Spassky vs. Fisher: the legendary chess battle
Most recently, we wrote about the biography of Robert Fisher. In his life there was an interesting period when he played for the world title and we decided to describe this fact in more detail in this article.
Fight for the title of world chess champion in 1972
In 1972, between Robert Fisher and Boris Spassky, the legendary duel for the world title was held. The match was held against the backdrop of scandals, in fact in an open conflict and mutual antipathy.
Spassky vs. Fisher: the legendary chess battle
By the beginning of the championship’s final game, the Soviet school retained a monopoly on the chess crown. For many years, champions were only from the Union. The Western world got a chance for revenge when eccentric Robert Fisher, at the age of 29, became Spassky’s main rivals in the fight for the title. The American often criticized the United States and its fellow citizens, but undoubtedly felt the burden of civil and political responsibility. On the eve of the match, Fisher told the press that the glory of the Soviet chess players rests only on the fact that when they happen to play against each other, they constantly agree on draws.
Conflict at the beginning
Opponents for a long time could not agree on conditions. As a venue, the Soviet master chose Iceland. The American insisted on Yugoslavia. On March 20, the chess players came to an agreement according to which the first stage of the game was to be held in Belgrade, and the final was planned to be organized by Reykjavik.
match Spassky Fisher
Suddenly, the American put forward new conditions that the organizers on both sides could not agree to. Representatives of the USSR applied to FIDE with a request to ensure that a chess match is held in Reykjavik, as previously agreed, and if Fisher refuses, he will be deprived of his right to participate in the match. Fisher said he would agree to play if the prize pool was doubled. One businessman from the United Kingdom did not regret giving 125,000 dollars from his own savings for such a sight. Thus, the winner was promised a crazy amount of money.
However, the western chess player did not calm down on this and did not appear at the draw. And again, new conditions: regardless of whether he wins, Fisher wanted almost one third of the proceeds from the tickets. Fisher also demanded to ban the presence of cameras. It already looked like blackmail. Western media accused their compatriot of trying to disrupt the game because of fear of defeat. According to the rules, Fisher was disqualified. Instead, the draw was put off several times. Finally, the US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called the chess player and convinced him to agree. The FIDE President demanded that Fischer publicly apologize to Spassky. The chess player agreed. Matches took place.
After 21 games, the victory of the grandmaster from the USA was announced. Fisher won with a score of 12.5: 8.5. The prize pool amounted to a quarter of a million dollars.
6 part Boris Spassky and Bobby Fisher, 1972
At the end of this game, the entire hall clapped while standing, including Spassky, who lost this game. The fact is that Fisher very competently dealt with the pawns of a Soviet chess player. Someone calls this match even the pearl of the championship.
The peculiarity of this party was that no one assumed that Fisher would go c2-c4, as in the English beginning.
After the victory
Journalists showered him with compliments and laudatory articles. Politicians, scientists, businessmen, pop stars and cinema dreamed of making friends with him. A few months later, the grandmaster stopped appearing in public, saying that he was tired. This was his last official match. In 1975, he lost the championship to Karpov without a fight.
Fisher and Spassky rematch
Fisher and Spassky rematch
In 1992, an unofficial revenge took place. The fight took place in Yugoslavia, where Robert wanted to play in 1972. The victory went to Fisher again, this time with a score of 10: 5. Subsequently, Boris Spassky said that for participating in this match he was paid $ 2 million. The event did not receive much resonance due to the fact that it did not have real weight in the official chess world. Experts who witnessed the revenge agreed that the level of skill of both grandmasters decreased significantly.
