Boris Spassky RIP

Only just found out that he passed away last week. Growing up he was my favourite chess player. He was a product of the Soviet School Of Chess that started up in the post war era but he was very much his own man and was noted for being charming, gracious as well beinga force of nature on the chess board. After losing to Bobby Fischer in their infamous 1971 world championship match he became a somewhat marginalised figure in Russia and was heavily criticised by the ruling communist party who saw chess as a way to push their notion intellectual superiority. Boris only cared about chess though and no other player would have put up with Fischer's ridiculous demands, choosing to go ahead with the match rather than win by default. Later in life he married a French woman and moved to France representing his adopted country in international competition. RIP.