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 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.

Spassky won an exhibition match with Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman at Amsterdam 1977 by 4 – 2.

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.

Karpov improved so quickly under Botvinnik's tutelage that he became the youngest Soviet National Master in history at fifteen in 1966 ; this tied the record established by Boris Spassky in 1952.

In 1969, Karpov became the first Soviet player since Spassky ( 1955 ) to win the World Junior Chess Championship, scoring an undefeated 10 / 11 in the finals at Stockholm.

In 1952, at fifteen, Spassky scored 50 percent in the Soviet Championship semifinal at Riga, and placed second in the Leningrad Championship that same year, being highly praised by Botvinnik.

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.

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

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.

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.

In the 41st Soviet Championship at Moscow, Spassky scored 11½ / 17 to win by a full point in a field which included all the top Soviet grandmasters of the time.

Spassky played seven times for the Soviet Olympiad team.

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.

* Bent Larsen vs Boris Spassky, Amsterdam Interzonal 1964, Bird's Opening ( A03 ), 1 – 0 Larsen successfully played unusual openings in this tournament, and here he uses one of them to knock off a top Soviet, on his way to winning the tournament.

The World Chess Championship 1972 was a match between challenger Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the World Chess Championship.

Spassky was the latest in an uninterrupted chain of Soviet World Chess Champions, stretching back to the 1948 championship.

It was first played in round 14 of 1955 Goteborg Interzonal simultaneously by Argentine players Panno, Pilnik and Najdorf who were facing the Soviet Grandmasters Geller, Spassky and Keres.

* 1972 – The first game of the World Chess Championship 1972 between challenger Bobby Fischer and defending champion Boris Spassky starts.

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

Since 1976, Spassky has lived in France with his third wife ; he became a French citizen in 1978, and has competed for France in the Chess Olympiads.

* No Regrets: Fischer – Spassky by Yasser Seirawan ; International Chess Enterprises ; March 1997.

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.

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

Miles had meanwhile matured into a world class player and he won games against high calibre opponents, such as former World Chess Champions Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, and Boris Spassky.

Four winners-Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, and Viswanathan Anand-have gone on to win the World Chess Championship.

* 1969-Boris Spassky defeats Petrosian 12½-11½ to become the tenth World Chess Champion.

* 1972-Bobby Fischer beats Boris Spassky for the World Chess Championship 1972, giving chess an unprecedented level of publicity.

He was Fischer's second for the Candidates matches leading up to the World Chess Championship 1972 against Boris Spassky, though not for the championship match itself, after a disagreement with Fischer.

One of the most notable was Fischer v Spassky: The Chess Match of the Century, a detailed account of their epic struggle for the world title in Reykjavik in 1972.

* Fischer vs. Spassky – The Chess Match of the Century, Simon and Schuster, 1972, ISBN 978-0-671-21397-8

Sarfati is a FIDE Master in chess, and achieved a draw against former world champion Boris Spassky during a tournament in Wellington in 1988, and was New Zealand's national chess champion in 1987 – 88 representing that country in Chess Olympiads in 1986, 1988, and 1992.

* In the 21st game of chess for the World Chess Championship 1972, Bobby Fischer of the United States won the title, as defending champ Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union resigned.

Amongst other sponsorships he donated $ 125, 000 to make possible the 1972 World Chess Championship between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in Reykjavík, Iceland.