Boris Spassky

Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky at the Thessaloniki Olympiad, 1984
Full name	Boris Vasilievich Spassky
Country	Soviet Union France Russia
Born	(1937-01-30) January 30, 1937 (age 80) Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Title	Grandmaster (1955)
World Champion	1969–1972
FIDE rating	2548 (March 2017)
Peak rating	2690 (January 1971)

Boris Vasilievich Spassky (Russian: Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский; 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, 1974, 1977, 1980, and 1985). In addition to his candidates wins in 1965 and 1968, he reached the semi-final stage in 1974 and 1977.

Spassky emigrated 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. In 2012 he left France and returned to Russia. He is the oldest living former world champion.

Spassky was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) to Russian parents. His father Vasili Vladimirovich Spassky served in military. He came from a family of Vladimir Alexadrovich Spassky, a prominent Russian Orthodox priest of the Kursk Governorate, later a protoiereus of the Russian Church (since 1916), as well as a State Duma deputy (1912–1917) and an active member of the Union of the Russian People. Boris' mother Ekaterina Petrovna Spasskaya (nee Petrova) was a school teacher. She was born in the Ryadnevo village of the Gdov district (now Pskov Oblast) as an illegitimate daughter of Daria Ivanovna Ivanova (who belonged to local peasants) and Andrei Kupriyanovich Kupriyanov, a landlord who owned houses in Saint Petersburg and Pskov. After some time Daria Ivanovna fled to Petersburg, leaving her daughter with Petr Vasiliev, a relative of hers, who raised Ekaterina under the surname of Petrova. She joined her mother later on.