So much more than the player who lost 'Match of the Century'

For the greater part of his life, Boris Spassky — the 10th world chess champion, was perhaps somewhat unfairly defined by a title match he lost.

- Susan Ninan

BENGALURU: For the greater part of his life, Boris Spassky — the 10th world chess champion, was perhaps somewhat unfairly defined by a title match he lost.

Born in Leningrad on January 30, 1937, and known to be a freethinker, anti-Soviet and a universal player, Spassky died on Thursday, aged 88.

Spassky, who became world champion in 1969 defeating Tigran Petrosian, went on to play and lose the famed 'Match of the Century' at the height of the Cold War against America's Bobby Fischer in 1972, in Reykjavik.

The East vs West match had a temperamental Fischer making ceaseless demands, not showing up for the opening ceremony and forfeiting the second game while Spassky was under pressure from Soviet authorities to file a protest and quit the match.

But Spassky resisted the instruction and chose to play on.

"The match was much bigger than my individual interests," Spassky said in a 2016 interview to Sport-Express, "I pitied him. I saw that the guy was going insane! I rather liked Bobby...There was a crazy kid sitting opposite me — how could I possibly hate him?... I didn't come up with any tricks. Unlike Bobby — who threw all kinds of statements left and right. Only later did I realise that this pressure was carefully thought out."

Spassky, who initially led the match 2-0, lost to Fischer for the first time in Game 3.