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,
Chess Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" and Satyajit Ray's "The Chess Players". Chess is also present in contemporary popular culture. For example, the characters in "Star Trek" play a futuristic version of the game called "Tri-Dimensional Chess". "Wizard's Chess" is featured in J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" plays. The hero of "Searching for Bobby Fischer" struggles against adopting the aggressive and misanthropic views of a world chess champion. Chess is used as the core theme in the musical "Chess" by Tim Rice, Björn Ulvaeus, and Benny Andersson. The thriller film "Knight Moves" is about a chess grandmaster who is accused of being a