Boris Spassky Boris Spassky Boris Vasilievich Spassky (; born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He 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,
American Chess Quarterly in its pages was "A Bust to the King's Gambit" by U.S. Champion and future World Champion Bobby Fischer, which appeared as the first article in the first issue. In that article, Fischer advocated what became known as the Fischer Defense to the King's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d6), brashly claiming, "In my opinion the King's Gambit is busted. It loses by force." Fischer later played the King's Gambit himself with great success, winning all three tournament games in which he played it, but choosing the Bishop's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4) rather than the King's Knight's