The Russian grandmaster signed a “rabidly antisemitic petition” in 2005, and shortly thereafter, sought to distance himself from it.
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Boris Spassky, the Soviet chess grandmaster who lost the 1972 world championship to the American Bobby Fischer in Reykjavík, Iceland, died in Moscow on Thursday at 88, the International Chess Federation stated.
The grandmaster was an “independent spirit and true chess artist,” who was “the first genuinely universal player” and “not an opening specialist, but he excelled in complex and dynamic middlegame positions, where he was in his element,” according to the federation, FIDE, which regulates international chess competitions.
