Boris Spassky

He came from the family of Vladimir Alexandrovich Spassky, a prominent Russian Orthodox priest of the Kursk Governorate, later a protoiereus of the Russian Church (since 1916), as well as a State Duma deputy (1912–1917) and an active member of the Union of the Russian People.

Boris' mother Ekaterina Petrovna Spasskaya (née Petrova) was a school teacher.

She was born in the Ryadnevo village of the Gdov district (now Pskov Oblast) as an illegitimate daughter of Daria Ivanovna Ivanova (from a local peasant family) and Andrei Kupriyanovich Kupriyanov, a landlord who owned houses in Saint Petersburg and Pskov.

After some time Daria Ivanovna fled to Petersburg, leaving her daughter with Petr Vasiliev, a relative of hers, who raised Ekaterina under the surname of Petrova.

She joined her mother later on.

Spassky learned to play chess at the age of 5 on a train evacuating from Leningrad during the siege of Leningrad in World War II.

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

Boris Vasilievich Spassky (Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский; born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972.

He first drew wide attention in 1947 at age 10, when he defeated Soviet champion Mikhail Botvinnik in a simultaneous exhibition in Leningrad.

Spassky's early coach was Vladimir Zak, a respected master and trainer.

During his youth, from the age of 10, Spassky often worked on chess for several hours a day with master-level coaches.

He set records as the youngest Soviet player to achieve first category rank (age 10), candidate master rank (age 11), and Soviet Master rank (age 15).

In 1952, at 15, Spassky scored 50 percent in the Soviet Championship semi-final at Riga, and placed second in the Leningrad Championship that same year, being highly praised by Botvinnik.

As a statistic encompassing all of the games of his career, Spassky's most-played openings with both the White and Black pieces were the Sicilian Defence and the Ruy Lopez.

Spassky has beaten six undisputed World Champions at least twice (not necessarily while they were reigning): Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov, and Garry Kasparov.

Spassky made his international debut in 1953, aged 16, in Bucharest, Romania, finishing tied for fourth place with Laszlo Szabo on 12/19, an event won by his trainer, Alexander Tolush.

At Bucharest he defeated Vasily Smyslov, who challenged for the World Championship the following year.

In the same year, Spassky was awarded the title of International Master by FIDE at its congress in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

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.

The same year, he won the World Junior Chess Championship held at Antwerp, Belgium, scoring 6/7 to qualify for the final, then 8/9 in the final to win by a full point over Edmar Mednis.

Spassky competed for the Lokomotiv Voluntary Sports Society.

He was a World Chess Championship candidate on seven occasions (1956, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1977, 1980 and 1985).

By sharing seventh place with 11/20 at Gothenburg, Spassky qualified for the 1956 Candidates' Tournament, held in Amsterdam, automatically gaining the grandmaster title, and was then the youngest to hold the title.

At Amsterdam, he tied for third place with four others in the ten-player field, scoring 9½/18.

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.

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's failure to qualify for the Portoroz Interzonal came after a last-round defeat at the hands of Tal, in a nervy game in the 1958 Soviet championship, held at Riga.

Spassky had the advantage for much of the game, but missed a difficult win after adjournment, then declined a draw.

A win would have qualified Spassky for the Interzonal, and a draw would have ensured a share of fourth place with Yuri Averbakh, with qualification possible via a playoff.

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.

This crisis coincided with the hard three final years of his first marriage before his divorce in 1961, the same year that he broke with his trainer Tolush.

In addition to his candidates wins in 1965 and 1968, Spassky reached the semi-final stage in 1974 and the final stage in 1977.

Spassky played three world championship matches: he lost to Tigran Petrosian in 1966; defeated Petrosian in 1969 to become world champion; then lost to Bobby Fischer in a famous match in 1972.

Spassky immigrated to France in 1976, becoming a French citizen in 1978.

He continued to compete in tournaments but was no longer a major contender for the world title.

Spassky lost an unofficial rematch against Fischer in 1992.

In 2012, he left France and returned to Russia.

Spassky was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) to Russian parents.

His father, Vasili Vladimirovich Spassky, served in the military.