0 Aggressive style of play and brilliant sparkles of combinations shows Spassky at his heights.

Three years after Petrosian had earned the title of World Chess Champion, he was challenged by Boris Spassky.

Petrosian successfully defended his title beating Spassky, a feat that had not been accomplished since Alexander Alekhine defeated Efim Bogoljubov in the 1934 World Chess Championship.

However, Spassky would defeat Efim Geller, Bent Larsen and Viktor Korchnoi in the next candidates cycle earning a rematch with Petrosian, at Moscow 1969.

Boris Spassky, who would succeed Petrosian as World Chess Champion, described his style of play as such: " Petrosian reminds me of a hedgehog.

* Spassky – Petrosian WCh 1966 Multimedia Annotated Game

He had multiple wins over all seven World Champions who held the title from 1948 to 1985: Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer, and Anatoly Karpov., but lifetime minus scores against them.

Since 1938, there has been a long list of famous winners, including: Max Euwe, Bent Larsen, Tigran Petrosian, Paul Keres, Efim Geller, Lajos Portisch, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Viktor Korchnoi, Jan Timman, Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik, Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Levon Aronian, Sergey Karjakin, Magnus Carlsen, and Hikaru Nakamura.

World champions Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov have all played this variation.

* 1966-Tigran Petrosian successfully defends his World Championship title against Boris Spassky, 12½ – 11½.