Spassky won the first game as Black in good style, but tenacious, aggressive play from Karpov secured him overall victory by + 4 − 1 = 6.

Spassky thought that Fischer would have won in 1975 but Karpov would have qualified again and beaten Fischer in 1978.

Polgár is the only woman to have won a game from a current world number one player, and has defeated nine current or former world champions in either rapid or classical chess: Anatoli Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Boris Spassky, Vasily Smyslov, Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Ruslan Ponomariov, Alexander Khalifman, and Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

Spassky won the Soviet Chess Championship twice outright ( 1961, 1973 ), and twice lost in playoffs ( 1956, 1963 ), after tying for first place during the event proper.

Spassky made his international debut in 1953, aged sixteen, in Bucharest, Romania, finishing equal fourth with Laszlo Szabo on 12 / 19, an event won by his trainer, Alexander Tolush.

At the 23rd Soviet final, held in Leningrad in January – February 1956, Spassky shared first place on 11½ / 19, with Mark Taimanov and Yuri Averbakh, but Taimanov won the subsequent playoff to become champion, defeating Spassky in both their games.

In the 24th Soviet final, played at Moscow in January – February 1957, Spassky shared fourth place with Tolush, as both scored 13 / 21, while Mikhail Tal won the first of his six Soviet titles, which began his ascent to the world title in 1960.

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.

Spassky won at Belgrade 1964 with an undefeated 13 / 17, as Korchnoi and Borislav Ivkov shared second place with 11½.

In the 1964 Soviet Zonal at Moscow, a seven-player double round-robin event, Spassky won with 7 / 12, overcoming a start of one draw and two losses, to advance to the Amsterdam Interzonal the same year.

Spassky won two tournaments in the run-up to the final.

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.

In March – April 1970, Spassky played first board for the Soviet side in the celebrated USSR vs. World event at Belgrade, where he scored + 1 − 1 = 1 in the first three rounds against Larsen before Stein replaced him for the final match, as the Soviets won by the odd point, 20½ – 19½.

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.

Going into the match, Fischer had never won a game from Spassky in five attempts, losing three.

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.

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.

His next Candidates ' match was against Portisch at Geneva 1977, and Spassky won by 8½ – 6½, to qualify for the final.

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

In 1993, Polgár defeated former World Champion Boris Spassky ( pictured here in 1984 ) in an exhibition match winning the largest prize money up to that point of her career of $ 110, 000.

Immediately following the Hastings tournament, Polgár played an exhibition match in February against former World Champion, Boris Spassky.

He explained that he gave the exhibition in order to get the stupid loss against Spassky out of his system.

Karpov defeated Lev Polugaevsky by the score of + 3 = 5 in the first Candidates ' match, earning the right to face former champion Boris Spassky in the semifinal round.

He had been living in seclusion in Yugoslavia due to an arrest warrant issued by the United States for violating the U. N. blockade of Yugoslavia with his 1992 match against Spassky, and for tax evasion.

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

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.

Then, in his Candidates ' Final match against Mikhail Tal at Tbilisi 1965, Spassky often managed to steer play into quieter positions, either avoiding former champion Tal's tactical strength, or extracting too high a price for complications.

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.

The Fischer vs Spassky World championship was the most widely covered chess match in history, as mainstream media throughout the world covered the match.

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

During his youth, from the age of ten, Spassky often worked on chess for several hours a day with master-level coaches.

In his first attempt at the Soviet Championship final, the 22nd in the series, held in Moscow 1955, Spassky tied for third place with 11½ / 19, after Smyslov and Efim Geller, which was sufficient to qualify him for the Gothenburg Interzonal later that year.

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.

A win would have qualified Spassky for the Interzonal, and a draw would have ensured a share of fourth place with Yuri Averbakh, with qualification possible via a playoff.

Spassky tied for first place at Moscow 1959 on 7 / 11, with Smyslov and David Bronstein.

Soon after Spassky notched a victory at Riga 1959, with 11½ / 13, one-half point in front of Vladas Mikenas.

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.

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 shared second with Polugaevsky at Havana 1962 with 16 / 21, behind winner Miguel Najdorf.

At Leningrad 1963, the site of the 31st Soviet final, Spassky tied for first with Stein and Ratmir Kholmov, with Stein winning the playoff, which was held in 1964.