[HN Gopher] Boris Spassky: 1937-2025
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Boris Spassky: 1937-2025
Author : throwaway81523
Score : 229 points
Date : 2025-02-28 08:02 UTC (14 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (en.chessbase.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (en.chessbase.com)
| leshokunin wrote:
| Rest in peace. One of the top GMs of all time. Former world
| champion. Wonderful player. Thanks for all the amazing games.
| AntoniusBlock wrote:
| RIP. My favourite Spassky game is this 24 move win against
| Petrosian and Petrosian was no patzer:
| https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106864
| numlocked wrote:
| Ohh, 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 wrote:
| Love 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 Krabbe 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
| jihadjihad wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| When you know you're beat, it's honorable to skip the
| formalities.
| rdlw wrote:
| Unless 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 wrote:
| Yes, 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 wrote:
| They also usually type "gg" into the game chat
| purplejacket wrote:
| Here'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 wrote:
| My 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 wrote:
| It'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 wrote:
| It still doesn't make any sense, even if he knew that the
| bishop was trapped. Black is the only side that can lose.
| verbify wrote:
| Interesting, I never knew that. Engine does give +0.6 to
| Spassky, so the move slightly made Fischer's position worse
| (https://lichess.org/study/Eyl4uwTZ/TUx5RZIk) and the
| engine thinks f4 (on move 40) was the blunder.
|
| I'm not qualified to analyse this, I read into it a bit
| more and apparently he was trying to complicate the game,
| the 1973 tournament book only marks it as ?!.
| mlyle wrote:
| > the engine thinks f4 (on move 40) was the blunder.
|
| The engine knows what move would be a blunder for
| computer play.
|
| It doesn't know what move made the position impossibly
| tricky for a human to maintain for black.
|
| Every game that I analyze, there's possible moves where
| the computer will trade endless complexity for one's side
| for a couple centipawn advantage. These are moves that a
| human should not play.
| rybosworld wrote:
| > in fact if you plug it into an engine, it shows an equal
| evaluation
|
| This isn't true - that move takes the game from dead equal,
| to +0.7 (70 centipawns favor for Boris).
|
| It isn't a total blunder but it's objectively a poor move.
| mlyle wrote:
| > in fact if you plug it into an engine, it shows an equal
| evaluation
|
| I don't think this is true, and engine evals aren't
| everything.
|
| Two positions can have equal evaluations, but one can be
| trivial to play optimally and the other can be tricky and
| have a 10 move long sequence of "only moves" that are
| really hard to calculate. The latter is a much worse move,
| if you are not a chess engine.
| sa46 wrote:
| Is there a chess metric that combines centipawns with a
| complexity metric?
| billforsternz wrote:
| Your last paragraph is the nicest capsule description of
| this very important and yet widely misunderstood computer
| chess concept I've seen. Thanks! I'm going to use this
| (probably poorly paraphrased due to my failing memory:).
| fsckboy wrote:
| you are replying to a comment that says "he miscalculated
| an equal position further down the line" and your point
| of objection is that he miscalculated an equal position
| further down the line?
|
| still your move
| mlyle wrote:
| You've not understood what is said.
|
| If on move 29, you choose a move that is slightly worse
| but leave yourself in an _extremely difficult_ position
| for you but an easy one for the other guy...
|
| And then only on move 40 does the eval extremely
| diverge...
|
| In my opinion, your real blunder was on move 29, not 40.
| Just because an engine could hold a position doesn't make
| it a reasonable move.
| fsckboy wrote:
| but that says nothing about what Fisher was thinking, so
| while your opinion is valid, it's not more valid than the
| comment you replied to, especially when your comment
| mimics the structure of his comment in the way I pointed
| out.
| mlyle wrote:
| Fisher had said that he was seeking to complicate the
| game-- which is something that black wants to do, in
| general-- add uncertainty for both sides.
|
| In practice, the move only added uncertainty for black.
| White faced easy choices, and black difficult ones.
|
| I didn't disagree that Fisher thought the move was safe
| and miscalculated. Indeed, he _didn 't even miscalculate
| badly_-- engines think they can hold the position.
|
| I'm asserting that the move fails because it made the
| subsequent game more complicated for Fisher without
| imposing an equal penalty on his opponent. It made a bad
| miscalculation almost inevitable.
| janalsncm wrote:
| That's reasonable, but the question we really want to
| know is how difficult it will be to equalize, which is a
| measure of both the number of equalizing moves and how
| difficult it is to find them. If the only moves are
| obvious, it's not as bad as you might originally think.
|
| In other words the correct calculation of subjective
| difficulty is a dot product, not simply a count of the
| number of equalizing moves.
| mlyle wrote:
| Yah, I'm not saying that a way to figure out the
| "difficulty of position" is to simply count the number of
| "only moves" or a volatility measure. There's sometimes a
| sequence of obvious trades to make, and that's hardly a
| difficult position.
|
| It's hard to capture "obvious". One metric is how far you
| need to look down the eval tree to know a move is good,
| but even that is flawed.
| janalsncm wrote:
| Yes, it would be hard to avoid stepping into the scope of
| psychology to truly answer the question, because what
| might be easy for you might not be for me, even if we had
| equal elo ratings. (Trivial example, we might have equal
| elos but I try out a new opening you normally play.) You
| can probably learn a function to give a reasonable
| estimate though.
| mlyle wrote:
| I prefer something kind of objective rather than looking
| at player strengths. The "depth needed to search to pick
| equal move" is my best answer, maybe revised to be "and
| isn't found with a couple of simple heuristics" to clean
| it up some.
| bongodongobob wrote:
| Idk, I'm an amateur and that just looks like an obvious
| terrible move. I don't get it. What's to calculate?
| alex1138 wrote:
| Well Fischer wasn't an amateur and there's no evidence he
| just missed a one-move refutation
| wetpaste wrote:
| I don't think it was purely a calculation error, it was
| probably also an intuitive evaluation. Bobby was trying
| to complicate the game and create an imbalance, where
| there were still winning chances if misplayed by spassky,
| but obviously it was a bad evaluation and it backfired. I
| think he was in a bit of a mood and got reckless. He had
| been making a lot of demands leading up to this and
| threats to not participate, probably got frustrated by
| the drawn endgame and took a big risk. I don't think he
| ever really opened up about his reasoning to be fair, but
| was asked along the lines of "were you trying to
| complicate the game" and he said "something like that".
| After losing those first two games he demanded the
| cameras to be removed from the playing hall and started
| to play really well against spassky, so possibly a
| psychological aspect from the cameras were also to blame.
| Maybe he knew he was throwing the game and it'd make for
| an entertaining match... the guy was sort of insane
| EdwardCoffin wrote:
| That game at chessgames.com:
|
| https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044722
| jcalabro wrote:
| Amazing game, thanks for sharing.
| buzzm wrote:
| Game in BGN (https://moschetti.org/rants/bgnchess.html)
|
| {"moves":[{"p":"P","f":"d2","t":"d4"},{"p":"n","f":"g8","t":"f6
| "},{"p":"P","f":"c2","t":"c4"},{"p":"p","f":"e7","t":"e6"},{"p"
| :"N","f":"g1","t":"f3"},{"p":"p","f":"d7","t":"d5"},{"p":"N","f
| ":"b1","t":"c3"},{"p":"b","f":"f8","t":"b4"},{"p":"P","f":"e2",
| "t":"e3"},{"p":"k","f":"e8","t":"g8","castle":"K"},{"p":"B","f"
| :"f1","t":"d3"},{"p":"p","f":"c7","t":"c5"},{"p":"K","f":"e1","
| t":"g1","castle":"K"},{"p":"n","f":"b8","t":"c6"},{"p":"P","f":
| "a2","t":"a3"},{"p":"b","f":"b4","t":"a5"},{"p":"N","f":"c3","t
| ":"e2"},{"p":"p","f":"d5","t":"c4","x":"P"},{"p":"B","f":"d3","
| t":"c4","x":"p"},{"p":"b","f":"a5","t":"b6"},{"p":"P","f":"d4",
| "t":"c5","x":"p"},{"p":"q","f":"d8","t":"d1","x":"Q"},{"p":"R",
| "f":"f1","t":"d1","x":"q"},{"p":"b","f":"b6","t":"c5","x":"P"},
| {"p":"P","f":"b2","t":"b4"},{"p":"b","f":"c5","t":"e7"},{"p":"B
| ","f":"c1","t":"b2"},{"p":"b","f":"c8","t":"d7"},{"p":"R","f":"
| a1","t":"c1"},{"p":"r","f":"f8","t":"d8"},{"p":"N","f":"e2","t"
| :"d4"},{"p":"n","f":"c6","t":"d4","x":"N"},{"p":"N","f":"f3","t
| ":"d4","x":"n"},{"p":"b","f":"d7","t":"a4"},{"p":"B","f":"c4","
| t":"b3"},{"p":"b","f":"a4","t":"b3","x":"B"},{"p":"N","f":"d4",
| "t":"b3","x":"b"},{"p":"r","f":"d8","t":"d1","x":"R","c":1},{"p
| ":"R","f":"c1","t":"d1","x":"r"},{"p":"r","f":"a8","t":"c8"},{"
| p":"K","f":"g1","t":"f1"},{"p":"k","f":"g8","t":"f8"},{"p":"K",
| "f":"f1","t":"e2"},{"p":"n","f":"f6","t":"e4"},{"p":"R","f":"d1
| ","t":"c1"},{"p":"r","f":"c8","t":"c1","x":"R"},{"p":"B","f":"b
| 2","t":"c1","x":"r"},{"p":"p","f":"f7","t":"f6"},{"p":"N","f":"
| b3","t":"a5"},{"p":"n","f":"e4","t":"d6"},{"p":"K","f":"e2","t"
| :"d3"},{"p":"b","f":"e7","t":"d8"},{"p":"N","f":"a5","t":"c4"},
| {"p":"b","f":"d8","t":"c7"},{"p":"N","f":"c4","t":"d6","x":"n"}
| ,{"p":"b","f":"c7","t":"d6","x":"N"},{"p":"P","f":"b4","t":"b5"
| },{"p":"b","f":"d6","t":"h2","x":"P"},{"p":"P","f":"g2","t":"g3
| "},{"p":"p","f":"h7","t":"h5"},{"p":"K","f":"d3","t":"e2"},{"p"
| :"p","f":"h5","t":"h4"},{"p":"K","f":"e2","t":"f3"},{"p":"k","f
| ":"f8","t":"e7"},{"p":"K","f":"f3","t":"g2"},{"p":"p","f":"h4",
| "t":"g3","x":"P"},{"p":"P","f":"f2","t":"g3","x":"p"},{"p":"b",
| "f":"h2","t":"g3","x":"P"},{"p":"K","f":"g2","t":"g3","x":"b"},
| {"p":"k","f":"e7","t":"d6"},{"p":"P","f":"a3","t":"a4"},{"p":"k
| ","f":"d6","t":"d5"},{"p":"B","f":"c1","t":"a3"},{"p":"k","f":"
| d5","t":"e4"},{"p":"B","f":"a3","t":"c5"},{"p":"p","f":"a7","t"
| :"a6"},{"p":"P","f":"b5","t":"b6"},{"p":"p","f":"f6","t":"f5"},
| {"p":"K","f":"g3","t":"h4"},{"p":"p","f":"f5","t":"f4"},{"p":"P
| ","f":"e3","t":"f4","x":"p"},{"p":"k","f":"e4","t":"f4","x":"P"
| },{"p":"K","f":"h4","t":"h5"},{"p":"k","f":"f4","t":"f5"},{"p":
| "B","f":"c5","t":"e3"},{"p":"k","f":"f5","t":"e4"},{"p":"B","f"
| :"e3","t":"f2"},{"p":"k","f":"e4","t":"f5"},{"p":"B","f":"f2","
| t":"h4"},{"p":"p","f":"e6","t":"e5"},{"p":"B","f":"h4","t":"g5"
| },{"p":"p","f":"e5","t":"e4"},{"p":"B","f":"g5","t":"e3"},{"p":
| "k","f":"f5","t":"f6"},{"p":"K","f":"h5","t":"g4"},{"p":"k","f"
| :"f6","t":"e5"},{"p":"K","f":"g4","t":"g5"},{"p":"k","f":"e5","
| t":"d5"},{"p":"K","f":"g5","t":"f5"},{"p":"p","f":"a6","t":"a5"
| },{"p":"B","f":"e3","t":"f2"},{"p":"p","f":"g7","t":"g5"},{"p":
| "K","f":"f5","t":"g5","x":"p"},{"p":"k","f":"d5","t":"c4"},{"p"
| :"K","f":"g5","t":"f5"},{"p":"k","f":"c4","t":"b4"},{"p":"K","f
| ":"f5","t":"e4","x":"p"},{"p":"k","f":"b4","t":"a4","x":"P"},{"
| p":"K","f":"e4","t":"d5"},{"p":"k","f":"a4","t":"b5"},{"p":"K",
| "f":"d5","t":"d6"}],"opening":{"ECO":"E56"},"site":"Reykjavik
| ISL","event":"Spassky-Fischer World Championship Match","result
| ":"W","type":"C","players":[{"handle":{"domain":"UNK","value":"
| Boris Spassky"}},{"handle":{"domain":"UNK","value":"Robert
| James Fischer"}}]}
| martyvis wrote:
| See the board here on Lichess
| https://lichess.org/study/facg4YUQ/jnXlZXWo
| NickC25 wrote:
| Rest 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 wrote:
| Do you have a video of this? Sounds cool.
| CalChris wrote:
| Fischer had had photography+video mostly banned and
| unfortunately there isn't a photo of this.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| Related:
|
| _Boris Spassky has died_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43197956
| renedobricia wrote:
| My 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
| kkurome wrote:
| He 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.
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(page generated 2025-02-28 23:00 UTC)