Person

Boris Spassky

1937 – 2025 · aged 88

Russian chess player (1937–2025)

Born
30 Jan 1937 · Saint Petersburg
Died
27 Feb 2025 · Moscow

Life timeline

Their life from birth to death. On the timeline, world events of the time are shown faintly.

Showing 101 years
  1. 30 Jan 1937BornBorn in Saint Petersburg
  2. 1968AwardChess Oscar
  3. 1969AwardChess Oscar
  4. 1969 – 1972AwardWorld chess champion
  5. 27 Feb 2025DiedDied in Moscow

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Meanwhile in the world

Major world events during their lifetime (1937 – 2025).

  1. 1937 – 1945Second Sino-Japanese War
  2. 19381938 FIFA World Cup
  3. 1938Munich Agreement
  4. 1939 – 1940Winter War
  5. 1939 – 1945World War II
  6. 1940 – 1945Auschwitz concentration camp
  7. 1941Attack on Pearl Harbor
  8. 1941 – 1945Eastern Front
  9. 1941Operation Barbarossa
  10. 1942 – 1943Battle of Stalingrad
  11. 1945Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  12. 1945 – 1946Nuremberg trials
  13. 19501950 FIFA World Cup
  14. 1950 – 1953Korean War
  15. 1953 – 1959Cuban Revolution
  16. 19541954 FIFA World Cup
  17. 1955 – 1975Vietnam War
  18. 1956Hungarian Revolution of 1956
  19. 1956Suez Crisis
  20. 19581958 FIFA World Cup
  21. 1959Antarctic Treaty System
  22. 19621962 FIFA World Cup
  23. 1962Cuban Missile Crisis
  24. 19661966 FIFA World Cup
  25. 1966 – 1976Cultural Revolution
  26. 1968Prague Spring
  27. 1969Apollo 11 Moon landing
  28. 19721972 Summer Olympics
  29. 19741974 FIFA World Cup
  30. 19781978 FIFA World Cup
  31. 1978 – 1979Iranian Revolution
  32. 1979 – 1989Soviet–Afghan War
  33. 1980 – 1988Iran–Iraq War
  34. 19841984 Summer Olympics
  35. 1985Schengen Agreement
  36. 19891989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
  37. 1989Fall of the Berlin Wall
  38. 19901990 FIFA World Cup
  39. 1991Dissolution of the Soviet Union
  40. 19941994 FIFA World Cup

Biography

Boris Vasilyevich Spassky (Russian: Борис Васильевич Спасский; January 30, 1937 – February 27, 2025) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who 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, 1985). In addition to his Candidates wins in 1965 and 1968, Spassky reached the semi-final stage in 1974 and the final stage in 1977.

Spassky immigrated to France in 1976 and became a French citizen in 1978. He continued to compete in tournaments, but was no longer a major contender for the world title. Spassky lost an unofficial rematch against Fischer in 1992. In 2012, he left France and returned to Russia.

Text from the Wikipedia article Boris Spassky, CC BY-SA 4.0

About this information

Dates and life events come from this person’s Wikidata entry.

We only show events that the sources give a date for. Anything without a date is left out rather than guessed.