GM Boris SpasskyThe Livingston County Chess Club meets every Monday night between
4pm and 10pm
at the Buffalo Wild Wings in the Green Oak Mall in Brighton, MI.
Stop in for some friendly chess, good food and 'refreshments'.
Everyone of all ages and playing strength are welcome to attend. And free lessons to all beginners!
LCCC would also like to announce that our 2025 Speed Tournament will kick off on March 10th. There is no cost to enter. The entire tournament will be played on this one evening! We normally start the first round about 6:30 pm, so be there for the fun!
Now some really sad news
Former World Chess Champion GM Boris Spassky died on February 28th, 2025 at the age of 88.
One of the finest chess players to ever live and a true sportsman in every sense of the word. Even Bobby Fischer, who hated the Russians, praised Spassky as a true champion and great man. I have personally played over many of Spassky’s games and am amazed at his talent.
I have played over Paul Morphy’s games, Mikhail Tal’s games and Bobby Fischer’s games and do eventually see the path to victory. They simply over-powered their opponent with brutal tactics.
But when I play over Boris Spassky’s games, I cannot find the thread of his genius until much, MUCH later in the game! He seems to sneak up on you, hitting a weakness you had that no one else could detect. His opponent would lose not knowing he was ever in danger.
Bobby Fischer lost to Boris Spassky in the first game of the biggest World Chess Championship the world had ever seen. This match occurred during the height of the Cold War. USA vs USSR. Capitalism vs Communism. Which system was better?
Fischer being Fischer, did not show up for game two. He claimed there was too much noise in the playing hall from the television cameras, and did not show up for Round 2. This results in a forfeit and now Spassky leads 2 – 0.
Fischer demanded that from now on, the games be played in what was basically a closet off the main stage for privacy and silence. This of course was out of the question to the sponsors, the organizers and of course the Russian government! It looked like Spassky would go up 3 – 0 and probably win the match on forfeit. All Spassky had to do to remain world champion was show up at the chessboard on the stage as scheduled, and the match would be over.
But Spassky told them all, and the world, that he would not win that way. He would play Fischer in that back room! Not only making everyone in the communist Soviet Union mad at him but defying the KGB! The Russian secret police!
The Soviet Union wanted and needed this victory over the West as proof that communism was a better system than capitalism. Spassky was actually putting his life on the line, in order to beat Fischer over the board!
Fischer won that game in that tiny back room. Now it was Spassky who demanded they return to the stage for the rest of the match.
Fischer now agreed.
Fischer went on to dominate the rest of the match against a now frazzled opponent. How different the world, and the chess world would be if Spassky was not a true gentleman and sportsman? We will never know.
Walter Dobrich (Vlad to his friends), is no stranger to Canadian chess. Vlad is a master level player. But more important, Vlad was an excellent chess promoter and organizer. He disappeared into the world of backgammon in the late 1970’s and became a great player there also! In recent times But today Vlad has opened a club in Toronto and he organizes blitz tournaments every week and writes this tribute to Boris Spassky:
I’ve had some personal interaction with him when he was World Champion. He played in the Canadian Open in Vancouver in 1971. I was there as well, and we both arrived at round six with 5-0 scores and consequently were paired for round six. Showing no respect, I played what I later learned was his pet line in the Nimzo-Indian against him.. After some 30 or so moves I was ready to resign but I saw a chance for a futile attack where I would get to check him once or twice – I could one day tell my grandchildren “I checked the world champion Boris Spassky! I saw I would have to resign after four moves.
For some reason he appeared to be lost in concentration before making his next move which was forced. I looked up, “Why is he looking? This is trivial.” At which point I saw his eyes were bright red! I thought, ”I am insulting him when he is clearly tired from last night.” His next two moves were slightly different from what I expected, and I was forced to resign in three moves instead of four!
Some ten minutes later, in the post mortem room, we played out the opening where he told me that I had misplaced my bishop at which point I looked up to see his eyes were bright white. I said, ”Boris, your eyes were red like a rabbit’s 10 minutes ago, now they’re white again! His answer was “Caruso was a great singer, he sang beautifully, effortlessly. But in between performances he always had to change his shirt!” What a compliment to me! Especially when I recall that he played sitting sideways to the board as if he had only a passing interest in the position.
A day or two later we were walking the UBC campus and entered the student’s common room where there was a group of some dozen or so crowded around a chess board going over the days game from the tournament. Boris casually squeezed into the group and suggested some play. At that point, whoever was the chief expounder on the game swatted him away as if he were some annoying fly. Smiling broadly, Boris retreated. The students never knew who it was that tried to make a suggestion!
After the tournament, we happened to be strolling a main avenue in Vancouver. I said “We have a major tournament in Toronto this weekend (the Labour Day Open at the CNE) perhaps you would like to play?”
“Unfortunately, my flight goes from here to Ottawa and then to Moskva” said Boris.
”Well, we can always change the ticket at a travel agency” said I, just as we approached a travel agency!
“You can do that?” said Boris.
Ten minutes later we were leaving the travel office with a rerouted ticket by way of Toronto.
“This will not cause some problem for you?” said I.
“The KGB has 100 files on me, 101 will make no difference.” said Boris.
And so, we ended up having a great Labour Day Open with five other GMs as well as the reigning World Champion. The GMs were (if I recall) Larsen, Benko, Browne, Byrne and Biguire. There was a tie for first with Spassky and several of the GMs. I was the tournament director and can say that I directed the only weekend swiss tournament in the history of chess to boast a reigning world champion as a participant!
Walter (Vlad) Dobrich
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