6 ms·
Boris Spassky: 1937–2025
- tetrisgm 2y agoRest in peace. One of the top GMs of all time. Former world champion. Wonderful player. Thanks for all the amazing games.
- AntoniusBlock 2y agoRIP. My favourite Spassky game is this 24 move win against Petrosian and Petrosian was no patzer: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106864 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106864
- numlocked 2y agoOhh, that is lovely. I had not seen it. Black does seemingly nothing wrong and is just in a world of hurt by the 12th move.
- natrys 2y agoLove this game. It taught me to look for a move like g4. Also it was probably not objectively the best move (and definitely not Spassky's best game) but Tim Krabbé made a list of 110 most fantastic moves ever played, and he put Spassky's 16...Nc6 against Averbakh as no. 1 (certainly an unorthodox choice): https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess/fant100.htm https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess/fant100.htm
- jihadjihad 2y agoI know this is a dumb question even before I ask but I cannot figure it out: why do only some of the games on chessgames.com end in a final move that is actually checkmate, while others don't? On this one for example the final move says "Black to move" and you can move them around to get to a checkmate yourself...did they just shake hands and not play the final couple moves out?
- koolba 2y agoWhen you know you’re beat, it’s honorable to skip the formalities.
- rdlw 2y agoUnless your opponent has just executed such a brilliant set of moves that they deserve the satisfaction of actually finishing the sequence and delivering checkmate.
- renerick 2y agoYes, it is common for high level players to just shake hands and resign, when they know the position is lost and their opponents certainly will checkmate them
- alexey-salmin 2y agoThey also usually type "gg" into the game chat
- anacrolix 2y agogg
- wavemode 2y agoAs others have mentioned, it is extremely rare for chess grandmasters to play until checkmate. In many cases, when the game is clearly lost, it can even be seen as disrespectful, and a waste of your opponent's time.
- downwithdisease 2y agoVery new to the game, so have mercy on me please, but can anyone explain what's going on with these 0-0-0 and 0-0 moves? I don't understand how or why two pieces can move simultaneously.
- clintonc 2y agoIt's a special move in chess called "castling". See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castling https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castling
- purplejacket 2y agoHere's a FEN of the famous position from the Spassky-Fischer world championship match where Fischer weirdly played Bxh2 on move 29 and Spassky went on to win the game: 5k2/pp4pp/4pp2/1P6/8/P2KP3/5PPb/2B5 w - - 0 30 Full PGN here: [Event "Spassky - Fischer World Championship Match"] [Site "Reykjavik ISL"] [Date "1972.07.11"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "1"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Boris Spassky"] [Black "Robert James Fischer"] [ECO "E56"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "111"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 c5 7. O-O Nc6 8. a3 Ba5 9. Ne2 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Bb6 11. dxc5 Qxd1 12. Rxd1 Bxc5 13. b4 Be7 14. Bb2 Bd7 15. Rac1 Rfd8 16. Ned4 Nxd4 17. Nxd4 Ba4 18. Bb3 Bxb3 19. Nxb3 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1 Rc8 21. Kf1 Kf8 22. Ke2 Ne4 23. Rc1 Rxc1 24. Bxc1 f6 25. Na5 Nd6 26. Kd3 Bd8 27. Nc4 Bc7 28. Nxd6 Bxd6 29. b5 Bxh2 30. g3 h5 31. Ke2 h4 32. Kf3 Ke7 33. Kg2 hxg3 34. fxg3 Bxg3 35. Kxg3 Kd6 36. a4 Kd5 37. Ba3 Ke4 38. Bc5 a6 39. b6 f5 40. Kh4 f4 41. exf4 Kxf4 42. Kh5 Kf5 43. Be3 Ke4 44. Bf2 Kf5 45. Bh4 e5 46. Bg5 e4 47. Be3 Kf6 48. Kg4 Ke5 49. Kg5 Kd5 50. Kf5 a5 51. Bf2 g5 52. Kxg5 Kc4 53. Kf5 Kb4 54. Kxe4 Kxa4 55. Kd5 Kb5 56. Kd6 1-0
- verbify 2y agoMy father-in-law told me he watched that game live when he was a kid, and he just gasped when Fischer played Bxh2. (This is before engines or eval bars). Spassky did well to convert, but this is more about Fischer's mistake than Spassky. This is the kind of blunder that you'd expect from a strong club player, not from Bobby Fischer. Although I understand that Fischer was brilliant but inconsistent, and to be fair, the last chess championship matches had a share of blunders.
- alex1138 2y agoIt's almost a certainty Fischer didn't just "not notice" the bishop would be trapped, he just miscalculated further down the line (in fact if you plug it into an engine, it shows an equal evaluation) It's one of the single biggest misconceptions ever, it gets repeated endlessly
- bonzini 2y agoIt still doesn't make any sense, even if he knew that the bishop was trapped. Black is the only side that can lose.
- NickC25 2y agoRest in peace, GM Spassky. He made wonderful contributions to the game, and was a gentleman to boot. Applauding your opponent in the middle of a world championship game? Class.
- noman-land 2y agoDo you have a video of this? Sounds cool.
- CalChris 2y agoFischer had had photography+video mostly banned and unfortunately there isn't a photo of this.
- noman-land 2y agoThanks for the context. I scoured YouTube and couldn't find it.
- toomuchtodo 2y agoRelated: Boris Spassky has died - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43197956 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43197956
- renedobricia 2y agoMy favorite Spassky game, without a doubt was playing black against Bent Larsen (using Larsen Opening)... h4 & hxg3 is a must in the "move of century" list
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 2y agoThat's the one where he sacs the rook on h1 just to be able to push his pawn to g2, right? I'd have to agree then, truly a marvelous game.
- kkurome 2y agoHe will be missed. A full generation of heroes of mine is starting to fall. I think the minds and life of individuals like Spassky are very hard to replicate in modern society, we are just different now.
- stodor89 2y agoWhen Bobby Fischer was thrown in jail, Spassky wrote a letter to Bush asking to pardon him, or if that's not possible, to put him in the same cell as Fischer and give them a chess set.
- ipv6ipv4 2y agoHe also signed an open letter to Russian authorities to outlaw Jewish organizations for a "hidden campaign of genocide against the Russian people and their traditional society and values"
- blast 2y agoAnother reason for him and Fischer to enjoy being cellmates I guess. What is it with these chess masters?
- tristramb 2y agoIf you lived under an oppressive government, you'd probably end up doing things you would later regret.
- echovale 2y agoHaving French citizenship, he voluntarily returned to Russia in 2012.
- stodor89 2y agoOh come on, there's a time and place to discuss the man's shortcomings, but a HN funeral thread is not it.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]