Boris Spassky: The man who dared George Bush to put him and Bobby Fischer in same cell, ‘and give us a chess set’

Those antics would have been an easy excuse to pin the defeat on. To taint his opponent’s victory with claims of underhanded psychological ploy to rattle him. Instead, Spassky said this: “No, (Fischer’s antics) didn’t disturb me. The only thing that was very unpleasant for me was when he refused to come on time. And he didn’t come to play for the second game. I didn’t like this.”

He went on to concede that Fischer had been the better player in the match, undercutting his entourage’s efforts to try and muddy the waters about the defeat.

Seldom do sporting careers have one moment that typifies the athlete. Spassky’s career did. It came after he lost Game 6 of the 1972 World Championship to Fischer, which saw the American take a lead in the 21-game race to be world champion. When he conceded defeat, Spassky stood up and applauded his opponent. It was a moment that completely went against the acrimony-infused flow of the match till then.

“Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind,” Fischer had famously quipped.

Spassky, on the other hand, didn’t need to fight any imaginary wars on a chessboard. He’d escaped the siege of Leningrad as a five-year-old, when he was also separated from his parents and learnt chess at an orphanage during that phase. The family faced hardships that included poverty and starvation before things got better.

“To be able after an important defeat in 1972 to stand up and applaud the opponent, Fischer, who just performed a masterpiece, tells a lot about the person,” said former world champion Vladimir Kramnik on X after Spassky’s demise.

Defeat to Fischer meant that Spassky’s stature in the Soviet Union rapidly declined. He was even banned from flying abroad for two years. Then, he changed nationality and became a French citizen. It was only in 2013 that he became a Russian again.

Fischer and Spassky played a rematch in Yugoslavia in 1992, where Spassky lost again. While Fischer pocketed a cool $3 million for that win, he had by then become an outcast from the USA. That match in Yugoslavia, facing American sanctions, made Fischer a fugitive and when he was arrested in Japan and was awaiting deportation, Spassky wrote an email to US president George Bush, pleading for clemency for Fischer.

“Bobby and I committed the same crime. Put sanctions against me as well. Arrest me. Put me in the same cell with Bobby Fischer. And give us a chess set,” he wrote.

Relief at losing world championship

Unlike other world champions, losing the title, Spassky admitted, had been a relief.

“I am not disappointed to lose this match. I think life for me will be better after this match. I would like to explain why I think so. I had a very hard time when I won the chess title of the champion in 1969. Perhaps the main difficulty is that I had very big obligations for chess life, not only in my country but all over the world. I had to do many things for chess but not for myself as a champion of the world,” he told the Associated Press in grainy footage that still exists on YouTube.

Unlike Fischer, Spassky had fought two more world championship battles, in 1966 and 1969, both against Tigran Petrosian. He lost the first one but prevailed in the second.

Known for his universal style on the board — he could attack with spectacular venom and play calm maneuvering chess when needed — Spassky had to change his approach to defeat Petrosian in 1969 after the bruising loss in 1966.

Many years later, he spoke of how he had to change his approach to prevail over Petrosian, saying he was fighting like a “newly-fledged tiger” in 1966. But then in 1969, he had fought like a “bear, pawing him gradually and slowly”.

Garry Kasparov, who considers Spassky as one of his mentors, remembers one piece of advice that he got from Spassky when he himself was struggling to beat Petrosian. Petrosian at that stage was already in his 50s. But the teenaged Kasparov, billed as the next big thing and earning a reputation for his barn-storming attacking verve, just couldn’t defeat the veteran. Then, on Spassky’s advice, he changed his style to mimic Petrosian’s slow-burn style. The colourful advice from Spassky to apply steady pressure rather than go on all out attack went something like this: “Squeeze his balls. But just one. Not both!”

Those in the chess world spoke glowingly of him after his passing away.

Kasparov said: “Boris was never above befriending and mentoring the next generation, especially those of us who, like him, didn’t fit comfortably into the Soviet machine.”

“He was not only a wonderful champion, but also a fascinating personality. Anyone who met him will surely remember him – forever,” wrote Judit Polgar on X. “His character came through in every possible way, especially with his sense of humour, his brilliant mind, his facial expressions. He turned to chess and life with great curiosity. We shall miss him.”