Spassky is the oldest living former world champion.

* Vasily Smyslov vs Boris Spassky, Moscow vs Leningrad team match 1960, Alekhine's Defence ( B05 ), 1 – 0 Spassky tries the unusual Alekhine's Defence and is beaten in fairly short order.

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

He was born in Izhevskoye ( now in Spassky District, Ryazan Oblast ), in the Russian Empire, to a middle-class family.

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 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 then finished ahead of Petrosian and a super-class field at Santa Monica 1966 ( the Piatigorsky Cup ), with 11½ / 18, half a point ahead of Bobby Fischer, as he overcame the American grandmaster's challenge after Fischer had scored 3½ / 9 in the first cycle of the event.

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

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.

His contributions to opening theory extend to reviving the Marshall Attack for Black in the Ruy Lopez ( 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 0-0 8. c3 d5 ), developing the Leningrad Variation for White in the Nimzo-Indian Defence ( 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bg5 ), the Spassky Variation on the Black side of the Nimzo – Indian, and the Closed Variation of the Sicilian Defence for White ( 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 ).

* Boris Spassky vs Robert Fischer, Santa Monica 1966, Grunfeld Defence, Exchange Variation ( D87 ), 1 – 0 Fischer seems to equalize in a sharp game, but he makes a small mistake and Spassky finishes nicely.

* Boris Spassky vs Efim Geller, Sukhumi Candidates ' match 1968, game 6, Sicilian Defence, Closed Variation ( B25 ), 1 – 0 One of three beautiful wins by Spassky over Geller in this match using the same variation, which is one of Spassky's favorites.

* 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.

* Bent Larsen vs Boris Spassky, Belgrade 1970 ( match USSR vs. Rest of the World ), Nimzo – Larsen Attack, Modern Variation ( A01 ), 0 – 1 Another nice short win over a noted grandmaster.

* Boris Spassky vs Robert Fischer, Siegen Olympiad 1970, Grunfeld Defence, Exchange Variation ( D87 ), 1 – 0 Fischer tries the Grunfeld again against Spassky, and the game is remarkably similar to their 1966 encounter.

* Boris Spassky vs Robert Fischer, World Championship match, Reykjavík 1972, game 11, Sicilian Defense, Najdorf, Poisoned Pawn Variation ( B97 ), 1 – 0 Fischer's only loss in his favourite Poisoned Pawn variation.

* Anatoly Karpov vs Boris Spassky, Candidates ' match, Leningrad 1974, game 1, Sicilian Defence, Scheveningen Variation ( B83 ), 0 – 1 Spassky lost the match, but he started strongly with this fine win.

He won the world championship in 1963 ( against Mikhail Botvinnik ), successfully defended it in 1966 ( against Boris Spassky ), and lost it in 1969 ( to Spassky ).

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

While Spassky was undefeated and handed tournament victor Larsen one of his three losses, his fourteen draws kept him from seriously contending for first prize, as he came two points behind Larsen.

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.

Spassky shared first at the annual IBM event held in Amsterdam 1970 with Polugaevsky on 11½ / 15.

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.

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

In the early 19th century, the Arch of Konstantino-Elenensky gate was paved with bricks, but the Spassky Gate was the main front gate of the Kremlin and used for royal entrances.

In the early 19th century, the Arch of Konstantino-Elenensky gate was paved with bricks, but the Spassky Gate was the main front gate of the Kremlin and used for royal entrances.

Three square gates existed on this side of the wall, which in the 17th century, were known as: Konstantino-Eleninsky, Spassky, Nikolsky ( owing their names to the icons of Constantine and Helen, the Savior and St. Nicholas which hung over them ).

During this period, there were several triumphs in his city of birth, when he shared first place with Bronstein and Spassky in 1959, was a joint winner in both 1961 ( with Kholmov ) and 1962 ( with Vasiukov ), and won outright in 1963.

Larsen's unusual openings were on full display at the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal, where he shared the 1st – 4th places on 17 / 23 with Boris Spassky, Mikhail Tal, and Vasily Smyslov, advancing as a Candidate.

Three square gates existed on the eastern side of the wall, which in the 17th century, were known as: Konstantino-Eleninsky, Spassky, Nikolsky ( owing their names to the icons of Constantine and Helen, the Savior and St. Nicholas which hung over them ).

The seventeenth, eighteenth, and twentieth games of the 1972 World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky were declared draws because of threefold repetition, although the twentieth game was an incorrect claim ( see incorrect claims below ).

The expectations on Spassky were enormous because for the Soviets, chess was part of the political system.

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.

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.

Portisch qualified from the Amsterdam Interzonal 1964, with 14. 5 / 23, in a tied eighth / ninth place ( the winners were Mikhail Tal, Spassky, Vasily Smyslov, and Bent Larsen ).

His first top-class round-robin event was Moscow 1959, where he was the youngest contestant, and scored 6 / 11 for a shared fourth / sixth place ; the winners were Spassky, Smyslov, and David Bronstein.