Russian chess champ Boris Spassky, 88, died on Feb. 27. I don’t usually cover sports herein, but the Spassky-Fischer bout of 1972 was so show biz—it also inspired the underrated musical Chess (starring Tommy Körberg as the Spassky character in the West End production and the cast album). Born in Leningrad, Spassky was already winning chess competitions at ten, and through various ups and downs in the ’60s, became world champion. Then came the Reykjavík championship in 1972, and the world went chess-mad. America’s antsy, ultimately nuts, Bobby Fischer (who won the championship) was the anti-hero, and the Cold War Russian played the role of handsome, quiet leading man (indeed, he looked a lot like Treat Williams). Spassky continued playing and teaching for decades, even having a 1992 rematch with Fischer (who, again, won). Spassky explained his loss: “I prefer to have good relations with my opponent. My chess suffers if I have to play a man I consider unfriendly.”
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