Blindfold Chess Podcast
Blindfold Chess Podcast
S3 E5 C. Incutto v. Boris Spassky (1960)
This week, we are looking at the long career of the 10th World Champion, the youngest person to become Grandmaster in history (at the time), the youngest Candidate to the World Championship (at the time), and the famed opponent of the 1972 World Championship against Bobby Fischer - Boris Spassky.
Spassky learned to play chess at the age of 5 on a train evacuating Leningrad during the Siege of Leningrad during WWII.
At the age of 10, he earned widespread attention by defeating the Soviet champion Mikhail Botvinnik in a simul. During this time, he was studying several hours a day with different Masters including Vladimir Zak who coached other players like Viktor Korchnoi, Alexey Yermolinsky, Gata Kamsky, and others.
That type of coaching helped as it allowed Spassky to earn the Candidate Master level at age 11, the Soviet Master rank at age 15 and take home 2nd at the Leningrad Championship.
At the age of 16, Spassky branched out of the Soviet Union to play in his first international tournament in Romania. He tied for 4th, but in the tournament he defeated Vasily Smyslov who was 1 year away from playing Mikhail Botvinnik for the World Championship.
At the FIDE Congress of 1953, he was awarded his International Master title.
At the Candidates tournament of 1956, Spassky tied for 3rd with 4 other players. However, the next two world championship cycles were less kind to Boris.
In the last round of the Riga tournament where a win would advance him to the Portoroz Interzonal tournament, Spassky missed his winning chance against Mikhail Tal and ended the game with a draw. In the qualifying tournament for the Interzonal in 1960, he lost his last round game to Leonid Stein.
He also finished 10th out of 20 in the USSR Championship in 1960. However, he did make some waves by being the first high level player in 50 years to play and win with the King’s Gambit against David Bronstein.
This game would later be used 3 years later as reference in the James Bond film ‘From Russia With Love’.
During his chess struggles, he was also going through marital struggles with his then wife. They divorced in 1961 and he also broke off training with his coach Tolush whose coaching strategy featured a very strong attacking style.
One bright spot was in 1960 at the Mar del Plata tournament where he finished in a tie for first place… with Bobby Fischer. During their first career meeting, Spassky defeated Fischer.
Boris changed his coach to Igor Bondarevsky - known for a calmer strategy. After the change, Spassky won his first USSR Championship in 1961. He tied for 2nd in Havana in 1962, he tied for 1st at the 31st Soviet Final in 1963, and he won 1st at Belgrade in 1964.
For today’s game, we are traveling 65 years in the past to the Mar del Plata tournament of 1960 - Carlos Incutto versus Boris Spassky.
Now, if we’re ready, let’s begin.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. d3 fxe4 6. dxe4 Bb4 7. Qd3 d6 8. Bd2 Bxc3 9. Bxc3 Bd7 10. O-O-O Qe7 11. Qe3O-O 12. h3 Kh8 13. Bc4 a5 14. Kb1 Be6 15. Bxe6 Qxe6 16. Ng5Qg8 17. Qe2 Nd7 18. g3 Nc5 19. b3 h6 20. h4 a4 21. Nh3 axb3 22. cxb3 Nxb3 23. axb3 Qxb3+ 24. Qb2 Qc4 25. Qc2 Nb4 0-1
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1128479
