A< Prev Index Next >
Chess Fri, Jun 23, 1972 – 2 · The Signal (Santa Clarita, California) · Newspapers.com
The Men At The Top: Boris Spassky
“…Am I afraid of Fischer/ As Grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi put it, I am more afraid of myself. Dr. Emanuel Lasker, when he was World Champion, correctly said that man is responsible for his work and not for its results … I must say I feel rather good about a match with Fischer. The very thought of such an interesting competition is creatively inspiring.”
— Boris Spassky in a Leningrad lecture in the Fall of 1971.
Boris Spassky was born in Leningrad 35 years ago. During World War II, he was evacuated to a children's home in the Kirov region. There he learned chess, so well that in 1947 he won the prize for the best-played game in the Russian Junior Championship.
At 18, he won the World Junior Championship, came in third in the USSR Championship and represented Russia in the Interzonal in Sweden. Ten years later, Spassky battled the reigning World Champion, Tigran Petrosian, for the title but lost. But in 1968, he succeeded in knocking off Petrosian, winning six games, losing four and drawing 13.
Spassky has contributed to the opening theory in the following line of the King's Indian: 1. P-Q4 N-KB3; 2. P-QB4 P-KN3; 3. N-KB3 B-N2; 4. P-KN3 O-O; 5. N-B3 N-N3; 6. B-N2 P-Q3; 7. O-O, B-B4.
Since giving the Leningrad lecture quoted above, Spassky has seen his star lose some of its brilliance. In Goteborg, Sweden, he came in third behind Sweden's Ulf Andersson and Czechoslovakia's Vlastimil Hort. In Vancouver, he tied for first place with Hans Ree of Holland in a “Swiss” event. (In this, players who have earned equal numbers of points in the match play each other.) In a second Swiss, with 224 participants in Toronto, Spassky came in third behind the U.S. Pal Benko and Robert Byrne.
It is unfair to judge from Swiss events. But in recent Alekhine Memorial tournament in Moscow, Spassky tied with former World Champion Mikhail Tal — for SIXTH and SEVENTH place. After this sad showing, we can ask if Spassky is slipping. If so, of course, his chances against Fischer are nil.
The poor showing of Spassky is very difficult to explain. As World Champion, the spotlight has been on him Yet this fact doesn't seem to drive him to his best efforts. Critics are beginning to say that he doesn't have a prayer against Fischer.
Personally, I don't think it is all that simple. Fischer may well win, but he will forget at his own peril that Spassky CAN fight and that he plays a deep and calculating game when he wants to. There's no question he will want to when he comes up against the American whiz. Not only his own self esteem but that of his entire, chess-conscious nation, will rise or fall on the results of Reykjavik. It can be fairly said that he has a great deal more to lose than Fischer has to win.
Fischer's knowledge of game theory is far more profound than Spassky's. But when it comes to over-the-board battle, Spassky has demonstrated that, if he goes all out, he is almost impossible to defeat.
Remember that Fischer has never beaten Spassky, while Spassky has beaten Fischer three times and drawn against him twice. Things may not be so lopsided as they seem on the eve of this great battle.
