Boris Spassky (born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess player, who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. 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 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. He was a World Chess Championship candidate on seven occasions (1956, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1977, 1980 and 1985). 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 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. As of 2021, Spassky is the oldest living former world champion.
Spassky was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) to Russian parents. 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. 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: Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov, and Garry Kasparov.