All-around great: Spassky was defined by far more than that match with Fischer

By David R. Sands - The Washington Times - Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Boris Spassky was far too great a player — and human being — to be defined and remembered by the one memorable match he lost.

The great Russian champion, who died last week after a long illness in Moscow at the age of 88, will be forever linked to the epic 1972 match when he ceded his world title to American Bobby Fischer. There was much nonsense written at the time about the Cold War overtones of a lone American genius defeating the suave representative of the Soviet chess machine.

But the aftermath offered an ironic shift that often sardonic Spassky would have appreciated: Fischer would go on to become a critic of and disgraced exile from his own country, while Spassky would turn his back on the Soviet system that placed such intolerable pressure on his during the Reykjavik match and spend the rest of his professional life based in France.

We’re not here to relitigate any of that, but to celebrate Spassky’s greatness, his sportsmanship on and off the board, and his flexible, universal style of play that made him one of the greatest players the game has ever known. Relentlessly self-critical of his “lazy” nature, had Spassky had the drive and inner fire of a Fischer or Kasparov, he might just have become the greatest of them all.

A prodigy of immense natural talent and a world junior champion in the 1950s, Spassky on his rise to world supremacy took on and beat some of the game’s greatest players, often in spectacular fashion.

One such Spassky triumph, over legendary Ukrainian GM David Bronstein at the 1960 Soviet championship tournament, became so famous that a slight variation of the final position was featured in the storied opening chess scene from the James Bond film “From Russia with Love.” The computer engines — of course — have complicated the argument over the soundness of White’s combination, but Spassky’s still-stunning 15th move ranks as one of the great creative ideas of the period, played against an opponent famous for his own original approach to the game.

Spassky won some brilliant games with the King’s Gambit (including a very memorable one later the same year against Fischer), and here Bronstein veers from the usual lines with 4. exd5 Bd6!?. White doesn’t bother trying to recover the gambited pawn, going straight for the attack with 8. 0-0 h6?! (weakening the kingside, especially with Black’s knight on e7 instead of the usual f6; sounder was 8… Nf6 9. Ne5 Nfxd5 10. Nxd5 Nxd5 11. Bxf4 Nxf4 12. Rxf4 Qg5) 9. Ne4! Nxd5 10. c4 Ne3 11. Bxe3 fxe3 12. c5 Be7 13. Bc2, pushing back Black’s forces and setting the stage for the fireworks to come.

The dazzling display begins with 14. Qd3 e2?! (an attempt to divert and disrupt White’s attacking array; little did Black dream Spassky would allow him to capture the White rook — with check — just to keep the attack boiling) 15. Nd6!! — one of the most remarkable moves ever played.

Reams of analysis and silicon sleuthing require us to admit that White’s idea is not fully bullet-proof, though by no means losing. It now seems Bronstein could have saved the draw had he the superhuman calculating abilities (as the clock was ticking) to find 15…exf1=Q+ 16. Rxf1 Bxd6! 17. Qh7+ Kf8 18. cxd6 cxd6 19. Qh8+ Ke7 20. Re1+ Ne5 21. Qxg7 Be6 22. dxe5 dxe5 23. Nxe5 Qd4+ 24. Kh1 Qd2! 25. Ng6+ Kd8 26. Rd1 Bd5! (exploiting White’s back-rank vulnerability) 27. Ne5 Qxc2 28. Rxd5+ Kc8 29. h3 Qc1+ 30. Kh2 Qf4+, with a perpetual check.

Happily, after 15…Nf8? 16. Nxf7, Black does indeed take the bait and falls to a whirlwind attack: 16…exf1=Q+ 17. Rxf1 Bf5 (Kxf7? 18. Ne5+ Kg8 19. Qh7+!! Nxh7 20. Bb3+ Kh8 Ng6 mate; 17…Qd5 is tougher, but White wins in lines such as 18. Bb3! Qxb3 19. axb3 Kxf7 20. Qc4+ Ne6 [Kg6 21. Qg8 Bf6 22. Nh4+! Bxh4 23. Qf7+ Kh7 24. Qxe8) 18. Qxf5 Qd7 19. Qf4 Bf6 20. N3e5! — White seems to have an inexhaustible supply of clever moves in this game — Qe7 21. Qb3 Bxe5 22. Nxe5+ Kh7 (Ne6 23. Ng6 Qg5 24. Qe4 and wins; we have now reached the James Bond position) 23. Qe4+, and Black resigned.

It’s curtains for Black after 23…g6 (Kh8 24. Rxf8+! Qxf8 25. Ng6+ Kh7 26. Nxf8+ Kh8 27. Qh7 mate) 24. Rxf8 Qxf8 25. Qxg6+ Kh8 26. Nf7+ and wins.

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Spassky lost his first match to the world title against champion Tigran Petrosian in 1966, in part because his opening repertoire still needed work. He cleaned up that fault and was clearly the top player in the world when he took down the great Armenian star in their rematch three years later.

His win in Game 5 of that second match is miles away from the Bronstein win, but Spassky’s attractive, all-purpose style — at home in simple and complicated positions, equally strong in positional and tactical battles — is a central component of his greatness. In a Tarrasch QGD, White just puts his pieces on superb squares, preparing a pawn gambit in a stripped-down position that somewhat overwhelms his opponent, considered by many the greatest defensive player in history.

Things break decisively White’s way on 16. Bxd5 Na5 17. Qf4 Qc7 18, Qf5! (White has no intention of easing Black’s life with exchanges) Bxd5? (h6! 19. Ne5 Bxd5 20. exd5 Qd6! holds the balance; White now gives up a pawn to mobilize the d-pawn, with devastating effect) 19. exd5 Qc2 20. Qf4! Qxa2 21. d6 Rcd8 22. d7, and the passed pawn paralyzes Petrosian’s game.

White’s queen, knight and rooks collaborate in perfect synchrony in the finale: 25. Rc7 b5 26. Nd4 (good enough, but even stronger was 26. Re8! Qd6 27. Rc8! and Black is in virtual zugzwang) Qb6? (Black could have lost more slowly with 27…Qd6 27. Nxb5 Qd2 28. Rf1 Nb3 29. Rxa7 Nd4 30. Nxd4 Qxd4) 27. Rc8 Nb7 28. Nc6 Nd6 29. Nxd8! (another Spassky shocker, ignoring the attack on his queen) Nxf5 (Rxd8 30. Re8+!) 30. Nc6, and Petrosian resigned. It’s hopeless for Black after 30…Nd6 (f6 31. Ree8) 31. Rxf8+ Kxf8 32. d8=Q+ Qxd8 33. Nxd8, and he’s down a rook for just two pawns.

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Finally, today’s diagram features perhaps Spassky’s most inspired move ever, one that even overshadows the knight jump against Bronstein. It’s from a 1956 game against veteran Soviet star GM Yuri Averbakh in which the young Spassky as Black had totally botched the play in a King’s Indian Defense after just 15 moves: He has traded off his vital light-squared bishop, his queenside is a mess, and White is about to blow open the kingside with a quick checkmate likely in the offing.

Spassky’s incredible response looks at first like a typo: 16…Nc6!!, simply giving a world-class grandmaster a piece for free.

There’s method to the madness: Black was positionally busted anyway, so the unexpected swerve forces White to re-set his expectations. Spassky gets a pawn for his trouble, but also a prime square for his other knight on d4, a mass of central pawns to mobilize, and even a half-open b-file for his suddenly liberated rook.

Black is still lost, of course, and the engines say he was losing for another 25 moves or so. But Averbakh mishandled a position he never dreamed he would have to play, eventually had to return the piece to stop Black’s advancing pawn mass, and was even worse for a bit when he agreed to a draw on Move 73.

Thanks, Boris, for all the memories.

Spassky-Bronstein, USSR Championship, Leningrad, February 1960

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5 Bd6 5. Nc3 Ne7 6. d4 O-O 7. Bd3 Nd7 8. O-O h6 9. Ne4 Nxd5 10. c4 Ne3 11. Bxe3 fxe3 12. c5 Be7 13. Bc2 Re8 14. Qd3 e2 15. Nd6 Nf8 16. Nxf7 exf1=Q+ 17. Rxf1 Bf5 18. Qxf5 Qd7 19. Qf4 Bf6 20. N3e5 Qe7 21. Bb3 Bxe5 22. Nxe5+ Kh7 23. Qe4+ Black resigns.

Spassky-Petrosian, World Championship Match, Moscow, April 1960

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Bc4 Nc6 12. O-O b6 13. Rad1 Bb7 14. Rfe1 Rc8 15. d5 exd5 16. Bxd5 Na5 17. Qf4 Qc7 18. Qf5 Bxd5 19. exd5 Qc2 20. Qf4 Qxa2 21. d6 Rcd8 22. d7 Qc4 23. Qf5 h6 24. Rc1 Qa6 25. Rc7 b5 26. Nd4 Qb6 27. Rc8 Nb7 28. Nc6 Nd6 29. Nxd8 Nxf5 30. Nc6 Black resigns.