In memoriam of Boris Spassky (1937-2025) | The pawn who became a king!

From the first chessboard at 5 years old to the pardon requested for Fischer:
Boris Spassky (1937-2025)

Soviet with French citizenship, the chess legend went down in history for his many victories but also for being the protagonist of the clash with his American rival at the 1972 World Cup, in the midst of the Cold War.

Having just turned eighty-eight, raising his tired eyes to the chessboard, Boris Spassky realized that there was no possible move to get out of the tunnel: checkmate. So he rose from his chair, greeted the audience and took his leave, but not before receiving a long round of applause as a demonstration of deep appreciation for what he had been and, even more, for what he had represented.
With Spassky, one of the champions of the chessboard has passed away, and also a good man, one who never accepted to bend to the will of politics, not even when politics was that of the former Soviet Union and the Lubyanka Palace was a national monument.

Talent
Met by fate at the age of five, when they put a small chessboard in his hands, Spassky tenaciously cultivated his talent, without ever forgetting that life could be something else. He loved running in the woods, he covered a hundred meters in ten seconds, he played tennis and ping-pong, and he graduated in physical education.

Reserved, so much so that he was considered grumpy, he was actually a man extremely open to relationships with others: he simply did not want to appear, he did not like covers, he did not like people to pry into his existence. He knew he was a champion, but for this reason he did not demand privileges that many of his colleagues granted themselves. He knew how to get by with little, he who was capable of reveling in a sunrise or a sunset, and he did everything not to miss those moments of the day.

Spassky and Fischer during the “challenge of the century” of the 1972 World Championship

Challenge of the century
His name went down in history for the 1972 World Championship, played in Reykjavik, Iceland, against the American Bobby Fischer. That was not a simple duel, but a true continuation of the Cold War that had been fought for decades between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was American capitalism against Soviet communism, two giants that staggered and managed to maintain their balance only because they leaned on each other.

The Soviet Union was that of Leonid Brezhnev, the one that with an iron fist and tank bullets had suffocated the popular revolts in the Warsaw Pact states, the one that did not grant exit visas to athletes or intellectuals. America was the Republican one of Richard Nixon, who later foundered in the Watergate scandal, and of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, it was the one that sought dialogue with China, protected Europe and the West in general, and acted as guarantor of world defense. In the United States, the challenge between Spassky and Fischer was broadcast live on television, and this small detail explains the importance of the event. The duel was played from July 11 to September 1.

Defeat with honor
In the end, after a stressful series of games, after endless twists and turns, after the theatrics with which Fischer tried in every way to wear out his opponent, Spassky was forced to raise the white flag. He lost, and the Soviet government certainly did not take that verdict well. But he, aware that he had always done his duty and always given his all, had no regrets.

He could have appealed to some of Fischer’s boasting to gain time, to gain a small advantage (even psychological) over the American. But he did none of this, because ethics, according to Spassky, was a rule that had to be respected and never betrayed. He had lost, he had no choice but to admit defeat, bow before his opponent and hand him the crown of king of chess that, until that moment, had belonged to him.

Maestro
Spassky continued his career, continued to imagine moves on the chessboard and put them into practice, taught the art to young people, because he was a maestro and had all the qualities of a maestro (which are worth much more than diplomas). However, as the years went by, his love for Kings and Queens, for Bishops and Rooks, for Knights and Pawns faded as is inevitable when passion is involved.

He played a rematch against Fischer, but it was no longer the same. And when his lifelong opponent was in trouble because he was arrested in Japan after being found with an irregular passport, it was Spassky who took up pen and paper and wrote to the then President of the United States George W. Bush. It was August 10, 2004. This is the text.

“Mr. President, in 1972 Bobby Fischer became a national hero. He defeated me in the world championship match in Reykjavik, routing an army of great Soviet chess players. One man defeated an entire army. Shortly thereafter, Fischer stopped playing… In 1992, twenty years after Reykjavik, the miracle occurred. Bobby reappeared and we played a match in Yugoslavia. However, at that time, there was a sanctions regime in force against Yugoslavia that prevented American citizens from undertaking any type of activity in the territory of that country.

Bobby violated the provisions of the Department of State and on December 15, 1992, the District Court of the United States issued an arrest warrant against him. I, on the other hand, have been a French citizen since 1998 and the government has not taken any action against me. On July 13, 2004, Bobby was detained in Narita Airport Prison for immigration violations. The event was reported by the media. The law is the law, no doubt about it, but Fischer’s is not an ordinary case. Bobby and I have been friends since 1960, when we won ex aequo at the Mar del Plata tournament.

Bobby has a tormented personality, I noticed it immediately: he is honest and altruistic, but absolutely antisocial. He does not conform to everyone’s way of life, he has a very high sense of justice and is not willing to compromise with himself or with others. He is a person who almost always acts to his own advantage.

I do not want to defend or justify Bobby Fischer. That’s just the way he is. I would like to ask you only one thing: pardon, clemency. But if by chance that is not possible, I would like to ask you this: please, correct the mistake that François Mitterrand made in 1992. Bobby and I were guilty of the same crime. So apply the sanctions against me too: arrest me, put me in a cell with Bobby Fischer and give us a chessboard”.

As you can understand from these words, not only a chess champion has gone, but a man who throughout his life knew how to keep his back straight and, faced with the pain of his opponent, knew how to bend down to listen to him and exercised pity. Not everyone can do that.

Reference: “La Gazzetta dello Sport” online
Translated to English by: Pjerin Bj
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Sports Vision + Plus / Champions Hour in activity since 2013

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