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Monday, September 2, 2013
Guardian Chess Archives: The Day Fischer Won the World Chess Championship 1972
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013
Hi everyone,
Here is the article from the Guardian archives from 1972 when Bobby Fischer won the World Chess Championship.
Bobby Fischer in 1972. Photograph: KPA/Zuma / Rex Features
It would be an exaggeration to suggest that Iceland went wild when Bobby Fischer finally won the world chess championship here today. True, he got a standing ovation in the face of which he positively bolted and there was pandemonium outside as his car tried to force its way through a struggling mass of police, children and cameramen. It was the nearest to a chess riot one could ever hope for.
But the strongest feeling in Reykjavik, a feeling so strong it almost vaporised, was sympathy with Boris Spassky, the gentle Russian who has lost his title and, who knows, all the trappings of his privileged position in Soviet society.
We knew something was afoot when neither player turned up on time. Spassky had sealed his next move last night and the referee, Herr Lothar Schmid, should have played it. He had not played it and he had not started Fischer's clock.
After 27 minutes Herr Schmid brought Fischer on stage in his mulberry coloured suit and announced that Spassky had telephoned him at 12.50 and resigned.
"It is the correct and traditional way," he said, as if declaring a ritual suicide. "Fischer wins the match."
Fischer returned to his hotel studying the Icelandic Chess Federation's report of the last game, and preparing for his sabbath which will last until tomorrow evening. He is expected to stay there for another week and will probably turn up to collect his championship medal. No one had any idea where Spassky was.
It is a cliche to say that world chess will never be the same again. Outside the hall Dr Max Euwe, President of the International Chess Federation, who threw away the rule book at the start to accommodate Fischer's delaying tactics, made it clear that the rules would have to be changed.
"Arrangements made 30 or 40 years ago cannot be expected to last forever. There are many regulations, but no penalties. So there will be penalties. Players will be fined for regularly disturbing their opponent for one thing," he said.
Perhaps the only other person who has suffered so much from this gruelling championship, apart from Spassky, is the referee, Herr Schmid, "I think he has had a very difficult time," said Dr Euwe. "He is sick of this match. I think if he had to referee another in six months' time he would say 'no' but if we waited a year he might have forgotten it all."
There is, indeed, a strong likelihood that Fischer will want to start making the championship pay off by offering Spassky a return match next year. Dr Euwe said he was bound by the rules to defend himself every three years - "I think he will stay champion for 10 years" - but if he chose to play sooner it could rate as a championship match.
Herr Schmid, meanwhile, didn't want to talk. Like everyone else involved he just stood about silently, signing autographs. Every one was signing autographs.
10th World Chess Champion Boris Spassky Returns to Russia Chess Federation
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
Former World Chess Champion (10th to be specific) Boris Spassky has returned to the Russian Chess Federation from the French one. GM Spassky had emigrated to France in 1977, but had retained his Soviet citizenship and the right to represent Russia. It was only in the 1984 Autumn official Fide chess rating list that he was listed as part of the French Chess Federation. This announcement was made on Thursday.
Fans of the chess legend were delighted to have GM Boris Spassky attend the opening ceremony of the 8th Tal Chess Memorial that began in Moscow on Wednesday. The blitz pairings tournament was held as part of the opening ceremony. You can watch live the Tal Chess Tournament from these links as mentioned in our Chess Blog post.
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
Let's celebrate 10th World Chess Champion Boris Spassky's birthday today (January 30) by solving this chess trivia quiz. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. He is known as one of the greatest living chess players, and is the oldest living world champion. You can read a nice profile at the Russian Chess Federation website.
1-How many times has Boris Spassky won the Soviet Chess Championship?
2-How many times was Boris Spassky a World Chess Championship candidate?
3-Boris Spassky defeated whom to win the 10th World Chess Title in 1969?
4-What is the significance of a train in Spassky's life? ;)
5-Which Spassky chess game features in a James Bond movie?
You're a true Spassky fan if you got all the answers correct. For the answers, check out the World Chess Champion's wikipedia page.
Special Chess Event in Moscow: Boris Spassky Guest of Honour
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012 Hi everyone, Chess great Boris Spassky attended a special event in Moscow on the occasion of Christmas. Boris Spassky visited Evgeny Vasiukov's Handicap Chess Tournament in the Central House of Chess, according to a Chess-News report. There is also a report with lots of pictures at Russia Chess Federation website.
The traditional handicap-tournament was held in the Central House of Chess today. The author of the current handicap system and the organiser of the competition Evgeny Vasiukov reached the event along with Boris Spassky and inaugurated the tournament. Here is a photo by Vladimir Barsky (russiachess.org) and video by Eugene Potemkin (chess-news.ru).
The rating favourite of the competition Alexander Grischuk won the event, with Maxim Dlugy being second and Daniil Dubov wining third place ahead of Vasily Papin on tie-break. Anna Burtasova was the strongest among women and Evgeny Vasiukov among veterans.
Finally, it is Boris Spassky who speaks out himself. On 2 October, Boris Spassky gave an interview to the Russian TV First Channel and Whychess editor Vlad Tkachiev. The 10th world champion spoke of his health situation, his family problems and his move to Moscow. Russian speakers can watch this video interview for which Tkachiev has also prepared an English transcript.
How do I feel? Better. Both my legs are now OK, and I am walking somewhat better than before. I am trying to think positively. I am thinking about my chess school. I would like to attend the winter session.
I left Russia for France in 1976. It was not an easy decision, because I was at war with the Soviet Sports Comittee. The main problem was that in this period, I lost the right to choose my tournaments. I received invitations from all over the world, but the Sports Committee refused to send me to tournaments. Consequently, when I arrived in France, I felt happy, and I started to play everywhere that I felt was necessary and important. I started my chess path in France from the beginning, from nothing. Now, too, I have returned to the beginning and must start everything over again, because I have nothing. At the moment, fortunately, a sponsor is helping me, who is paying for my rehabilitation and helped me get out of France. So, one can say that I have again made "long castling", from Paris to Moscow.
World Chess Champ Boris Spassky in Hospital; Was He Kidnapped?
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
We wish speedy recovery to world chess great Boris Spassky who is currently hospitalised for treatment against hypertension in hospital Railways (RZD) in Moscow. (Photo: Photo: RIA Novosti). On September 26, Le Figaro reported that Spassky's son has complained in a French court against unknown people "for kidnapping" his father. In mid-August, the Russian media talked about Spassky's hospitalisation. In one of the interviews, Spassky said he had been abused by his family members.
According to reports, Spassky was hospitalised in a Moscow medical institution after suffering a stroke in 2010. He was first treated at a Moscow hospital, but his family then had him transferred to a hospital in France.
In an interview with a Russian publication, which Spassky Jr. claims was made up, his father is quoted as saying he had been "isolated" in France since 2010 and could not go to police, while his relatives gave him large quantities of sedatives which led to skin diseases. Spassky also said he had been deprived of both his Russian and his French documents, but with the help of his friends and the Russian embassy, he had managed to fly home this August.
However, Spassky's son gives a different account of the events in the Figaro interview. He said that a woman named Valentina Kuznetsova came to visit his father at the French hospital. She had an aggressive manner and stopped the family members from talking with Spassky in private. She was also extremely offensive towards them. Some time after Spassky came home from the hospital, he disappeared without a trace.
Three weeks after his father's disappearance, Spassky Jr. learnt that he was in a Moscow hospital and was being attended by Kuznetsova.
After he married Marina Shcherbachyova in 1976, he relocated to France, while still maintaining the right to play for the USSR.
The Chess Arbiter - Lothar Schmid on Fischer-Spassky, 1972
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
A chess arbiter's role is crucial, but goes unnoticed as he works in the background. The 1972 World Chess Championship between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky was almost abandoned but for a timely intervention from German arbiter Lothar Schmid!
On the 40th anniversary of that match, Dresden-born Schmid spoke to German online newspaper 'The Local'. "Everyone spoke of a duel between east and west, and that's what it was," Dresden-born grand master Schmid remembers of the match played in Reykjavik, Iceland. "I was accepted by both players," he said. The West German saw the delayed finally start on July 11.
"I play chess, so I can put myself in the players' place," said Schmid, now an 84-year-old publisher living in Bamberg, where he says Fischer visited him twice. The 29-year-old challenger from the US, took on the Russian World Champion Spassky, six years his senior. But there were protracted and increasingly ill-tempered negotiations to get through first.
"It was possible after all to bring such two very different characters together," said Schmid, who had already refereed the semi-final between Fischer and Armenian Tigran Petrosian a year earlier.
he first game, played before 2,500 spectators, was ended after a blunder from Fischer on the 29th move. "I played like a fool," he said afterwards.
The American then forfeited the second game by refusing to appear after a dispute over the TV cameras and lighting in the venue.
Schmid's decisive moment then came before the third game - played in a smaller room - when he prevented an increasingly annoyed Spassky from walking off after Fischer went round inspecting all the TV cameras.
"Both players were taller than me," he recalls. "I grabbed them by the shoulders, pushed them down, and demanded: 'Play now!' " Spassky moved his pawn and the game began.
Fischer won a brilliant game, and dominated the rest of the championship, finally winning 12.5 to 8.5 after 21 games. On September 1, he was crowned the first official US world champion since Wilhelm Steinitz in the 19th century.
"Fischer was not really evil," he concludes. "He was out of the ordinary, strange, different, and a real chess genius."
Celebrate 40th anniversary of Fischer-Spassky 'Chess Match of the Century'
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The super-strong Reykjavik Chess Open is about to start - on March 6, to be specific. However, there are some great side events that include an exhibition on the 40th anniversary of the Fischer-Spassky 'Match of the Century'. It is being held at the Reykjavik Museum which is within a 5-minute walking distance from the playing venue. The exhibition will feature, among others, the board and chess sets from the match, and of course much more.
The playing venue
The City of Reykjavík has sponsored the tournament since its inception in 1964, When Mikhail Tal won it with a record 12 ½ points out of 13th The tournament was initially held every two years, but since 2008 has taken place every year. It was closed in its early years, but has been an open event since the 1980s. Throughout its history the City Open has featured many of the strongest chess players in the world at the time, Including Mikhail Tal, Nona Gaprindashvili, David Bronstein, Valery Smyslov, Bent Larsen, Fridrik Olafsson, Mark Taimanov, Lev Polugaevsky, Ulf Andersson, Jan Timmins, Victor Korchnoi, Samuel Reshevsky, Anthony Miles, Nigel Short, Hikaru Nakamura, Magnus Carlsen and Alexander Grischuk.
There will be a record number of players at the Reykjavik Open in 2012. Already 175 players have registered from 33 countries, compared to 166 from 30 countries last year, the prior record. Among these 175 players, there are 27 GMs, 3 WGMs and 19 IMs. They already have a spectacular venue. Stay tuned at www.chessblog.com for tournament updates and access the official website here.
Happy birthday to 10th World Chess Champion Boris Spassky
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hello everyone,
We wish Grandmaster and tenth world chess champion Boris Spassky a very happy birthday on January 30. You can find a very nice birthday message from Fide President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for GM Spassky here. Wishes have poured in from around the world including the Gibraltar Chess Festival. You can read their birthday message here.
Here is a nice game to celebrate the birthday of a great chess player. Enjoy.
Boris Spassky, Mr. and Mrs. Piatigorsky, Bobby Fischer.
Milestone for a Benefactor
of Historic Chess Matches
Jacqueline Piatigorsky, one of the most important figures in American chess in the 1960s, turned 100 this month.
Piatigorsky, a member of the Rothschild banking family, was married to the cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, and together they sponsored three significant chess events. The first was a 1961 match between Bobby Fischer and Samuel Reshevsky, the two best American players.
It was a best-of-16 match, and after 11 games, each man had won twice and the other games were draws. And that is how it ended. Fischer quit after a fight with Mrs. Piatigorsky over the scheduling of the 12th game. (Fischer wanted an afternoon game so he could sleep in, and she wanted a morning game so she could attend a concert by her husband later in the day.)
In 1963, the Piatigorskys sponsored the Piatigorsky Cup tournament in Los Angeles, which featured eight of the top players in the world, including the new world champion, Tigran V. Petrosian, who was from Soviet Armenia.Petrosian and Paul Keres, who was from the Soviet republic of Estonia, tied for first.
Three years later, the second Piatigorsky Cup included another world-class field, this time of 10 players. Boris Spassky took first place, just ahead of Fischer, who had mended fences with Mrs. Piatigorsky.
She was not only a sponsor of chess events — she was also one of the country’s top female players, ranking No. 2 at one point. In 1957, at the first Women’s Chess Olympiad in Emmen, the Netherlands, she played Board 2 for the United States and won a bronze medal by scoring 7.5 points in 11 games.
Genius chess champion Bobby Fischer's personal collection of letters to be auctioned
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
Remember our earlier post about the Philip Weiss Auctions opening bidding for the chess set used in the 1972 World Chess Championship by Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky?
We have news that some private letters written by Fischer would also be auctioned along with the signed chess board. You can also try live online bidding.
As part of their April 2, 2011 auction in the 'Folkart, Native American, & Military' category, along with several other items, up for auction will be the 1972 World Chess Championship Chess Set used by Bobby Fischer & Boris Spassky (Signed by Both). This chess set was used in the legendary “Back Room” game of the Championship held in Reykjavik, Iceland. It was given to the President of the Icelandic Chess Federation in October 1972, and comes with Letter of Authenticity. Also a collection of personal letters from Bobby Fischer will be auctioned.
Happy Birthday to 10th world chess champion Boris Spassky
Chess blog for latest news and trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011 Hello everyone,
It's time to wish the wonderful 10th world chess champion Boris Spassky a happy birthday for January 30.
Spassky at the Salonika Olympiad, 1984.
Boris Vasilievich Spassky (also Spasskij; Russian: Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский; born January 30, 1937) is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972.
Spassky won the Soviet Chess Championship twice outright (1961, 1973), and twice more lost in playoffs (1956, 1963), after tying for first during the event proper. He was a World Chess Championship candidate on seven occasions (1956, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1977, 1980, and 1985). He was a part of the Fischer-Spassky chess match in 1972, one of the most famous chess matches in history.
We are very happy that he is on his way to good health, good cheer and great chess.
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hello Everyone,
This is a nice video about Bobby Fischer's chair. A Daily Icon post has a short video by Vitra that refers to a historic event. Grandmaster Bobby Fischer had specifically requested the Time Life Lobby Chair designed by Charles and Ray Eames while he competed in the World Chess Championship in Reykjavik In 1972. He said he could concentrate well in the chair. When his opponent Boris Spassky saw it, he refused to play until he got one too. Here is the video. Enjoy!
P.S. Chair or no chair why does the heart skip a beat every single time you watch (the) Fischer at the chessboard?
Former world chess champion Boris Spassky says he recovering well after stroke
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Former world champion Boris Spassky recovering in France.
We wish him speedy recovery. (The chessboard waits.)
Hello Everyone,
During the Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk everyone was disturbed by the news that the tenth World Champion Boris Spassky had suffered a stroke. We found this happy news at www.chess-news.ru.
It is nice to know that he is doing well now in Paris at a rehabilitation hospital in Saint-Jean Rishat system. He will be staying there until mid-January.
Spassky told journalists that healing after a stroke takes time "so no worries about my health. After arriving in Paris, I passed all the medical test and now I continue a rehabilitation program under the supervision of French physicians, to whom I am very grateful. In addition, I would like to thank the doctors from the Moscow 13th Municipal Hospital and the Burdenko Institute, primarily Natalia V. Kurdyumov who gave me timely and qualified medical assistance to save my life."
Boris Spassky is taking daily therapy sessions and also spends time listening to his favourite music of recordings of Peter Leshchenko, Alexander Vertinsky, Enrico Caruso - the great music of the 1930s and 40.
You will love this Leshchenko recording.
And, this one...Alexander Vertinsky. Enjoy! And, send good thoughts to Boris Spassky.
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess News & Trivia (c) 2010
Boris Spassky
Hi Everybody,
It is nice to know that the condition of the 10th World Chess Champion Boris Spassky is stable now after a full week. He was taken to hospital after he had suffered a stroke. We wish him good health, cheer and lots of chess.
The latest update on Boris Spassky's health is now on chessvibes.com.
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess News & Trivia (c) 2010
Former world champion Boris Spassky
Hello Everyone,
There is news that the former world champion Boris Spassky is in hospital after suffering a stroke. We wish him speedy recovery. He has always been known as a active person taking part in lots of chess activities. His chess lectures and simuls are very popular. Hopefully, we will soon hear good news about him being back to his chess activities.
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12th Women's World Chess Champion
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